# Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian/Cap. IV.

​IV. But I am unable to give with assurance of being accurate any information regarding the regions beyond the Hyphasis, since the progress of Alexander was arrested by that river. But to recur to the two greatest rivers, the Ganges and the Indus. Megasthenês states that of the two the Ganges is much the larger, and other writers who mention the Ganges agree with him; for, besides being of ample volume even where it issues from its springs, it receives as tributaries the river Kaïnas, and the Erannoboas, and the Kossoanos, which are all navigable. It receives, besides, the river Sonos and the Sittokatis, and the Solomatis, which are also navigable, and also the Kondochatês, and the Sambos, and the Magôn, and the Agoranis, and the Omalis. Moreover there fall into it the Kommenasês, a great river, and the Kakouthis, and the Andomatis, which flows from the dominions of the Madyandinoi, an Indian tribe. In ​addition to all these, the Amystis, which flows past the city Katadupa, and the Oxymagis from the dominions of a tribe called the Pazalai, and the Errenysis from the Mathai, an Indian tribe, unite with the Ganges. ​ Regarding these streams Megasthenês asserts that none of them is inferior to the Mai​andros, even at the navigable part of its course; and as for the Ganges, it has a breadth where ​narrowest of one hundred stadia, while in many places it spreads out into lakes, so that when the country happens to be flat and destitute of elevations the opposite shores cannot be seen from each other. The Indus presents also, he says, similar characteristics. The Hydraôtês, flowing from the dominions of the Kambistholi, falls into the Akesinês after receiving the Hyphasis in its passage through the Astrybai, as well as the Saranges from the Kekians, and the Neudros from the Attakenoi. The Hydaspês again, rising in the dominions of the Oxydrakai, and bringing with it the Sinaros, received in the dominion of the Arispai, falls itself into the Akesinês, while the Akesinês joins the Indus in the dominions of the Malloi, but not until it has received the waters of a great ​tributary, the Toutapos. Augmented by all these confluents the Akesinês succeeds in imposing its name on the combined waters, and still retains it till it unites with the Indus. The Kôphen, too, falls into the Indus, rising in Peukelaïtis, and bringing with it the Malantos, and the Soastos, and the Garroia. Higher up than these, the Parenos and Sapaṛnos, at no great distance from each other, empty themselves into the Indus, as does also the Soanos, which comes without a tributary from the hill-country of the Abissareans. ​According to Megasthenês most of these rivers are navigable. We ought not, therefore, to ​distrust what we are told regarding the Indus and the Ganges, that they are beyond comparison greater than the Ister and the Nile. In the case of the Nile we know that it does not receive any tributary, but that, on the contrary, in its passage through Egypt its waters are drawn off to fill the canals. As for the Ister, it is but an insignificant stream at its sources, and though it no doubt receives many confluents, still these are neither equal in number to the confluents of the Indus and ​Ganges, nor are they navigable like them, if we except a very few,—as, for instance, the Inn, and Save which I have myself seen. The Inn joins the Ister where the Noricans march with the Rhætians, and the Save in the dominions of the Pannonians, at a place which is called Taurunum. Some one may perhaps know other navigable tributaries of the Danube, but the number certainly cannot be great.
* ↑ Arrian here enumerates seventeen tributaries of the Ganges. The number is given as nineteen by Pliny, who adds the Prinas and the Jomanês, which Arrian elsewhere (cap. viii.) mentions under the name of the Jobares. These tributaries have been nearly all identified by the researches of such learned men as Rennel, Wilford, Schlegel, Lassen, and Schwanbeck. M. de St.-Martin, in reviewing their conclusions, clears up a few points which they had left in doubt, or wherein he thinks they had erred. I shall now show how each of the nineteen tributaries has been identified.Kaïnas.—This has been identified with the Kan, or Kane, or Kêna, which, however, is only indirectly a tributary of the Ganges, as it falls into the Jamnâ. The Sanskṛit name of the Kan is Śena, and Schwanbeck (p. 36) objects to the identification that the Greeks invariably represent the Sanskṛit ê by their η, and never by αι. St. Martin attaches no importance to this objection, and gives the Sanskṛit equivalent as Kâiana.Erranoboas.—As Arrian informs us (cap. x.) that Palimbothra (Pâțaliputra, Pâṭnâ) was situated at the confluence of this river with the Ganges, it must be identified with the river Sôn, which formerly joined the Ganges a little above Bankipur, the western suburb of Pâṭnâ, from which its embouchure is now 16 miles distant and higher up the Ganges. The word no doubt represents the Sanskṛit Hiranyavâha ('carrying gold') or Hiranyabâhu ('having golden arms'), which are both poetical names of the Sôn. Megasthenês, however, and Arrian, both make the Erannoboas and the Sôn to be distinct rivers, and hence some would identify the former with the Gandak (Sanskṛit Gandaki), which, according to Lassen, was called by the Buddhists Hiranyavati, or 'the golden.' It is, however, too small a stream to suit the description of the Erannoboas, that it was the largest river in India after the Ganges and Indus. The Sôn may perhaps in the time of Megasthenês have joined the Ganges by two channels, which he may have mistaken for separate rivers. Kosoanos.—Cosoagus is the form of the name in Pliny, and hence it has been taken to be the representative of the Sanskṛit Kaushiki, the river now called the Kosi. Schwanbeck, however, thinks it represents the Sanskṛit Kośâvâha ('treasure-bearing'), and that it is therefore an epithet of the Sôn, like Hiranyavâha, which has the same meaning. It seems somewhat to favour this view that Arrian in his enumeration places the Kosoanos between the Erannoboas and the Sôn. Sônos.—The Sôn, which now joins the Ganges ten miles above Dinâpur. The word is considered to be a contraction of the Sanskṛit Suvarṇa (Suvanna), 'golden,' and may have been given as a name to the river either because its sands were yellow, or because they contained gold dust. Sittokatis.—It has not been ascertained what river was denoted by this name, but St.-Martin thinks it may be the representative of the Sadâkântâ—a river now unknown, but mentioned in the Mahâbhârata along with the Kouśadhârâ (the Kosi), the Sadânîrâ (the Karatoyâ), and the Adhrichya (the Atreyi), from which it is evident that it belonged to the northern parts of Bengal. Solomatis.—It has not been ascertained what river was denoted by this name. General Cunningham in one of his maps gives the Solomatis as a name of the Saranju or Sarju, a tributary of the Ghagrâ; while Benfey and others would identify it with the famous Sarasvatî or Sarsuti, which, according to the legends, after disappearing underground, joined the Ganges at Allahâbâd. There is more probability, however, in Lassen's suggestion, that the word somewhat erroneously transliterates Śarâvatî, the name of a city of Kośala mentioned by Kâlidâsa and in the Puranas, where it appears generally in the form Śravastî. This city stood on a river which, though nowhere mentioned by name, must also have been called Śarâvatî, since there is an obvious connexion between that name and the name by which the river of that district is now known—the Rapti. Kondochates.—Now the Gandak,—in Sanskṛit, Gandaki or Gandakavati (ρινοκερόεις),—because of its abounding in a kind of alligator having a horn-like projection on its nose. It skirted the eastern border of Kôśala, joining the Ganges opposite Palibothra, Sambos.—This has no Sanskṛit equivalent. It perhaps designated the Gumṭî, which is said to go by the name of the Sambou at a part of its course below Lucknow. Magon.—According to Mannert the Râmgaṅgâ, but much more probably the Mahânada, now the Mahona, the principal river of Magadha, which joins the Ganges not far below Pâṭnâ. Agoranis.—According to Rennel the Ghagrâ—a word derived from the Sanskrit Gharghara ('of gurgling sound'), but according to St.-Martin it must be some one or other of the Gaourîs so abundant in the river nomenclature of Northern India. The vulgar form is Gaurana. Omalis has not been identified, but Schwanbeck remarks that the word closely agrees with the Sanskṛit Vimala ('stainless'), a common epithet of rivers. Kommenases.—Rennel and Lassen identify this with the Karmaṇâsa (bonorum operum destructrix), a small river which joins the Ganges above Baxâr. According to a Hindu legend, whoever touches the water of this river loses all the merit of his good works, this being transferred to the nymph of the stream. Kakouthis.—Mannert erroneously takes this to be the Gumțî. Lassen identifies it with the Kakouttha of the Buddhist chronicles, and hence with the Bagmatti, the Bhagavati of Sanskṛit. Andômatis.—Thought by Lassen to be connected with the Sanskṛit Andhamati (tenebricosus), which he would identify, therefore, with the Tâmasâ, (now the Tonsa), the two names being identical in meaning; but, as the river came from the country of the Madyandini (Sanskrit Madhyandina, meridionalis),—that is, the people of the South,—Wilford's conjecture that the Andomatis is the Dammuda, the river which flows by Baṛdwân, is more likely to be correct. The Sanskṛit name of the Dammuda is Dharmadaya. Amystis.—The city Katadupa, which this river passes, Wilford would identify with Katwa or Cutwa, in Lower Bengal, which is situated on the western branch of the delta of the Ganges at the confluence of the Adji. As the Sanskṛit form of the name of Katva should be Katadvîpa '(dvîpa, an island'), M. de St.-Martin thinks this conjecture has much probability in its favour. The Amystis may therefore be the Adjî, or Ajavati as it is called in Sanskṛit. Oxymagis.—The Pazalai or Passalai, called in Sanskṛit Pankala, inhabited the Doâb, and through this or the region adjacent flowed the Ikshumati ('abounding in sugarcane'). Oxymagis very probably represented this name, since the letters Γ and Τ in Greek could readily be confounded. The form of the name in Megasthenês may have been Oxymetis. Errenysiṣ closely corresponds to Vârânasi, the name of Banâras in Sanskṛit,—so called from the rivers Vârâna and Asi, which join the Ganges in its neighbourhood. The Mathai, it has been thought, may be the people of Magadha. St.-Martin would fix their position in the time of Megasthenês in the country between the lower part of the Gumṭî and the Ganges, adding that as the Journal of Hiwen Thsâng places their capital, Mâtipura, at a little distance to the east of the upper Ganges near Gaṅgâdvâra, now Hardwâr, they must have extended their name and dominion by the traveller's time far beyond their original bounds. The Prinas, which Arrian has omitted, St.-Martin would identify with the Tâmasâ, which is otherwise called the Parnâsâ, and belongs to the same part of the country as the Kaïnas, in connexion with which Pliny mentions the Prinas.
* ↑ Tributaries of the Indus:—Arrian has here named only 13 tributaries of the Indus (in Sanskṛit Sindhu, in the Periplûs of the Erythraean Sea Sinthos), but in his Anabasis (v. 6) he states that the number was 15, which is also the number given by Strabo. Pliny reckons them at 19. Hydraôtês.—Other forms are Rhouadis and Hyarotis. It is now called the Râvi, the name being a contraction of the Sanskṛit Airâvati, which means 'abounding in water,' or 'the daughter of Airâvat,' the elephant of Indra, who is said to have generated the river by striking his tusk against the rock whence it issues. His name has reference to his 'ocean' origin. The name of the Kambistholai does not occur elsewhere. Schwanbeck (p. 33) conjectures that it may represent the Sanskṛit Kapisthala, 'ape-land,' the letter m being inserted, as in 'Palimbothra.' He rejects Wilson's suggestion that the people may be identical with the Kambojæ. Arrian errs in making the Hyphasis a tributary of the Hydraôtês, for it falls into the Akesinês below its junction with that river. See on this point St.-Martin, E'tude, p. 396. Hyphasis (other forms are Bibasis, Hypasis, and Hypanis).—In Sanskṛit the Vipâśa, and now the Byasa or Bias. It lost its name on being joined by the Śatadru, 'the hundred-channelled,' the Zaradros of Ptolemy, now the Satlej. The Astrobai are not mentioned by any writer except Arrian. Saranges.—According to Schwanbeck, this word represents the Sanskṛit Saranga, 'six-limbed.' It is not known what river it designated. The Kekians, through whose country it flowed, were called in Sanskṛit, according to Lassen, Sekaya. Neudros is not known. The Attakenoi are likewise unknown, unless their name is another form of Assakenoi. Hydaspês.—Bidaspês is the form in Ptolemy, which makes a nearer approach to its Sanskṛit name—the Vitasta. It is now the Behut or Jhelam; called also by the inhabitants on its banks tho Bedusta, 'widely spread.' It is the "fabulosus Hydaspes" of Horace, and the "Medus (i.e. Eastern) Hydaspes" of Virgil. It formed the western boundary of the dominions of Pôros. Akesinês.—Now the Chenâb: its Sanskṛit name Asikni (dark-coloured') is met with in the hymns of the Vêda. It was called afterwards Chandrabhâga (portio lunæ). This would be represented in Greek by Sandrophagos,—a word in sound so like Androphagos or Alexandrophagos ('devourer of Alexander') that the followers of the great conqueror changed the name to avoid the evil omen,—the more so, perhaps, on account of the disaster which befell the Makedonian fleet at the turbulent junction of the river with the Hydaspês. Ptolemy gives its name as Sandabaga (Sandabala by an error on the part of copyists), which is an exact transcription of the Prâkṛit Chandabaga, of which word the Cantabra of Pliny is a greatly altered form. The Malli, in whose country this river joins the Indus, are the Malava of Sanskṛit, whose name is prescribed in the Multân of the present day. Toutapos.—Probably the lower part of the Śatadru or Satlej. Kôphên.—Another form of the name, used by Strabo, Pliny, &c., is Kophês, -êtis. It is now the Kâbul river. The three rivers here named as its tributaries probably correspond to the Suvâstu, Gaurî, and Kampana mentioned in the 6th book of the Mahâbhârata. The Soastos is no doubt the Suvastu, and the Garæa the Gaurî. Curtius and Strabo call the Suastus the Choaspes. According to Mannert the Suastus and the Garæa or Guræus were identical. Lassen, however (Ind. Alterthums. 2nd ed. II. 673 ff.), would identify the Suastus with the modern Suwad or Svât, and the Garæus with its tributary the Panjkora; and this is the view adopted by Cunningham. The Malamantos some would identify with the Choes (mentioned by Arrian, Anabasis iv. 25), which is probably represented by the Kameh or Khonar, the largest of the tributaries of the Kâbul; others, however, with the Panjkora, while Cunningham takes it to be the Bâra, a tributary which joins the Kâbul from the south. With regard to the name Kophes this author remarks:—"The name of Kophes is as old as the time of the Vedas, in which the Kubhâ river is mentioned [Roth first pointed this out;—conf. Lassen, ut sup.] as an affluent of the Indus; and, as it is not an Âryan word, I infer that the name must have been applied to the Kâbul river before the Âryan occupation, or at least as early as B.C. 2500. In the classical writers we find the Choes, Kophes, and Choaspes rivers to the west of the Indus; and at the present day we have the Kunar, the Kuram, and the Gomal rivers to the west, and the Kunihar river to the east of the Indus,—all of which are derived from the Skythian ku, 'water.' It is the guttural form of the Assyrian hu in 'Euphrates' and 'Eulæus,' and of the Turki su and Tibetan chu, all of which mean 'water' or 'river.' Ptolemy the Geographer mentions a city called Kabura, situated on the banks of the Kophen, and a people called Kabolitæ. Parenos.—Probably the modern Burindu. Saparnos.—Probably the Abbasin. Soanus represents the Sanskṛit Suvana, 'the sun,' or 'fire'—now the Svan. The Abissaræans, from whose country it comes, may be the Abisara of Sanskṛit: Lassen, Ind. Alt. II. 163. A king called Abisarês is mentioned by Arrian in his Anabasis (iv. 7). It may be here remarked that the names of the Indian kings, as given by the Greek writers, were in general the names slightly modified of the people over whom they ruled.
* ↑ Taurunum.—The modern Semlin.