CHAPTER XII.

Allahabad--Pilgrimages--The River Jumna--Hurdwar--Akbar--Allum II.--Fortifications--Inscriptions on Column--Military Depôt--Lieut.-Colonel A. Abbott, C.B.--Colonel Kyd discovers a Cave--Ancient Palibothra--Arrian's Account--Megasthenes--Dr. Adams--Heeren--Chundragupta--Patna--The Sacred Rivers--Bhaugulpore--The Mandara Hill--The Chundun--Palibothra--Rajmahal--Antiquity of Kanoge--Allahabad--Extent of Asiatic Cities--Mahomedan Invasion--Extent of Hindoostan.

THE hotel at which I took up my residence at Allahabad, was very pleasantly situated: my rooms faced the Jumna, whose clear blue water was most refreshing to the eye, the hotel standing on the right bank of that noble stream.

Allahabad, which literally means the "Abode or City of God," is by the Brahmins called Bhat Prayag, or by way of distinction it is designated as "Prayaga," also "Praag," or "Prayagas," or "sacred confluence of rivers."[73] The River Jumna takes its name from Yumna, which in Sanscrit means, meeting, or confluence. Some of the religious ceremonies enjoined upon the Hindoo pilgrims must be performed in a vast subterranean cave, which is situated in the middle of the Fort--it is supported by pillars, and is believed by the vulgar to extend under ground as far as Benares, a distance of fifty-three miles, and to be infested by snakes and poisonous reptiles--granting the cave really to extend thus far, who could possibly live to go through to its termination!

Allahabad is one of the most celebrated places of Hindoo pilgrimage, and the deluded devotees come here by thousands to wash in the sister streams to purify themselves, or to carry some of the precious water to their distant homes. Nay, many annually drown themselves at this celebrated junction of the Ganges and the Jumna; they are conducted into the middle of the stream in a boat, and then sunk by having earthen pots tied to their feet. This reckless sacrifice of life would no doubt have sooner been put a stop to, had not the native governments derived considerable advantage from it, for they used even to levy a tax upon the pilgrims for the privilege of bathing in the sacred stream. The debates in the East India house regarding the tax levied at Juggernauth led to a change in the system; and it has since been abolished.

Allahabad and Hurdwar are the two most noted places of pilgrimage. At the latter city a fair is held annually where thousands of people go to bathe, and although the river Ganges, is very shallow there, many lose their lives. The great fair is held every twelfth year, when several companies of sepoys are generally present both to keep the peace and to prevent accidents. About thirty years since, innumerable lives were lost by the sudden rush of pilgrims down the great ghât leading into the river. Hence the troops have special charge to hinder any large number of persons from congregating together.

Akbar was very partial to Allahabad and founded the modern city, intending it as a stronghold to overawe the surrounding country, for which it was extremely well adapted by its natural position. This enterprising emperor also built Agra, which he styled Akbarabad. Allahabad was taken in 1765, by the British army, under Sir Robert Fletcher; soon after which (1766) the Nawab of Oude, to whom it belonged, having been defeated at Buxar, and in subsequent battles, assigned it by treaty to the East India company.

The Emperor of Delhi, Allum II., who was then a fugitive, had joined the Nawab, and, together with him, made his peace with the British. He was placed under their protection; and they agreed to allow him twenty-six lakhs, or £260,000, per annum. Upon receiving in perpetuity the revenues of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, it was agreed that the royal share of those revenues, twenty-six lakhs of rupees, should be annually paid to him by the Company; but when he accepted the aid of the Maharattas to replace him on the throne of Delhi, he was informed that the tribute of those provinces would be no longer granted to him. Mill, vol. iii. p. 579, says:--"The discredit of this transaction belongs to the Directors of the East India Company." It must however, be borne in mind that the Government strongly advised the Emperor not to go to Delhi.

The Emperor of Delhi resided, under the guardianship of the English, in the Fort of Allahabad until the year 1771. In 1765, an imperial grant was issued, constituting the East India Company Dewanny, or receivers of revenue, of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, which grant gave the Government the virtual sovereignty of these countries. The Dewanny yielded about two millions sterling a year. The Emperor also confirmed the English in all the titles conveyed to them by the Subahdar, or Viceroy, of Bengal, whose successor is now Nawab only of Moorshedabad.

The city of Allahabad does not present a very striking appearance, as there are only a few brick buildings without any kind of ornament. The fort is placed at some distance, on a tongue of land, the one side being washed by the blue waters of the Jumna, and the other nearly approaching the dull yellow stream of the Ganges. It is lofty and extensive, and completely commands the navigation of the two rivers. Both the river fronts are defended by the old walls, with the addition of some cannon and semi-circular bastions; the third side, near the main land is regular and very strong; it has three ravelines, two bastions, and a half-bastion, and stands higher than any ground in front of it. The gateway is Grecian, and very elegant.

In the centre of the fort rises an ancient granite column, thirty-six feet high, with Pali and Sanscrit inscriptions. The Sanscrit is almost obliterated; it gives the genealogy of Akbar, and states that the column was erected by him. The British have added a third inscription, giving the date of its transfer to them in 1765, and its final cession in 1801, together with the province. In the same line with the fort is another building, which has been modernized and converted into barracks for the garrison staff sergeants. The sums expended upon the fortifications, up to 1803, were something quite enormous, and are said to have amounted to more than twelve lakhs. They have now been rendered quite impregnable against the attacks of a native enemy; and even by a European force its capture would be a matter of no small difficulty.

Allahabad was at one time the grand military depôt of the upper provinces. During the Sikh war of 1848-49, the principal commissary of ordnance was located there, and most of the contents of the arsenal in Fort William, Calcutta, were transferred to Allahabad.[74] The present principal commissary is Lieut.-Colonel A. Abbott, C.B., of the Artillery, distinguished for his services at Bhurtpore, in Affghanistan, and at Jellalabad. The following anecdote will serve to exhibit his energy and promptitude under difficulties. In October, 1848, it was found that the store of musket-ball ammunition at Ferozepore, etc., was damaged; upon which application was made to Colonel Abbott for a fresh supply. By relays of bullocks, he managed daily to send up 100,000 rounds, which reached Umballa, a distance of 529 miles, in fourteen days. He continued this until he was informed that no more were required. This trait of zeal in the public service is given, not only as an instance of the expeditious mode of forwarding supplies, but as an act of justice to Lieutenant-Colonel Abbott, and as shewing the importance of placing in such a post of difficulty, an officer who has seen a great deal of hard service.

There is a place for the manufacture of gunpowder at Papamow, between two and three miles from the cantonments; also another at Isharpore, near Barrackpore. At these two depôts all the Company's gunpowder is made, and a two-years' supply is generally kept in store. The cantonments of Allahabad are about three miles from the fort, and appear very comfortable.

I may here mention an interesting discovery made by Colonel Kyd, of the Engineers, during the restoration of the fort. While forming the glacis, he discovered a cave, which contained a number of images belonging to the tribe of Serawagy, of the sect of the Jains, which were soon after claimed by some persons, who asserted that they had been deposited there by their ancestors, during the persecution of the Hindoos by Aurungzebe in 1680. In the entrance of the cave is a sacred tree, which is said to have flourished there from time immemorial, and is held in great veneration by the Hindoos. There is also a tank of water, which is in high repute among the pilgrims.

The English church is a very neat building, with a light and handsome spire. The rides in the vicinity are numerous and pleasant; and the roads, which extend in various directions for thirty miles, skirted with trees of abundant foliage, are excellent. Indeed there is no other station in the Bengal Presidency which contains so many good roads. They are made by the prisoners, of whom, unhappily, there are always a great number in the Allahabad gaol. It is said, that the allowance of food is so liberal in the gaol, that some contrive to gain admittance there, as into a comfortable asylum; however they are made to work pretty hard, and the government sells the produce of their labours. It has been remarked of Sydney, that if no convicts had been sent thither, there never would have been a road two miles long. The same may be said with equal truth of Allahabad.

The troops now stationed at Allahabad, are a Company of Native Foot Artillery, two regiments of Native Infantry, and a depôt for H.M. regiments of Foot, under the command of a Lieut.-Colonel. Formerly there were two companies of European Artillery in the fort, of which a general officer was always in command. In 1817, just before the Maharatta war, a European Flank Battalion, composed of companies of royal regiments, was quartered in the fortress. At this time a circumstance occurred which created great alarm; for one evening, whilst the officers of the Flankers were at mess, several of them were suddenly taken ill. The cholera had been known in India in 1781 and 1783, but not since; so that it was concluded to be an attack of that fearful and fatal contagion. Upon investigation, however, it appeared that the cooking pots, which it was customary to have fresh tinned every twenty or twenty-five days, were not clean. Many thought it was a premeditated attempt at poisoning; hence it is necessary in India, more particularly on the line of march, to "look before you cook."

Before quitting Allahabad, I must redeem my promise of laying before the reader some statements confirmatory of my view, that the ancient city of Palibothra was the site of Allahabad, and not, as some suppose, Kanoge.

There are many theories in existence respecting the site of ancient Palibothra. Some of them are so improbable as to be unworthy of notice; but others, propounded by learned and ingenious writers, may fairly claim consideration in this place. Before I enter upon the examination of these it will be proper to state such information, with regard to position and other circumstances, as we may gain from early historians.

In the first place we have the statement of Strabo (lib. xv.), that Palibothra was situated at the confluence of the Ganges with another river; but he does not mention the name. Arrian says:[75] "The capital city of India is Palimbothra, in the confines of the Prasii (or Prachi of Sanscrit writers) nigh the confluence of the two great rivers, Erannoboas and Ganges. Erannoboas is reckoned the third river throughout all India, and is inferior to none but the Indus and Ganges, into the last of which it enters." He further states: "Of the two great rivers of India, the Ganges and the Indus, Megasthenes assures us that the first is by far the largest, for it arises great from its very fountains, and receives many great rivers; namely Cainas, Erannoboas, Cassoanes (Coosah?) Sonus,[76] Sitocatis and Solomatis. All these are navigable; and, besides these, the Condochates, Sambus, Magones, Agoranis, and Omalis."

To determine which is this said third river of India, we must premise that the Berhampooter was not known to Alexander the Great, or his successors, nor was it known in Europe until A.D. 1765.

Megasthenes states also "that the length of this city is eighty furlongs, the breadth fifteen, that it is surrounded with a ditch thirty cubits deep, and occupying six acres of ground, the walls being defended with 570 towers and six gates."

Such is the evidence furnished on this subject by early writers, and the question resulting from it is, which of the many rivers flowing into the Ganges are we to consider the third river in India, at the confluence of which Palibothra was situated? It does not appear that Megasthenes has given the rivers in the order of their size; for he omits all mention of some of the largest, and the first river he speaks of, the Cainas, is certainly smaller than the fourth on his list, the Sonus. The only rivers, of any consequence, entering the Ganges on the right bank, are the Jumna and the Sone, of which the former is by far the more considerable.

A very current opinion, entertained and supported by several respectable writers, makes the modern Patna to be the site of the ancient city. Thus Dr. A. Adams[77] says:--"Patna, the capital of Bahar, built along the south bank of the Ganges, an extensive and populous city, supposed to be the ancient Palibothra." Heeren[78] also says: "Palibothra must be sought in, or near the modern town of Patna, where its ancient appellation still survives in the name of a certain district called Patalputhra." Major Rennel also in some places affirms his opinion to be decidedly in favour of Patna, and in others speaks doubtingly to the same purpose,--"S'il est vrai que Palibothra ait été située où est aujourd'hui Patna, et les dernières découvertes rendent cette opinion probable."

Now Patna is situated near the confluence of the Sonus with the Ganges, in a very favourable position for a city of importance: and it appears to be pretty certain that it is the site of a very ancient city, but _not that of the city of Palibothra_. We must recollect that there is an Upper and Lower Ganges, the latter of which would be below Patna. Now, though the ancient kingdom of Maghada included Patna, it is not probable that there was a capital so low down. Heeren declares that the empire of the Prasii extended beyond the junction of the Jumna with the Ganges, and we may infer from this that the said junction was not much short of the limits of the empire. And, speaking of particular towns, he names Ayodhya, Kanoge, and others. Also mentioning Pataliputra (Patna) the same author says: "The scene of these fables (Hitopadesah, or Pilpay) is laid in the city of Pataliputra, by no means the most ancient in India."

Arrian tells us that Palibothra was in the confines of the Prasii. But Pataliputra was the capital of King Chundragupta, who reigned long before the kingdom of the Prasii was established. Heeren[79] says: "Compare the accounts of Chundragupta given by Wilford in the 'Asiatic Review, vol. v. p. 264.'" In the list of kings arranged by Sir William Jones[80] the reign of Nauda is placed in 1602, and of Chundragupta in 1502 B.C.; the latter, therefore, must have lived 1200 years before Sandrocottus. Will any one pretend that there was another Chundragupta?

Arrian tells us simply that the city of Palibothra is in the confines of the Prasii: he does not say that it had been thus distinguished as the capital of Chundragupta, which he would no doubt have done if the fact had been so, and the very antiquity of Chundragupta destroys the possibility of his capital being Palibothra, which was built so many years after. We conclude, therefore, that Patna, as is generally allowed, is the site of the ancient Pataliputra, the capital of Chundragupta; and that it is _not_ the same as Palibothra, but a much more ancient city.

It has been stated by some, that Pataliputra and Palibothra are one and the same place, and that the latter name is simply a corruption of the former. But Buchanan well remarks on this subject,[81] "This city (Patna) is indeed allowed by the Pundits to be called Pataliputra; but Pataliputra has no great resemblance to Palibothra; nor can Patali be rationally considered as a word of the same origin as Pali, said to be an ancient name of this country, and of its people and language." There is no doubt that the use of the word Pali, in this connection, is derived from the Pali language of the Buddhists, who have a temple at Gya.

And further, as to the derivation of this name, we read that a Brahmin, having married Bhoom Deo (the earth-god), had two sons, one of whom, Bukshun, married Soormut, and had a son called Pootur (or son), who married Patlee, the daughter of the king of the Singhaldees. In the case of Hindoos, the men do not take their fathers' names. Supposing that these joined their names, we have Pootur-patlee, which will not answer, because the young man calls himself Patlee-pootur, taking the wife's name, which is contrary to Hindoo usage. The story states further, that Patlee-pootur planted his staff, and a beautiful city sprang out of the ground, which in honour of his wife he called Patleepoora, or Patleepooturpoora, a name truly royal in its length! The pair died, leaving a son called Puttum, and a daughter named Putnie, from whom the modern name Patna is said to have been derived. In the absence of more definite evidence we may rest a strong presumption on these traditions, and whatever part of them we may accept or reject, they certainly contain some amount of historical evidence to prove that Pataliputra must not be confounded with Palibothra.

In the eleventh century a play is supposed to have been written, the Mudra Rakshasha, the principal scenes in which are laid at Pataliputra, the capital of Chundragupta. Buchanan[82] says, that other traditions preserved in the Skund Poorana derive the name of Patna from the Sanscrit word meaning _a cloth_; from the circumstance of the goddess Parbuttee having dropt her mantle on the spot, in her flight to Kylas (the sky).

So much with respect to the derivation of the names Patna and Pataliputra. From what has been stated, it may be clearly seen that Palibothra cannot be a corruption or modification of Pataliputra, and that the modern name of Patna is traceable to a very remote period.

To proceed with the proof that Patna is not the ancient Palibothra:--An opinion has been expressed by one who appears to be a competent judge, Mr. E.C. Ravenshaw,[83] that the distance from Patna at which the Sone now runs into the Ganges is so great that it cannot be said to be at the point of confluence, and therefore does not answer to Arrian's description as before quoted.

But a better argument is this,--that the river Sone has no particular sanctity attached to it by the Hindoos; it does not convey sacred water to the district of Patna, such as is supposed to flow in the Ganges, and many other Indian rivers. We know that the most sacred streams issue from the Himalaya mountains, the region of the gods and of Brahma. The Ganges, the Indus, the Jumna, the Gograh, the Coosah, the Gundruk, and others, come from that holy source; but the Sone and the Nerbudda rise in the table-land of Omerkuntuc in Gundwana,--in lat. 22°, 35´ N.; long. 82°, 15´ E.[84] Now it is very certain that the Sone, lacking this sacred character, could not have been reckoned as the third river in India; superior to many streams which take their rise from the Himalaya, and inferior only to the Ganges and the Indus, both of which are regarded with the deepest reverence.

Thus, with regard to Patna, we are led to the conclusion, that, while there is great evidence to prove that it is a most ancient city, and to identify it with the former Pataliputra, the capital of the Gupta dynasty; yet it is quite as clear that it is not the site of Palibothra.

Another opinion, however, would place the ancient city further east, and not far from Bhaugulpore.[85] The late Colonel Francklin took a journey on purpose to examine this subject, and in his preface to the second part of his researches respecting the site of Palibothra, he writes:--"If then my assumption of the Mandara hill as the place recorded in the Puranas,[86] where one of the sovereigns of Palibothra was assassinated, be correct;--if the evidence afforded by the hills which appear in the neighbourhood of the town, and through a very great extent of what formerly constituted the Prasian kingdom, prior to the expedition of Alexander the Great;--if these and other connecting circumstances, as well local and historical, as traditional, be conceded;--it will, I think, be also conceded to me, that they apply in every instance throughout the discussion, as more naturally indicative of the town of Bhaugulpore possessing the site of Palibothra, and the metropolis of the Parsii (Prasii?) than either Rajmahal, Patna, Kanoge, or Allahabad."

The argument drawn from the assassination of this king of Palibothra on the Mandara hill, is really worth nothing. The circumstance that this took place near Bhaugulpore no more proves the site of Palibothra to have been there, than if the sovereign had been assassinated at any other of the places named. For if kings travel, particularly among enemies, and in times of anarchy, they are liable to be killed anywhere. Our first Richard was assassinated in Normandy, and our first Edward had a narrow escape in the Holy Land. Moreover, this murdered king of Palibothra might have been taken to the Mandara hill as a fitting place of execution; so that we can gather from this occurrence no clue whatever, to the actual site of his capital city.

Again, there is no large river flowing into the Ganges at the point where Bhaugulpore is situated. Colonel Francklin states that at Dhurumgunge, five miles N.W. of Bhaugulpore he met with the river Chundun, but the confluence of the Chundun with the Ganges is at Champanuggur, thirteen miles from that town. He assumes this river to have been the Erannoboas of the Greeks; and, because it is to be found thirteen miles from Bhaugulpore and runs into the Ganges, he fixes the Mandara hill as the site of Palibothra. At the end of his journal, he adds, that, "in the words of Arrian, the Erannoboas was a river of the third magnitude among the rivers in India." But here the Colonel mistakes the meaning of his author; for Arrian says, not that it was a river of the _third magnitude_, but the _third river_ throughout all India. It is thus that historical authority is sometimes falsely cited. The Chundun, even near its mouth, is only seven hundred yards in breadth, and this will not constitute a third-rate river in India. The Gograh, on the left bank, is in some places a mile broad, in many places half-a-mile, and of greater depth even than the Ganges. The Chundun is so inconsiderable, that we hear of no natives, except those of Bhaugulpore, who speak of it at all; and to identify this with a river said to be next in size to the Indus, is plainly absurd.

In a subsequent tour, the Colonel again visited Bhaugulpore, and about four miles south-east of that town, he found a commanding eminence, being 600 yards in circumference, and on which the site of bastions and the outer ditch of a fortification are plainly to be discovered. "The place," he says,[87] "is called by the natives Suffiegur; and here the surface of the ground in the front, as well as the neighbouring grove of mango trees, is overspread with a variety of stones of different kinds, cornelians, agates, flints, and specimens of beautiful veined stone, pieces of crystal and slabs of chalcedony; these evidently indicating the remains of a building of a superior order, at a remote period of time."

The Colonel again remarks--"In my humble opinion, I should assign it as one of the summer palaces of the sovereigns of Palibothra." But since, in that country, ruins are so numerous, and frequently of such a splendid character, we cannot allow this circumstance to be of any weight. Any other hill containing a few stones, and a few relics of ancient fortifications, might, as far as Colonel Francklin has given proof, have been the summer residence of the kings of Palibothra. There are two very singular round towers near the town of Bhaugulpore, in the direction indicated by the Colonel, which he may possibly have mistaken for the summer palace of the king.

We cannot suppose that if Bhaugulpore had been the ancient Palibothra, it would not have been revered as a sacred spot, even though it were in ruins. Kanoge, for example, although no longer in existence, is spoken of with veneration. But it does not appear that any particular sanctity is attached by the natives to Bhaugulpore, nor that they esteem it as more than a common city. And, if it had been what Colonel Francklin claims for it, it would, of course, have been the capital of the Prasii. But we have no evidence whatever that the kingdom of the Prasii extended so far south; and supposing that it did, still it is most improbable that their chief city would be placed at the extremity of their dominions. If the Colonel's opinion were correct, would not Abul Fazel, who wrote in 1582, or some Hindoo writer of prior or subsequent date, have spoken of such a place? Would there not be a pilgrimage to it, as there is now to Allahabad, and other sacred places? Without doubt, such would have been the case; and therefore, taking all these things into consideration, it appears to me that we must reject Colonel Francklin's favourite theory, and that Bhaugulpore could not have been Palibothra.

Another opinion places the site of the lost city at Benares. This is no doubt also an ancient town; it was taken by the Sultan Mahmood of Ghuznee in A.D. 1017, and a mosque with two elegant minarets existing to this day, was built there by Aurungzebe to mortify the Hindoos. The river Birnah runs between the military cantonments and the civil station, across which a small stone bridge was thrown, about fifty years ago, by the late Major-General J. Garstin. This river is situated to the left of the city, where it enters the Ganges. It is a very narrow and inconsiderable stream, and could not bring Benares within the denomination of "a city with two large rivers;" so that we may dismiss this opinion also, as quite improbable.

Rajmahal has likewise been mentioned, as the place where the ancient city stood. But this is at a considerable distance below Patna, and it is not likely that the limits of the Prasii extended so far in this direction. A hundred years ago, Rajmahal was two or three miles inland; and though, by the encroachment of the current upon the land, it is now situated on the bank of the river, yet there is no other river near it, it does not stand at the confluence of any stream with the Ganges, and therefore does not answer to Arrian's description.

Of the opinions on this subject, which I deem erroneous, the only other worthy of mention is that which makes Kanoge the site of Palibothra. This is also a very ancient city, as is clear from the fact that Vicramaditya,[88] who lived in the year B.C. 57, resided alternately at Palibothra and at Kanoge. It is stated by Heeren[89] to have been founded by one of the kings of Ayodhya (Oude) who made it his capital. On the decline of Ayodhya, it rose in importance. Maurice[90] dates its foundation in B.C. 1000. But while we may respect the antiquity of Kanoge, we cannot assign to it the honour claimed for it. The rivers Ramgonga and Gurrah, whose united waters flow into the Ganges near its ruins, are very inconsiderable, and could not by any stretch of the imagination be looked upon as constituting the _third_ river in India.

But now, having, as I hope, clearly shown the great improbability that any of the opinions already quoted are correct, and having proved also, how irreconcilable they are to the historical evidence which we possess on this subject, I will mention my own opinion as to the site of the ancient city of Palibothra. According to Arrian, as we have seen, Palibothra is at the confluence of the Ganges and Erannoboas, which Erannoboas is said to be the third river in India. Now the Ganges is called the _first_, the Indus the _second_, and in respect of size, no other river has so great a claim to be ranked the _third_, as the Jumna. After the two streams just mentioned, the Jumna is certainly the largest in the country. This river and the Ganges may be termed twin-sisters, as their respective sources are within a few miles of each other. Its length is 780 miles, according to Rennel, exceeding by 280 miles that of the Sone.

Coming down to the point at which the Jumna flows into the Ganges, we find the city of Allahabad. And here I would place the site of Palibothra. Its centrical position as to Hindoostan, marks it as being most fitting and convenient for the capital of a kingdom. It is certain also that it was inhabited by the Prasii, and it was most probably in the very centre of their dominions.

The great sanctity of the confluence of the Ganges and the Jumna at Allahabad, as an annual bathing-place, revered by all Hindoos, is well known. The very fact of their being two great rivers, the first and the third in magnitude, would give it a sacredness not attachable to inferior rivers. The second river, the Indus, falls into no other stream. It is joined by the Cabool river at Attock, and after receiving the Punjaub rivers, empties itself into the sea. And the fact that the two greatest rivers are not confluent, tends, no doubt, to add to the high veneration with which the natives regard the confluence of the first and third rivers.

Several of the streams flowing into the Ganges which have been adopted by controversialists, are in reality very insignificant, and are considered by the natives as quite unimportant. But the Jumna is universally known and venerated throughout all India. When water is taken from the Ganges, to a distance, it is invariably either from Hurdwar, Allahabad, or Benares.

The late Maharajah Runjeet Singh always had water from a particular spot, which was considered the best in the Punjaub. A strict Brahmin of Benares, would present his guests with water drawn from the most sacred parts of the Ganges, nor, however hot the weather, would he cool the water with ice, for by so doing, he would mix two waters, the one holy, the other profane: the water of the Ganges, and the water of America.

No native would ever take the Ganges water from near the Chundun; no Brahmin living in Calcutta would ever use it. Allahabad is held in such reverence that a public tax was paid both to the Mahomedan government of the Nawab of Oude, and to the British government, by pilgrims at certain seasons of the year. There are different degrees of sanctity ascribed to the sacred cities of India; all places are not of equal sanctity, Benares is not so sacred as Kanoge, and neither is so sacred as Allahabad. The waters of the Ganges at this confluence are accounted of superior holiness, and special virtue is ascribed to them.

Here then, the description of Arrian, to which I have shown that none of the before-mentioned opinions conformed, is fully answered, and all probability points to Allahabad as the disputed site. The central situation of the city, its position on the right bank of the Ganges, the circumstance of its superior sacredness, and above all, the fact that the Jumna is the third river in India, which no one, who will compare the relative claims of the rivers, can deny; all these together yield more than presumptive proof in its favour. We may fairly conclude then, that the ancient Palibothra is at the junction of the Ganges and the Jumna, and that there appears no just ground for supposing that any other position on the right or left bank of the Ganges can be assigned as its site.

It may now be of interest to state what is known respecting the size of the city. Strabo informs us[91] that "its length is eighty stadia, its breadth fifteen,[92] and its form oblong; that it is environed by a wall of wood, in which are sundry holes to shoot through; also a ditch, both for the defence of the city and the reception of all the filth issuing from it; and that the people are called Prasii." In an appendix to his work, Francklin gives additional notes, extracted from a pamphlet which was printed, but not published, at Calcutta, wherein he says: "For the extent of the city and suburbs of Palibothra, from seventy-five to eighty miles have been assigned, by the Puranas, a distance said to be impossible for a single city." And adds: "so indeed it might, were we to compare the cities of Asia with those of Europe." He next states, that in A.D. 1567, Cæsar Frederic, a Venetian merchant, who was then at Beejanuggur (Bisnuggur), says that it had a circuit of ninety-four miles. Major Rennel makes the city of Gour, the ancient capital of Bengal, to be fifteen miles in length, extending along the old banks of the Ganges, and from two to three miles in breadth. Colonel Francklin (Appendix p. 59) quotes Babylon[93] as extending over 365 furlongs, being the number of days in the year; or forty-five miles and five furlongs. Herodotus allows the city to have been 480 stadia, or sixty miles in circumference.[94] Colonel Francklin makes Kanoge to have been 100 miles in circuit. London, the largest city in Europe, has been estimated at twenty-five, but at present, with the suburbs, it may be thirty miles round. Now it must be recollected, that in estimating the size of European and Asiatic cities, several distinguishing circumstances are to be borne in mind. For instance, though in London there are numerous churches, they occupy but little space, compared with pagodas, mosques, and mausolea; to which in an Eastern city, much ground and many buildings are usually attached. In Oriental cities too, there are many gardens and granaries, and the stables and studs for elephants occupy a great deal of room. It is calculated that the stabling for one elephant, occupies more space than would afford accommodation for a carriage and four horses.

The Mahomedan invasion of India, which effected so great a change in the character of the country, took place in the first quarter of the eleventh century. The Mahomedan empire was founded there by the Ghorè dynasty in 1157. I may fitly close my remarks on the site of this ancient city, by glancing at the geographical extent and condition of the country at this great era of a mighty change in Indian history. It is said by Rennel and other writers, that according to the testimony of the ancients, India, on the most enlarged scale, divided on the West from Persia by the Arachosian Mountains, bounded on the East by China, on the North by Tartary, and extending South to the Sunda Isles, comprised an area of 40°, including a superficies almost as large as Europe: a statement which appears preposterous. The Mahomedan writers understood Hindoostan, under the sovereigns of Delhi, to include the twelve Soobahs or Provinces into which it was sub-divided in 1582; viz., Lahore, Mooltan, Scinde, Ajmere, Delhi, Agra, Allahabad, Bahar, Oude, Bengal, Malwah, Guzerat; Cabool, and the country west of India, was made a thirteenth Soobah, and again others were added: namely, the Deccan, including Berar, Khandeish, and Ahmednuggur, and afterwards Aurungabad.

According to the geography of the original Hindoos, Hindoostan is bounded on the North by the Himalaya ridge of mountains, including Cashmere, Nepaul, and Bootan; on the South by the Ocean; on the West by the Indus; and on the East by Chittagong. With the exception of Bootan, the primitive Brahminical religion and languages prevail in the above boundaries; nor are they to be found beyond them, save in Assam and Cassey, where Brahminical doctrines still prevail; but in Bootan the people are Buddhists.

The modern name Hindoostan, is a Persian appellation, derived from the word "Hindoo" (black), and "Sthan" (a place). The above limits give 1,020,000 geographical miles. Elphinstone[95] says, "India is bounded by the Himalaya mountains, the river Indus, and the sea. Its length from Cashmere to Cape Comorin is about 1,900 British miles,[96] and its breadth, from the mouth of the Indus to the mountains east of the Berhampooter, is considerably above 1,500 British miles. In its southern boundary it is limited by the Nerbudda."

According to the Hindoo calculation, India extends northward to the thirty-fifth degree of latitude. Cabool, which was included by Akbar in Hindoostan, is reckoned between the thirty-third and thirty-fifth degrees of north latitude. But Hindoostan is bounded on the West by the river Indus, which excludes Cabool and Scinde. Sylhet, and Chittagong are to the East of the Berhampooter, near the mountains, and must be included. The southern boundary is the sea.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 73: The late Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, Dr. Samuel Butler, in his Ancient and Modern Geography, p. 267, called it also Helabas. In India some speak of it as "Illahabas."]

[Footnote 74: There is a magazine at Chunar, which serves for Benares and the stations immediately below it. The river from Chunar to Allahabad is not suited for a speedy transmission by boats, because the stream for about thirty miles below Allahabad is full of shoals.]

[Footnote 75: Rooke's Translation of Alexander's Expedition.]

[Footnote 76: Sanscrit, the Sone or Golden River.]

[Footnote 77: Ancient and Modern Geography, p. 522.]

[Footnote 78: P. 300.]

[Footnote 79: Page 3, note 1.]

[Footnote 80: Works, vol. i. p. 306.]

[Footnote 81: Vol. i. p. 26.]

[Footnote 82: Vol. i. p. 146.]

[Footnote 83: Journal of Asiatic Society. Vol. xiv. p. 137. Part I, Nos. 157-162.]

[Footnote 84: Hamilton's Gazetteer, Rennel, &c.]

[Footnote 85: Wilford, Asiatic Researches. Vol. v. p. 272.]

[Footnote 86: Elphinstone, in his history of India, says: "There are _eighteen_ Puranas composed by different authors between the 8th and 16th centuries." Col. Francklin should have proved his author, and given his date.]

[Footnote 87: Part iv. p. 53.]

[Footnote 88: He was also Lord of Benares, and rebuilt Ayodhya.]

[Footnote 89: P. 295.]

[Footnote 90: Vol. i. p. 36.]

[Footnote 91: Lib. xv. p. 1028.]

[Footnote 92: The eighty stadia long by fifteen broad, would be equal to twenty-three miles and three quarters in circuit.]

[Footnote 93: Diodorus Siculus, vol i. pp. 120, 121.]

[Footnote 94: Francklin (Appendix p. 62.) gives Beejapore as thirty-six miles in circuit, and Nineveh as forty-seven miles. Diodorus Siculus makes Nineveh to have been sixty miles and Babylon only forty-eight.]

[Footnote 95: Vol. i. p. 1.]

[Footnote 96: China has 1,200,000 square miles, and is said to be 1,400 by 1,600 miles.]