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The inhabitants on the other side of this mountain work extensive mines of gold and silver. Next are the Oraturæ, whose king has only ten elephants, though he has a very strong force of in-
ing of Svarataratæ, which, is found in some editions. It is quite possible, however, that the Svarataratæ may be intended for the Surâshṭras. The famous Yarâha Mihira mentions the Surâshṭras and Bâdaras together, amongst the people of the south-west of India (Dr. Kern's Bṛihat Saṅhitâ, XIV. 19.) These Bâdaras must therefore be the people of Badari, or Vaḍari. I understand the name of Vaḍari to denote a district abounding in the Badari, or Ber-tree (Jijube), which is very common in Southern Râjputânâ. For the same reason I should look to this neighbourhood for the ancient Sauvîra, which I take to be the true form of the famous Sophir, or Ophir, as Sauvîra is only another name of the Vaḍari or Ber-tree, as well as of its juicy fruit. Now, Sofir is the Coptic name of India at the present day; but the name must have belonged originally to that part of the Indian coast which was frequented by the merchants of the West. There can be little doubt, I think, that this was in the Gulf of Khambay, which from time immemorial has been the chief seat of Indian trade with the West. During the whole period of Greek history this trade was almost monopolized by the famous city of Barygaza, or Bhâroch, at the mouth of the Narmadâ river. About the fourth century some portion of it was diverted to the new capital of Balabhi, in the peninsula of Gujarât; in the Middle Ages it was shared with Khambay at the head of the gulf, and in modem times with Surat, at the mouth of the Tapti. If the name of Sauvîra was derived, as I suppose, from the prevalence of the Ber-tree, it is probable that it was only another appellation for the province of Badari, or Edar, at the head of the Gulf of Khambay. This, indeed, is the very position in which we should expect to find it, according to the ancient inscription of Rudra Dâma, which mentions Sindhu-Sauvîra immediately after Surâshṭra and Bhârukachha, and just before Kukura Aparanta, and Nishada (Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. VII. 120). According to this arrangement Sauvîra must have been to the north of Surâshtra and Bhâroch, and to the south of Nishada, or just where I have placed it, in the neighbourhood of Mount Ȧbû. Much the same locality is assigned to Sauvîra in the Vishṇu Purâṇa."—Anc. Geog. of Ind. pp. 496-497 : see also pp. 660-562 of this same work, where the subject is further discussed.
