Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c9.s5.112

c9.s5.112

The river Ganges flows for 93 miles on the northern border of the District of Patna. The Sona forms its western boundary for 41 miles, entering this district near Mahābalipur and flowing in a northerly direction to its junction with the Ganges.¹ "A little above the junction it is bridged by the East Indian Railway at Koelwār, from which point the river divides into two streams with a fertile island in the middle.''² Moreover, the *Muzaffarpur District Gazetteer* not only shows a big island about twelve miles long (from east to west) and about four miles wide,³ but also locates a police outpost at Raghopur on the island.⁴ Another *Muzaffarpur District Gazetteer*⁵ shows that besides the Raghopur police outpost there is another village on the island, called Paharpur, and that the area covered by these two settlements has a population of over 1,000 per square mile.⁶ The third map of the same gazetteer also locates these two villages on the island.⁷ It further informs us, about this Raghopur *Diara*,⁸ that "this is a huge island in the Gaṅgā. Its banks are low and sloping towards the south and high and steep towards the north due to the cutting action of the water. The lower portions are covered with deep layers of sand and are either left uncultivated, or where the sand is not very deep, cultivated with various curcurbita. The higher portions having less of sand on the top, are fertile''⁹. Moreover, Raghopur is one of the six *thānās* of Hājipur subdivision.¹⁰