Page:Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian.djvu/149

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130

miles), and to the town Palimbothra 425. To the mouth of the Ganges 738 miles.^[1]

↑ According to the MSS. 638 or 637 miles. The places mentioned in this famous itinerary all lay on the Royal Road, which ran from the Indus to Palibothra. They have been thus identified. The Hesidrus is now the Satlej, and the point of departure lay immediately below its junction with the Hyphasis (now the Biâs). The direct route thence (viâ Ludhiânâ, Sirhind, and Ambâlâ) conducted the traveller to the ferry of the Jomanes, now the Jamnâ, in the neighbourhood of the present Bureah, whence the road led to the Ganges at a point which, to judge from the distance given (112 miles), must have been near the site of the far-famed Hastinapura. The next stage to be reached was Rhodopha, the position of which, both its name and its distance from the Ganges (119 miles) combine to fix at Dabhai, a small town about 12 miles to the south of Anupshahr. Kalinipaxa, the next stage, Mannert and Lassen would identify with Kanauj (the Kanyâkubja of Sanskṛit); but M. de St.-Martin, objecting to this that Pliny was not likely to have designated so important and so celebrated a city by so obscure an appellation, finds a site for it in the neighbourhood on the banks of the Ikshumati, a river of Panchâla mentioned in the great Indian poems. This river, he remarks, must also have been called the Kalinadî, as the names of it still in current use, Kalinî and Kalindri, prove. Now, as 'paxa' transliterates the Sanskṛit 'paksha,' a side, Kalinipaxa, to judge from its name, must designate a town lying near the Kalinadî.
The figures which represent the distances have given rise to much dispute, some of them being inconsistent either with others, or with the real distances. The text, accordingly, has generally been supposed to be corrupt, so far at least as the figures are concerned. M. de St.-Martin, however, accepting the figures nearly as they stand, shows them to be fairly correct. The first difficulty presents itself in the words, "Others give 825 miles for this distance." By 'this distance' cannot be meant the distance between the Ganges and Rhodopha, but between the Hesidrus and Rhodopha, which the addition of the figures shows to be 399 miles. The shorter estimate of others (325 miles) measures the length of a more direct route by way of Paṭiâlâ, Thanêśvara, Panipat, and Dehli. The next difficulty has probably been occasioned by a corruption of the text. It lies in the words "Ad Calinipaxa oppidum CLXVII. D. Alii CCLXV. mill." The numeral D has generally been taken to mean 500 paces, or half a Roman mile, making the translation run thus:—"To Kalinipaxa

[p149-1] According to the MSS. 638 or 637 miles. The places mentioned in this famous itinerary all lay on the Royal Road, which ran from the Indus to Palibothra. They have been thus identified. The Hesidrus is now the Satlej, and the point of departure lay immediately below its junction with the Hyphasis (now the Biâs). The direct route thence (viâ Ludhiânâ, Sirhind, and Ambâlâ) conducted the traveller to the ferry of the Jomanes, now the Jamnâ, in the neighbourhood of the present Bureah, whence the road led to the Ganges at a point which, to judge from the distance given (112 miles), must have been near the site of the far-famed Hastinapura. The next stage to be reached was Rhodopha, the position of which, both its name and its distance from the Ganges (119 miles) combine to fix at Dabhai, a small town about 12 miles to the south of Anupshahr. Kalinipaxa, the next stage, Mannert and Lassen would identify with Kanauj (the Kanyâkubja of Sanskṛit); but M. de St.-Martin, objecting to this that Pliny was not likely to have designated so important and so celebrated a city by so obscure an appellation, finds a site for it in the neighbourhood on the banks of the Ikshumati, a river of Panchâla mentioned in the great Indian poems. This river, he remarks, must also have been called the Kalinadî, as the names of it still in current use, Kalinî and Kalindri, prove. Now, as 'paxa' transliterates the Sanskṛit 'paksha,' a side, Kalinipaxa, to judge from its name, must designate a town lying near the Kalinadî.
The figures which represent the distances have given rise to much dispute, some of them being inconsistent either with others, or with the real distances. The text, accordingly, has generally been supposed to be corrupt, so far at least as the figures are concerned. M. de St.-Martin, however, accepting the figures nearly as they stand, shows them to be fairly correct. The first difficulty presents itself in the words, "Others give 825 miles for this distance." By 'this distance' cannot be meant the distance between the Ganges and Rhodopha, but between the Hesidrus and Rhodopha, which the addition of the figures shows to be 399 miles. The shorter estimate of others (325 miles) measures the length of a more direct route by way of Paṭiâlâ, Thanêśvara, Panipat, and Dehli. The next difficulty has probably been occasioned by a corruption of the text. It lies in the words "Ad Calinipaxa oppidum CLXVII. D. Alii CCLXV. mill." The numeral D has generally been taken to mean 500 paces, or half a Roman mile, making the translation run thus:—"To Kalinipaxa

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