Page:Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian.djvu/168

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deserts extending for 250 miles. These being passed, we come to the Organagæ, Abaortæ, Sibaræ, Suertæ, and after these to deserts as extensive as the former. Then come the Sarophages, Sorgæ, Baraomatæ, and the Umbrittæ,^[1] who consist of twelve tribes, each possessing two cities, and the Aseni, who possess three cities.^[2] Their capital is Bucephala, built where Alexander's famous horse

declivity of the Arâvalî mountains, where Ptolemy also places his Bolingæ. The Madrabhujingha of the Panjâh (see Vishṇu Pur. p. 187) were probably a branch of this tribe. The Gallitalutæ are identified by the same author with the Gahalata or Grehlots; the Dimuri with the Dumras, who, though belonging to the Gangetic valley, originally came from that of the Indus; the Megari with the Mokars of the Râput chronicles, whose name is perhaps preserved in that of the Mehars of the lower part of Sindh, and also in that of the Meghâris of Eastern Baluchistân; the Mesæ with the Mazaris, a considerable tribe between Shikârpûr and Mitankôt on the western bank of the Indus; and the Uri with the Hauras of the same locality—the Hurairas who figure in the Râjput lists of thirty-six royal tribes. The Sulalas of the same tribes perhaps represent the Sileni, whom Pliny mentions along with the Uri.

↑ vv. 11. Paragomatæ, Umbitræ.—Baraomatæ Gumbritæque.
↑ The tribes here enumerated must have occupied a tract of country lying above the confluence of the Indus with the stream of the combined rivers of the Panjâb. They are obscure, and their names cannot with any certainty be identified if we except that of the Sibaræ, who are undoubtedly the Sauvîras of the Mahâbhârata, and who, as their name is almost invariably combined with that of the Indus, must have dwelt not far from its banks. The Afghân tribe of the Afridîs may perhaps represent the Abaortæ, and the Sarabhân or Sarvanîs, of the same stock, the Sarophages. The Umbrittæ and the Aseni take us to the east of the river. The former are perhaps identical with the Ambastæ of the historians of Alexander, and the Ambasthas of Sanskṛit writings, who dwelt in the neighbourhood of the lower Akesinês.

[1] vv. 11. Paragomatæ, Umbitræ.—Baraomatæ Gumbritæque.

[2] The tribes here enumerated must have occupied a tract of country lying above the confluence of the Indus with the stream of the combined rivers of the Panjâb. They are obscure, and their names cannot with any certainty be identified if we except that of the Sibaræ, who are undoubtedly the Sauvîras of the Mahâbhârata, and who, as their name is almost invariably combined with that of the Indus, must have dwelt not far from its banks. The Afghân tribe of the Afridîs may perhaps represent the Abaortæ, and the Sarabhân or Sarvanîs, of the same stock, the Sarophages. The Umbrittæ and the Aseni take us to the east of the river. The former are perhaps identical with the Ambastæ of the historians of Alexander, and the Ambasthas of Sanskṛit writings, who dwelt in the neighbourhood of the lower Akesinês.

[1]

[2]