# Ancient India as Described by Ptolemy

ANCIENT INDIA
AS DESCRIBED BY
PTOLEMY;
BEING
A TRANSLATION OF THE CHAPTERS WHICH DESCRIBE INDIA
AND CENTRAL AND EASTERN ASIA IN THE TREATISE ON
CEOGRAPHY WRITTEN BY KLAUDIOS PTOLEMAIOS,
THE CELEBRATED ASTRONOMER,
WITH
INTRODUCTION, COMMENTARY, MAP OF INDIA ACCORDING TO PTOLEMY, AND A VERY COPIOUS INDEX,
BY
J. W. MOCRINDLE, M.A., M.R.A.S.,
FORMERLY PRINCIPAL OF THE GOVERNMT COLLEGE, PATNA, AND PBLLOW OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA; VEMBER OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH.
Reprinted from the "Indian Antiquary," 1884.
Calcutta: Bombay:
THACKER, SPINK & Co. B.E.S. PRESS.
London:
TRÜBNER & Co.
1885.
BOMBAY : PRINTED AT THE EDUCATION SOCIETY'S PRESS. ​PREFACE. Ptolemy's *^ Treatise on Greography," likeliis famous work on astronomy to which it formed the seqael, was destined to govern the world's opinion on the subject of which it treated, from, the time of its publication until the dawn of the modern era, a period of about 1,300 years^ This treatise must have been composed in the interests of chartography rather than of geo» graphy, for the author's aim is not so much to describe the earth's surface as to lay down the principles on which maps should be con- structed, and to determine the latitude and longitude of places with a view to their being mapped in their proper positions. The principles he here laid down have proved of permanent validity, and are still practically applied in the art of map-construction, but his determinations of the position of places, owing to the paucity and imperfection of the astro- nomical observations on which, in combination with the existing measurements of terrestrial distances his conclusions were based, are all, with very few exceptions, incorrect. The work lost, of course, much of its old authority as soon as the discoveries of modern times had brought its grave and manifold errors to light. It did ​tV PREFACE. not, however, on this account cease to be of high interest and value as an antiquarian re- cord, if we may judge from the multiplicity of the learned disquisitions which have from time to time been published in elucidation of many points of Ptolemaic Geography. There is perhaps no part of the contents which has received more attention from scholars than the chapters relating to India, where the tables abound to a surprising extent with names which are found nowhere else in classi- cal literature, and which were doubtless ob- tained directly from Indian sources, rather than from reports of travellers or traders who had visited the country. On glancing over these names one cannot fail to remark how very few of them have any but the most distant resem- blance to the indigenous names which they must have been intended to represent. Philo- logists, however, have made persistent efforts to penetrate the disguise which conceals the original forms of the names so much dis- torted by Ptolemy, and have succeeded in establishing a great number of satisfactory identifications, as well as in hitting upon others which have a balance of probability in their favour — a similar service has been rendered by the archseological investigations which have now for many years been systematically prose- cuted under the auspices of the Indian Government. ​PREFACE. V THe present work has for its main object to show concisely wliat has been accomplished np to this time in this department of enquiry. It has been compiled from multifarious sources which are not easily accessible, as for instance from foreign publications not yet translated into our own language, and from the Journals and Transactions of various societies at home and abroad which concern themselves with Oriental literature. I venture therefore to hope that my com- pendium, which it has taken much time and laborious research to prepare, may meet with recognition and acceptance as a useful contri- bution to general literature, while proving also serviceable to scholars as a work of re- ference. I proceed now to indicate the method which I have followed in the treatment of my subject, and to specify the authorities on which I have principally relied. I have then, in an intro- ductory chapter, attempted to give a succinct account of the general nature of Ptolemy's geographical system, and this is followed by a translation of several chapters of his First Book which serve to exhibit his general mode of procedure in dealing with questions of Geo- graphy, and at the same time convey his views of the configuration of the coasts of India, both on this side the Ganges and beyond. In translating the text I have taken it in detach​Vi PREFACE. ments of convenient length, to each of which I have subjoined a commentary, the main object of which is — Ist, to show, as far as has been ascertained, how each place, named by Ptolemy in his Indian Tables has been identi- fied ; 2nd, to trace the origin or etymology of each name, so far as it is possible to do so ; and ' 3rd, to notice very concisely the most promi- nent facts in the ancient history of the places of importance mentioned. I have, as a rule? quoted the sources from which my information has been derived, but may here state that I have generally adopted the views of M. Vivien de Saint-Martin and those of Colonel Yule, whose map of ancient India in Smith's well- known historical Atlas of Ancient Geography is allowed on all hands to be the best that has yet been produced. These authors have examined the greater part of the Ptolemaic Greography of India, and their conclusions are for the most part coincident. The w^orks of Saint- Martin, which I have consulted, are these : mude sur la Geographie Grecque et Latine de Vlnde, et eii jparticulier sur Vlnde de Ftolemee^ dans ses rapports avec la Geographie Sanshrite j Memoire Analytique sur la Carte de VAsie Centrale et de Vlnde ; et ^tiide sur la Geographie et les popula- tions primitives du Nord-Ouest de Vlnde. d'apres les hymnes vediq_ues. Colonel Yule has expressed his views chiefly in the notes upon the map referred to, but also occasionally in the notes ​PREFACE. vii to kis edition of Marco Polo and in other works from his pen. Frequent reference will be found in my notes to that work of vast erudi- tion, Prof. Lassen's Indisclie Alter tlimmlcunde. Unfortunately the section which he has devoted to a full examination of Ptolemy's India is the least satisfactory portion of his work. His system of identification is based on a wrong principle, and many of the conclusions to which it has led are such as cannot be accepted. His work is notwithstanding, as Yule says, " a precious mine of material for the study of the amcient grography of India." For elucida- tions of the Ptolemaic geography of particular portions of India I have consulted with great advantage such works as the folloAving ,— Wilson's ArianaJntiqtm, General Cunningham's Geography of Ancient India, Vol. I. (all yet published), and his Eeports on the Archcwlogical Survey of India ; Bishop Caldwell's Introduc- tion to his Bravidian Grammar, valuable for identification of places in the south of the Peninsula; the Bombay Gazetteer, edited by . Mr. J. M. Campbell, who has carefully investi- gated the antiquities of that Presidency • the volumes of Asiatic Researches-, the Journals of the Boyal Asiatic Society and of the kindred Societies in India ; the Journals of the Boyal Geographical Society ; the articles on India and places m India in Smith's Dictionary of Cla^si^ cal Geography, ^viiien almost all by Mr ​Viii PreMCBi Vaux ; articles in the Indian Antiquary ; Ben* fej*s Indien in the Encyclopddie of Ersch and Gruber; the Abbe Halma's Traits de Geo*^ graphie de Claude PtoUmee, Paris, 1828 ; the Chapters on Marinus and Ptolemy's System of Geography in Bunbury's History of Ancient Geography j Prianlx's Indian Travels of ApoU lonius of Tyana^ &c. ; Stephanos of Byzantium On Cities ; Sir Emerson Tennent's Ceylon ; Sir H. Rawlinson*s articles on Central Asia which have appeared in various publications^ and other works which need not here be specified » There has recently been issued from the press of Firmin-Didot, Paris, the first volume of a new and most elaborate edition of Ptolemy's Geography, prepared by C. Miiller, the learned editor of the Geographi Graeoi Minor es^ but the work unfortunately has not advanced so far as to include the chapters which contain the geography of India* I would here take the opportunity of ex- pressing my obligations to Dr. Burgess, the late editor of the Indian Antiquary ^ for his careful revision of the proofs, and for sundry valuable suggestions. Having thought it advisable to extend the scope of the work beyond the limits originally contemplated, I have included in it those chapters of the geography in which China, Central Asia, and all the provinces adjacent to India are described. The reader is thus ​presented with the Ptolemaic Geography of the whole of Asia, with the exception only of those countries which from propinquity and frequency of intercourse were well known to the nations of the West.
In a short Appendix will be found some additional notes.
The present volume forms the fourth of the Series of Annotated Translations of the Works of the Classical Writers which relate to India. Another volume, containing Strabo's Indian Geography and the Accounts given by Arrian and Gurtius of the Makedonian Invasion of India, will complete the series.
3, Abbotsford Park, Edinburgh, June 1885. ​
CONTENTS.
1. On the Latitude of Byzantium and that of Tash-Knrghan (p. 14) ... 331 2. On Kouronla (pp. 22, 63-4) 331 3. On the Argaric Gulf and Argeirou (pp. 22, 59 and 60) 331 4. On Thelkheir (pp. 63 and 64) 332 5. On Orthoura (pp. 64 and 184) ... 332 6. On Arkatos (p. 64) 332 7. On the River Adamas (p.. 71) 333 8. On Mount Sardonyx (p. 77) 334 9. On Talara (p. 90) 334 10. On Pounnata (p. 180) 334 11. On Arembour (pp. 180, 182) ...... 334 12. On Abour (p. 184) 334 13. OnArgyra(p. 196) 334 14. On the Golden Khersonese (p. 197). 335 15. On the Loadstone rocks (p. 242). . 335 16. On the sandy deserts of Baktria (p. 270) 335 17. On the River Ochos (p. 273) 335 18. On the Avestic names of rivers, &c., in Afghanistan 336
PTOLEMY'S GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA AND SOUTHERN ASIA.
Introduction.
Ptolemy and his System of Geography.
Klaudios Ptolemaios, or as he is commonly called, Ptolemy, was distinguished alike as a Mathematician, a Musician, an Astronomer and a Geographer, and was altogether one of the most accomplished men of science that antiquity produced. His works were considered as of paramount authority from the time of their publication until the discoveries of modern times had begun to show their imperfections and errors. It is surprising that with all his fame, which had even in his own lifetime become pre-eminent, that the particulars of his personal history should be shrouded in all but total darkness. Nothing in fact is known for certain regarding him further than that he flourished in Alexandria about the middle of the 2nd century of our æra, in the reign of Antoninus Pius, whom he appears to have survived.
His work on Geography formed a sequel to his great work on Astronomy, commonly called the Almagest. From its title Γεωγραφικὴ Ὺφἠγησις, an Outline of Geography, we might be led to infer ​that it was a general treatise on the subject, like the comprehensive work of Strabo, but in reality it treats almost exclusively of Mathematical, or what may be called Cosmical, Geography. Ptolemy's object in composing it was not like that of the ordinary Geographer to describe places, but to correct and reform the map of the world in accordance with the increased knowledge which had been acquired of distant countries and with the improved state of science. He therefore limits his argument to an exposition of the geometrical principles on which Geography should be based, and to a determination of the position of places on the surface of the earth by their latitudes and longitudes. What he considered to be the proper method of determining geographical positions he states very clearly in the following passage: "The proper course," he says, "in drawing up a map of the world is to lay down as the basis of it those points that were determined by the most correct (astronomical) observations, and to fit into it those derived from other sources, so that their positions may suit as well as possible with the principal points thus laid down in the first instance."
Unfortunately, as Bimbury remarks, it was impossible for him to carry out in practice—even approximately—the scheme that he had so well laid down in theory. The astronomical observations to which he could refer were but few—and they were withal either so defective or so inaccurate that he could not use them with ​fidence. At the same time his information concerning many parts of the earth, whether owing to their remoteness or the conflicting accounts of travellers regarding them, was imperfect in the extreme. The extent, however, of his geo^aphical knowledge was far' greater than that possessed by any of his predecessors, and he had access to sources of information which enabled him to correct many of the errors into which they had, fallen.
He was induced to undertake the composition of his Geography through his being dissatisfied more or less with all the existing systems. There was however one work — that of his immediate • precursor, Marinos of Tyre — ^which approximated somewhat closely to his ideal, and which he therefore made the basis of his own treatise. Marines, he tell us, had collected his materials with the most praiseworthy diligence, and had moreover sifted them both with care and judgment. He points out, however, that his system required correction both as to the method of delineating the sphere on a plane surface, and as to the computation of distances, which he generally exaggerated. He censures him likewise for having assigned to the known world too great a length from west to east, and too great a breadth from north to south.
Of Ptolemy's own system, the more prominent characteristics may now be noted : He assumed the earth to be a sphere, and adopting the estimate of Poseidonios fixed its circumference at 180,000 stadia, thus making the length of a degree at the equator to be only 500 stadia, instead of 60O, which ​is its real length. To this fundamental miscalculation may be referred not a few of the most serious errors to be found in his work. With regard to the question of the length and the breadth of the inhabited part of the earth, a question of first importance in those days, he estimated its length as measured along the parallel of Rhodes which divided the then known world into two nearly equal portions at 72,000 stadia, and its breadth at 40,000. The meridian in the west from which he calculated his longitudes was that which passed through the Islands of the Blest (Μακάρων Νῆσοι) probably the Canary Islands, and his most ​eastern meridian was that which passed through the Metropolis of the Sinai, which he calls Sinai or Thinai, and places in 180° 40′ E. Long. and 3° S. Lat. The distance of this meridian from that of Alexandria he estimated at 119½ degrees, and the distance of the first meridian from the same at 60½ degrees, making together 180 degrees, or exactly one-half of the circumference of the earth. His estimate of the breadth he obtained by fixing the southern limit of the inhabited parts in the parallel of 16¼ degrees of South Latitude, which passes through a point as far south of the Equator as Meroë is north of it. And by fixing the northern limit in the parallel of 63 degrees North Latitude, which passes through Thoulê (probably the Shetland Islands), a space of nearly 80 degrees was thus included between the two parallels, and this was equivalent in Ptolemy’s mode of reckoning to 40,000 stadia.
Having made these determinations he had next to consider in what mode the surface of the earth with its meridians of longitude and parallels of latitude should be represented on a sphere and on a plane surface—of the two modes of delineation that on the sphere is the much easier to make, as it involves no method of projection, but a map drawn on a plane is far more convenient for use, as it presents simultaneously to the eye a far greater extent of surface. Marinos had drawn his map of the world on a plane, but his method ​ of projection was altogether unsatisfactory. It is thus described by Ptolemy: Marinos, he says, on account of the importance of the countries around the Mediterranean, kept as his base the line fixed on of old by Eratosthenes, viz., the parallel through Rhodes in the 36th degree of north latitude. He then calculated the length of a degree along this parallel, and found it to contain 400 stadia, the equatorial degree being taken at 500. Having divided this parallel into degrees he drew perpendiculars through the points of division for the meridians, and his parallels of latitude were straight lines parallel to that which passed through Rhodes. The imper- fections of such a projection are obvious. It represented the parts of the earth north of the parallel of Rhodes much beyond, and those south of it much below, their proper length. Places again to the north of the line stood too far apart from each other, and those to the south of it too close together. The projection, moreover, is an erroneous representation, since the parallels of latitude ought to be circular arcs and not straight lines.
Ptolemy having pointed out these objections to the system of Marinos proceeds to explain the methods which he himself employed. We need say nothing more regarding them than that they were such as presented a near approximation to some of those which are still in use among modern Geographers.
Ptolemy's treatise is divided into 8 books. In the 1st or introductory book he treats first of Geography generally-he then explains and ​ criticizes the system of Marinos, and concludes by describing the methods of projection which may be employed in the construction of maps. The next 6 books and the first 4 chapters of the 7th book consist of tables which give distinctly in degrees and parts of a degree the latitudes and longitudes of all the places in his map. These places are arranged together in sections accord- ing to the country or tribe to which they belong, and each section has prefixed to it a brief de- scription of the boundaries and divisions of the part about to be noticed. Descriptive notices are also occasionally interspersed among the lists, but the number of such is by no means considerable. The remainder of the 7th book and the whole of the 8th are occupied with a description of a series of maps which, it would appear, had been prepared to accompany the publication of the work, and which are still extant. The number of the maps is twenty-six, viz. 10 for Europe, 4 for Libya, and 12 for Asia. They are drawn to different scales, larger or smaller, according as the division represented was more or less known. He gives for each map the latitudes and longitudes of a certain number of the most important cities contained in it, but these positions were not given in the same manner as in the tables, for the latitudes are now denoted by the length of the longest day and the longitudes according to the difference of time from Alexandria. It might be supposed that the positions in question were such as had been determined by actual astronomical observa- tions, as distinguished from those in the Tables, which were for the most part derived from itine​raries, or from records of voyages and travels. This supposition is however untenable, for we find that while the statements as to the length of the longest days at the selected places are always correct for the latitudes assigned them, they are often glaringly wrong for their real positions. Ptolemy, it is evident, first mapped out in the best way he could the places, and then calculated for the more impoi-tant of these places the astronomical phenomena incident to them as so situated. I conclude by presenting the reader with a translation of some chapters of the Introductory Book,* where Ptolemy in reviewing the estimate made by Marinos of the length of the known world from west to east, has frequent occasion to mention India and the Provinces beyond the Ganges, which together constitute what is now called Indo- China.
Book L, Cap. 11.
§ 1 . What has now been stated will suffice to show us what extent in breadth it would be fair to assign to the inhabited world. Its length is given by Marinos at 15 hours, this being the distance comprised between his two extreme meridians — but in our opinion ho has unduly extended the distance towards the east. In fact, if the estimate be properly reduced in this direction the entire length must be fixed at less than 12 hours, the Islands of the Blest being taken as the limit towards ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/24 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/25 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/26 ​ his estimates of the distances beyond Hierapolis require correction. § 4. He computes the distance from the passage of the Euphrates already mentioned to the Stone Tower' at 876
"One of the circumstances of the route that Pto- lemy has reproduced from Marinos is that on leaving Baktra the traveller directed his course for a long enough time towards the North. Assuredly the caravans touched at Samarkand (the Marakanda of Greek authors) which was then, as now, one of the important centres of the region beyond the Oxus. For passing from Sogdia- na to the east of the snowy range, which covers the sources of the Jaxartes and the Oxus, three main routes have existed at all times: that of the south, which ascends the high valleys of the Oxus through Badakshân; that in the centre, which goes directly to Kashgar by the high valleys of the Syr-Darya or Jaxartes; and lastly that of the north, which goes down a part of the middle valley of the Jaxartes before turning to the east towards Chinese Tartary. Of these three routes, the itinerary of the Greek merchants could only apply to the 2nd or the 3rd ; and if, as has been for a long time supposed with much probability, the Stone Tower of the Itinerary is found in an important place belonging to the valley of the Jaxartes, of which the name Tåshkand has precisely the same meaning in the language of the Turkomâns, it would be the northern route that the caravan of Maës would have followed. The march of seven months in advancing constantly towards the east leads necessarily towards the north of China (Saint-Martin, Étude, pp. 428-9.) Sir H. Rawlinson however assigns it a more southern position, placing it at Tash-kurghan, an ancient city which was of old the capital of the Sarik-kul territory, a district lying between Yarkand and Badak- shan, and known to the Chinese as Ko-panto. The walls of Tash-kurghan are built of unusually large blocks of stone. It was no doubt, Sir Henry remarks, owing to the massive materials of which it was built, that it received the name of Tash-kurghan or the 'Stone Fort,' and it seems to have every claim to represent the Niðivos Túpyos of Ptolemy, where the caravans rendez- voused before entering China, in preference to Tashkand or Ush, which have been selected as the site of the Stone Tower by other geographers."-Jour. R. Geog. Soc. vol. XLII, p. 327. ​ aehoani or 26,280 stadia, and from the Stone Tower to S^ra, the metropolis of the Sdres, at a 7 months'" journey or 36»200 stadia as reckoned along the same parallel. Now in neither case has he made the proper deductions for the excess caused by deviations ; and for the second route he falls into the same absurdity as when he estimated the distance from the Garamantes to Agisymba § 5. Where he had to deduct above half of the stadia in the march of the 3 months and 14 days, since such a march could not possibly have been accomplished without halting. ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/29 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/30 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/31 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/32 ​the Hellespont. The route after this rami in an eastward direction to B a k t r a whence it turns towards the north in ascending the mountains of the Komddoit and then in passing through these mountains it pursues a southern course as far as the ravine that opens into the plain country. § 8. For the northern parts of the mountain region and those furthest to the west where the ascent begins, are placed by him under the parallel of Byzantium, and those in the south and the east under the parallel of the Hellespont. For this reason, he says, that this route makes a detour of equal length in opposite directions, that in advancing to the east it bends towards the south, and thereafter probably runs up towards the north for 50 schoent, till it reaches the Stone Tower. § 9. For to quote his own ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/34 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/35 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/36 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/37 ​distance right across may, therefore, be estimated at about 2,030 stadia, since we have to deduct a third because of the navigation having followed the curvature of the Gulf, and have also to make allowances for irregularities in the length of the courses run. § 3. If now we further reduce this amount by a third, because the sailing, though subject to interruption, was taken as continuous, there remain 1,850 stadia, determining the position of Kouroula as situated north-east from Kory. § 4. If now this distance be referred to a line running parallel to the equator and towards the East, and we reduce its length by half in accordance with the intercepted angle, we shall have as the distance between the meridian of Kouroula and that of K6ry, 675 stadia, or 1^ degree, since the parallels of these places do not differ materially from the great circle.
§ 6. But to proceed : the course of the voyage from Kouroura lies, he says, to the southeast as far as Paloura, the distance being 9,450 stadia. Here, if we deduct as before one-third for the irregularities in the length of the courses, we shall have the distance on account of the navigation having been continuous to ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/39 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/40 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/41 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/42 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/43 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/44 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/45 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/46 ​data, upon which such a map must mainly be founded upon anything like sound "critical principles. But it must be confessed that the result is far from encouraging. So small a proportion of Ptolemy's names can find a place at all, and so many of those even that appear on the map are admitted by its author to rest upon very dubious authority; that we remain almost wholly in the dark as to the greater part of his voluminous catalogues; and are equally unable to identify the localities which he meant to designate, and to pronounce an opinion upon the real value of his materials."
Book VII.
Contents.
Déscription of the furthest parts of Greater Asia, according to the existing provinces and Satrapies.
1. [Tenth Map]
of India within the River Ganges.
2. [Eleventh Map]
of India beyond the Ganges.
of the Sinai.
3. [Twelfth Map]
of the Island of Taprobané and the islands surrounding it.
4. Outline Sketch of the Map of the Inhabited World.
Delineation of the Armillary Sphere with the Inhabited World.
Sketch of the World in Projection.
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Cap. I.
Description of India within the Ganges.
§ 1. India within the river Gangesis bounded on the west by the Paropanisadai and Arakhôsia and Gedrôsia along their eastern sides already indicated; on the north by Mount Imaös along the Sogdiaioi and the Sakai lying above it; on the east by the river Ganges; and on the south and again on the west by a portion of the Indian Ocean. The circuit of the coast of this ocean is thus described:-
2. In Syrastrênê, on the Gulf called Kanthi, a roadstead and harbour..109° 30' 20°
The most western mouth of the River Indus called Sagapa ..110° 20' 19° 50'
The next mouth called Sinthôn .....110° 40' 19° 50'
The 3rd mouth called Khrysoun (the Golden) ....111° 20' 19° 50'
The 4th called Kariphron ..111° 40' 19° 50'
The 5th called Sapara ......112° 30' 19° 50'
The 6th called Sabalaessa ...113° 20° 15'
The 7th called Lônibarê 113° 30' 20° 15'
3. Bardaxêma, a town ...113° 40' 19 40'
Syrastra, a village ....114° 19° 30'
Monoglôsson, a mart ......114° 10' 18° 40
Comment.-Strabo, following Eratosthenes, regarded the Indus as the boundary of India on the west, and this is the view which has been generally prevalent. Ptolemy, however, included within India ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/51 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/52 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/53 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/54 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/55 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/56 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/57 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/58 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/59 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/60 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/61 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/62 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/63 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/64 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/65 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/66 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/67 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/68 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/69 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/70 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/71 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/72 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/73 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/74 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/75 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/76 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/77 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/78 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/79 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/80 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/81 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/82 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/83 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/84 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/85 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/86 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/87 ​71
Mouth of the M a n a d a : — Ptolemy enumerates four rivers which enter the Gulf between Kanna- gara and the western mouth of the Ganges, the Manada, the Tyndis, the Dosaron and the Adamas. These would seem to be identical respectively with the four great rivers belonging to this part of the coast which succeed each other in the following order: — The MahS^nadi, the Brahmani, the Vaitarani and the Suvarnarekha, and this is the mode of identification which Lassen has adopted. With regard to the Manada there can be no doubt that it is the Mahdnadi, the great river of Orissa at the bifurcation of which Katak the capital is situated. The name is a Sanskrit compound, meaning * great river.' Yule differs from Lassen with regard to the other identifications, making the Tyndis one of the branches of the Mahdnadi, the Dosaron, — the Brahmani, the Adamas, — the Vaitarani, and the Kambyson (which is Ptolemy's western mouth of the Ganges) — the Suvarnarekha.
The Dosaron is the river of the region in- habited by the Dasamas, a people mentioned in the Vishnu Purdna as belonging to the south-east of Madhya-desa in juxta-position to the Sabaras, or Suars. The word is supposed to be from damn * ten,' and fina * a fort,' and so to mean 'the tenforts.'
Adamas is a Greek word meaning diamond. The true Adamas, Yule observes, was in all probability the Sank branch of the Brahmani, from which diamonds were got in the days of Mogul splendour.
Sip para: — The name is taken by Yule as ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/89 ​ The fourth mouth, Pseudosto- mon.... 147° 40′ 18° 30′
The fifth mouth, Antibolê ...148° 30′ 18° 15′
Ptolemy appears to have been the first writer who gave to the western world any definite infor- mation concerning that part of the Bengal Coast which receives the waters of the Ganges. His predecessors had indeed excelled him in the ful- ness and accuracy with which they had described the general course of the river, but they did not know, except in the very vaguest way, either where or how it entered the sea. Strabo, for instance, was not even aware that it had more than a single mouth. Ptolemy, on the other hand, mentions by name five of its mouths, and his estimate of the distance between the most western and the most eastern of these (4 degrees of latitude) is not very wide of the mark. Some traces also of his no- menclature are still to be found. It is difficult, however, to identify the mouths he has named with those now existing, as the Ganges, like the Indus, has shifted some of its channels, and other- wise altered the hydrography of its delta. Opi- nions differ regarding the western mouth, called the Kambyson. One would naturally take it to be the Hughlî river, on which Calcutta stands, and V. de Saint-Martin accordingly adopts this identification. It is impossible to doubt, he says, that the Kambysum is the Hughlî river, which must have been at all times one of the principal outlets, as is proved historically by the mention of Tâmraliptâ, 600 years before our æra, as one of the most frequented ports of Eastern India. It would be possible enough, he continues, that
10 G ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/91 ​ is the Dhakka or old Ganges river, and seems to have been the limit of India and the point from which measurements and distances relating to countries in India were frequently made.
In connexion with the river-mouths Ptolemy mentions two towns, Poloura and Tilogram- - mon. The former is placed in Yule's map at Jelasur, near the Subanrêkha, and the latter at Jesor. Its name seems to be compounded of the two Sanskrit words tila, sesamum,' and gráma, ' a village or township.'
Ptolemy having thus described the whole sea- coast of India, from the mouths of the Indus to those of the Ganges, gives next a list of its mountain ranges, together with figures of Latitude and Longi- tude, showing the limits of the length of each range as well as the direction.
19. The mountains belonging to Intra- gangetic India are named as follows:- The Apokopa, called Poinai Theon, which ex- tend from long. 116° to 124° and from lat. 23° at their western limit to 26° at the eastern.
20. Mount Sardônyx, in which is found the precious stone of the same name, and whose middle point is in long. 117º and lat. 21°.
21. Mount Ouïndion (Vindion) which ex- tends from 126° to 135°, and preserves from its western to its eastern limit a uniform latitude of 27°.
Ptolemy enumerates seven of these, probably following some native list framed in accordance with the native idea that seven principal mountains existed in each division of a continent. A ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/93 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/94 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/95 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/96 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/97 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/98 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/99 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/100 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/101 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/102 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/103 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/104 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/105 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/106 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/107 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/108 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/109 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/110 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/111 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/112 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/113 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/114 ​
in Buddhist legend under the second name. The navigable Prinas or Pinnas is perhaps Puny&, now Piinptin, one of the same cluster. Sonus instead of being a duplicate of Erannoboas, may be a branch of the Gaya river, still called Sona. Andomatis flowing from the Madiandini, i.e., '* Meridionales" is perhaps the Andhela, one of the names of the Chandan river of BhagalpAr. Kainas, navigable, is not likely to be the Ken of Bundelkhand, the old form of which is Karziavati, but more probably the Kay&na or Koh&na of GorakhpAr. It is now a tributary of the lower Gh&gr&, but the lower course of that river has shifted much, and the map suggests that both the Rapti (Solomatis of Lassen) and Kayana may have entered the Ganges directly." For the identification of the other rivers in the list see my article in the Indian Antiquary, vol. V, p. 331.
Diamouna ; — In this it is easy to recognize the Yamun&, the river which after passing Dehli, Mathura, Agra, and other places, joins the Ganges, of which it is the largest affluent at Allahabad. It rises from hot springs amid Himalayan snows, not far westward from the sources of the Ganges. Arrian singularly enough has omitted it from his list of the Ganges affluents, but it is no doubt the river which he subsequently mentions as the J o b a r e s and which flows, he says, through the country of the Sourasenoi, an Indian tribe possessing two large cities, Methora and Kleisobara (Krishnapura ?) Pliny (lib. yi, c. xix) calls it the Jomanes, and states that it flows into the Ganges through the Palibothri, between the towns of Methora and Chrysobara (Krishnapura ?) The ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/116 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/117 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/118 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/119 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/120 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/121 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/122 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/123 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/124 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/125 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/126 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/127 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/128 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/129 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/130 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/131 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/132 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/133 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/134 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/135 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/136 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/137 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/138 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/139 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/140 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/141 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/142 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/143 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/144 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/145 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/146 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/147 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/148 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/149 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/150 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/151 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/152 ​ four towns can be identified. (See Lassen, Ind. Alt. vol. I, p. 602; Étude, p. 326). Yule, however, points out that this territory is one of those which the endeavour to make Ptolemy's names cover the whole of India has greatly dislocated, transporting it from the S. W. of Rajputâna to the vicinity of Bahår. His map locates Sandra- bitis (Chandrabati) between the River Mahî and the Arâvali mountains.
55. And further, all the country along the rest of the course of the Indus is called by the general name of Indo-Skythia. Of this the insular portion formed by the bifurcation of the river towards its mouth is Patalênê, and the region above this is Abiria, and the region about the mouths of the Indus and Gulf of Kanthi is Syrastrênê. The towns of Indo-Skythia are these: to the west of the river at some distance therefrom:-
56. Artoarta......121° 30′ 31° 15'
Andrapana... .121° 15' 30° 40'
Sabana..................122° 20' 32°
Banagara.....................122° 15′30° 40′
Kodrana................121° 15′ 29° 20'
Ptolemy from his excursion to the Upper Ganges now reverts to the Indus and completes its geogra- phy by describing Indo-Skythia, a vast region which comprised all the countries traversed by the Indus, from where it is joined by the river of Kâbul onward to the ocean. We have already pointed out how Ptolemy's description is here vitiated by his making the combined stream of the Panjab ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/154 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/155 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/156 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/157 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/158 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/159 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/160 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/161 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/162 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/163 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/164 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/165 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/166 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/167 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/168 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/169 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/170 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/171 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/172 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/173 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/174 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/175 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/176 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/177 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/178 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/179 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/180 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/181 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/182 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/183 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/184 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/185 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/186 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/187 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/188 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/189 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/190 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/191 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/192 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/193 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/194 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/195 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/196 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/197 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/198 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/199 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/200 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/201 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/202 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/203 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/204 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/205 ​figures he has taken this to be an island lying between Cape Kumârî (Comorin) and Taprobanê (Ceylon).
Kôry:—It has already been noticed that Kôry was both the name of the Island of Râmêśvaram and of the promontory in which it terminated.
Cap. 2.
Position of India beyond the Ganges.
1. India beyond the Ganges is bounded on the west by the river Ganges; on the north by the parts of Skythia and Sêrikê already described; on the east by the Sinai along the Meridian, which extends from the furthest limits of Sêrikê to the Great Gulf, and also by this gulf itself, on the south by the Indian Ocean and part of the Green Sea which stretches from the island of Menouthias in a line parallel to the equator, as far as the regions which lie opposite to the Great Gulf.
India beyond the Ganges comprised with Ptolemy not only the great plain between that river and the Himâlayas, but also all south-eastern Asia, as far as the country of the Sinai (China). Concerning these vast regions Ptolemy is our only ancient authority. Strabo's knowledge of the east was limited in this direction by the Ganges, and the author of the Periplûs, who was a later and intermediate writer, though he was aware that inhabited countries stretched far beyond that limit even onwards to the eastern end of the world, appears to have learned little more ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/207 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/208 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/209 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/210 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/211 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/212 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/213 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/214 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/215 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/216 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/217 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/218 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/219 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/220 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/221 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/222 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/223 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/224 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/225 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/226 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/227 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/228 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/229 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/230 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/231 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/232 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/233 ​ which means a marsh or place near a marsh, and hence Korygaza may be Gorakhpur, the situation of which is notably marshy.
15. Between the Imaös and Bêpyrrhos ranges the Ta koraioi are farthest north, and below them are the Korang kaloi, then the Passalai, after whom to the north of Maian- dros are the Tiladai, such being the name applied to the Bêseidai, for they are short of stature and broad and shaggy and broad- faced, but of a fair complexion.
Takoraioi:-This tribe occupied the valleys at the foot of the mountains above Eastern Kôsala and adjoined the Tanganoi. The Tangaṇas are mentioned among the tribes of the north in the lists of the Brihat Sanhitâ (IX, 17; X, 12; XIV, 29). They have left numerous descendants in different parts of Gangetic India. A particular clan in Rohilkhand not far from the seats of the Takoraioi preserves still the name under the form Dakhaura (Elliot's Supplementary Glossary of Indian terms, p. 360), and other branches are met with near the Jamnâ and in Rajputâna. Towards the east again the Dekra form a considerable part of the population of Western Asâm (J. A. S. Beng., vol. XVIII, p. 712).
Korang kaloi;-These are probably of the same stock, if not actually the same people, as Korankâra of the Puranas (Asiat. Research., vol. VIII), and the Kyankdanis of Shêkavati. Their position is near the sources of the Gaṇḍak. Passalai:-The Passalai here mentioned are not to be confounded with the Passalai of the Doab.
28 G ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/235 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/236 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/237 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/238 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/239 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/240 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/241 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/242 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/243 ​fusian therefram resulting; but this absence, almoirt absolute, of connexion does only render the task of the critic all the more laborious and unwelcome and there results from it strange mistakes for those who without sufficiently taking into account the composition of this part of the Tables, have believed they could find in the relative positions which the places have there taken a sufficient means of identification. It would only throw one into the risk of error to seek for correspondences to these obscure names^ (of which there is nothing to guarantee the correctness, and where there is not a single name that is assigned to a definite territory,) in the resemblances, more or less close, which oould be furnished by a topographical dictionary of India."
Selampoura : — This suggests Selenrpur, a place situated at some distance north of the Devat or lower S'arayA. The identity of the names is our only warrant for taking them as applying to one and the same town ; but as the two places which follow belong to the same part of the country, the identification is in some measura supported. Selempur is situated on a tributary of the SarayA, the little Gandak.
Kanogiza : — This is beyond doubt the famous city of Kanyakubja or Kanauj, which has already been noticed under the list of towns attributed to PrasiakS, where the name is given as Kanagors. Ptolemy, while giving here the name more correctly has put the city hopelessly out of its position with reference to the Ganges, from which he has removed it several degrees, though it stood upon its banks. Among Indian cities it ranks next in ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/245 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/246 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/247 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/248 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/249 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/250 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/251 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/252 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/253 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/254 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/255 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/256 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/257 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/258 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/259 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/260 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/261 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/262 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/263 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/264 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/265 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/266 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/267 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/268 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/269 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/270 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/271 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/272 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/273 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/274 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/275 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/276 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/277 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/278 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/279 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/280 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/281 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/282 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/283 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/284 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/285 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/286 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/287 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/288 ​ Indus even to the ocean, and southward along the coast as far as the mouth of the Narmadâ. The names of these kings have been recovered from their coins found in great numbers both in India and in Afghanistan. This Graeko-Baktrian empire, after having subsisted for about two centuries and a half, was finally overthrown by the invasion of different hordes of the Sakai, named, as Strabo informs us, the Asioi, Pasianoi, Tokharoi and Sakarauloi.These Sakai yielded in their turn to barbarians of their own kindred or at least of their own type, the Skythians, who gave their name to the Indus valley and the regions adjoining the Gulf of Khambhât. Among the most notable Indo-Skythian kings were Kadphises and Kanerkes who reigned at the end of the first and the beginning of the second century of our æra and, therefore, not very long before the time of Ptolemy. Between the Indo- Skythian and Muhammadan periods was inter- posed the predominancy of Persia in the regions of which we have been speaking.
Ptolemy mentions five rivers which fall into the Oxos: the Okhos, Dargamanês, Zariaspis, Arta- mis, and Dargoidos, of which the Zariaspis and Artamis unite before reaching the Oxos. Ptole- my's account cannot he reconciled with the existing hydrography of the country. The Dargamanês is called by Ammianus (lib. XXIII, c. vi) the Orga​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/290 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/291 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/292 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/293 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/294 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/295 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/296 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/297 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/298 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/299 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/300 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/301 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/302 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - 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Oxeia, 249, 258 '
Oxeian Lake 275, 281, 325 Oieian, Mts. ... 274, 276
Oxeiana 276
Oxeianoi 276
Oxus, R. 88, 260, 267-8,
276-9, 286
Oxydr&ngkai- 276
Ozene 38,152, 154-5
Ozoabia 158
Ozoana.... 168. 171
Ozola(or Axola)...... 316
Pagrasa 202
Pakidare 38
Palaiogonoi 252-3
Palaipatmai 45
Palai-Simonndou ...252-3
Palk's Passage 60
Palanda 226
Palandos, R. ...198, 208-9
PaU 45
Paliana 299
Palibothra (Patna) 19, 30, 99. 132, 167, 168-9
PaUbothri 98
Paloura23, 63, 67-70, 180
Pamir Plateau 278n
46 G
PAGE jr auasa ••. ... ... ••...• xov/ - l
Panassa 164, 166-7
Panch&la 131, 133
Pandasa 226.235
Pandionoi 51. 18?
Pandion's Land 59
Pandouoi 121
Pandu'sFort 133
Paniardoi 287
Panj&b, Rivers of ... 88 Panj&b rivers, conflu- ence of ....91,94
Pajijkora.. 87
Panjpiir 143
PaSjshir 312
Panjshir.R 112
Pantipolis 180
Parabali 151
Paradene 320
Parakanake 308
Paralia ...64, 63, 64, 184
Parasbni, R 85
Parautoi 306, 312
Pardabathra 142
Pardwa or Priya-
deva 150
Paripdtra or Pariya-
tra 76
Parri&s&,R 166
Pamoi 263, 266
Paropanisadai,34, 310- 13,
328 Paropanisos, Mt. ... 268 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/379 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/380 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/381 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/382 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/383 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/384 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/385 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/386 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/387 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/388 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/389 ​Page:Ancient India as described by Ptolemy - John Watson McCrindle.djvu/390
* ↑ Book I. cap. 4. The translation is Bunbury's.
* ↑ The Olympic stadium, which was in general use throughout Greece, contained 600 Greek feet, which were equal to 625 Roman feet, or 606¾ English feet. The Roman mile contained 8 stadia, or about half a stadium less than an English mile. A stadium of 600 Greek feet was very nearly the 600th part of a degree, and 10 stadia are therefore just about equal to a Nautical or Geographical mile. According to Eratosthenes, a degree at the Equator was equal to 700 stadia, but according to Poseidônios it was equal to only 500. The truth lay between, but Ptolemy unfortunately followed Poseidônios in his error.
* ↑ "The equinoctial line was of course perfectly fixed and definite in Ptolemy's mind, as an astronomical line; but he had no means of assigning its position on the Map of the World, except with reference to other parallels, such as the tropic at Syene, or the parallels of Alexandria and Rhodes, which had been determined by direct observation."—Bunbury, Hist. of Anc. Geog., vol. II, p. 560, n. 2.
* ↑ The Island of Ferro—the westernmost of the Group of the Canaries, which was long taken as the prime meridian, and is still so taken in Germany—is really situated 18° 20′ west of Greenwich, while Capo St. Vincent (called anciently the Sacred Cape) is just about 9°, so that the real difference between the two amounted to 9° 20′ instead of only 2½°. Two corrections must therefore be applied to Ptolemy's longitudes—one-sixth must be deducted because of his under-estimate of the length of a degree along the Equator, and 6° 50′ must be added bocause Ferro was so much further west than ho supposed. Subject to those corrections his longitudes would be fairly accurate, provided his calculations of distances were otherwise free from error.
* ↑ According to Herodotos (lib. II, o. vi), the achoinoa was equal to two Persian para«an$r8 or 60 stadia, bat it was a very vague and uncertain measure, varying as Strabo informs us (lib. XVII, c. i, 24) from 30 to 120 stadia. In the case before us, it was taken as equivalent to theparaeang of 30 stadia and afforded with correction some approximation to the truth.
* ↑ The Soman arms had been carried during the reign of Augustus (B. C. 19) as far as the land of the (Garamantes, the modem Fezzan, and though the Boman Emperors never attempted to establish their dominion over the country, they appear to have per- manently maintained friendly relations with its rulers, which enabled their officers to make use of the oasis of the Qaramantes as their point of departure from which to penetrate further into the interior. Setting out from thence, a (General named Septimius Plancus 'arrived at the land of the Ethiopians, after a march of 3 months towards the south.' Another (I!ommander named Julius Maternus, apparently at a later date, setting out from Leptis Magna, proceeded from thence to Garama, where he united his forces with those of the king of the Garamantes, who was himself undertaking a hostile expedition against the Ethiopians, and their combined armies 'after marching for four months towards the south,' arrived at a country inhabited by Ethiopians, called Agisymba, in which rhinoceroses abounded.*' — Bunbury, Hiat, of Anc, Oeog., vol. II, pp. 522-3.
* ↑ The aotnal latitudes of the places here mentioned may be compared with those of Ptolemy : — Beal Lat. Ptolemy's Lat. Byzantium 41° 43° 5' HeUespont 40°41° 15' Smyrna 88° 28' 88° 35' Issus 37° 36° 85' Ehodes 30° 24' 36° 25' Hierapolis 86° 28' 36° 15' Ekbatana 34°60' 37°45' Kaspian Gates 35°30' 37° Hekatompylos 35° 40' 37° 50' Antiokheia (Merv) 37° 35' 40° 20' Baktra (Balkh) 36° 40' 41° Stone Tower (TAshkand) 42° 58' 43° Sera Metropolis (Ho-nan) 38° 35' 83° 68'
* ↑ By the intercepted angle is meant the angle contained by two straight lines drawn from Kdry, one running north-east to Kouroula and the other parallel to the Equator. In Ptolemy's map Kouroula is so placed that its distance in a straight line from Kory is about double the distance between the meridians of those two places.
* ↑ The Wu-sun (of Chinese history) are apparently to be identified with the Asii or Asiani, who, according to Strabo occupied the upper waters of the Iaxartes, and who are classed as nomades with the Tokhari and Sakarauli (? Sara-Kauli, i.e., Sarikulis).-Kingsmill, in J. R. A. S., N. S., vol. XIV, p. 79.
This work was published before January 1, 1930, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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