Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c5.78

c5.78

¹ It is interesting to note the original old Iranian forms of these names as used in the Behistun and other inscriptions of the Achaemenian emperor Darius I (521-485 B.C.), as these names correspond closely to Sanskrit names. Thus Achaemenes (father of Teispes) = *Hakhāmani*, Darius = *Dārayavau* (Sanskrit *Dhārayadvasu*, holding, possessing goods); Cyrus = *Kuru*; Xerxes = *Kshayarsha*; Arachosia = *Harauvati* = Sanskrit *Sarasvatī*; Vedic name of a river in S. W. Afghanistan, tributary of the river called *Haetumañt* in Avesta = classical Hermandus = modern Helmand. Arachosia was the land of black grapes called *hārahūrā*, whence the wine called *Hārahūraka* mentioned by Kauṭilya (as will be seen below), just as the green grapes of Kapiśā, Northern Afghanistan, yielded the wine called *Kāpiśāyana*. Paropanisadae is the Greek equivalent of Babylonian *Parru-paraesana* = Old Persian *Gandāra* = Sanskrit *Gandhāra* with its capital at Pushkalāvatī. Aria in Old Persian = *Haraiva* from *Harayū* or *Sarayū*, the name of the river on which Herat stands. Haraiva is to be equated with Sanskrit Sārava derived from Sarayū mentioned by Pāṇini [VI.4.174]. India=Old Persian *Hidauv* from *Sindhu*. *Hidauv* is locative of *Hidu* [V. S. Agrawala's *Place-names in the Inscriptions of Darius* in *UPHSJ*, 1940].