Indian Antiquary Vol 13

SR No.: 032505
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 492
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

Page 407

NOVEMBER, 1884.)
PTOLEMY'S GEOG. BK. VII, CH. 1, $$ 62, 63.
859
39).
the name of Kaman. If to this word we add the common Indian affix nagar-city,' we have a near approach to the Kamigara of Ptolemy.
Binagara :--This some take to be a less correct form than Minnagar given in the Peri. plús, where it is mentioned as the metropolis of Skythia, but under the government of Parthian princes, who were constantly at feud with each other for the supremacy. Its position is very uncertain. Cunningham would identify it with Alôr. Yule, following McMurdo, places it much further south near BrahmanAbad, which is some distance north from Haidar&bad. The Periplus states that it lay in the interior above Barbarikon (sec. 38)
Xoana:-Yule suggests that this may be Sewana, a place in the country of the Bhaulingas, between the desert and the Aravalfe.
62. The parts east of Indo-Skythia along the coast belong to the country of Larike, and here in the interior to the west of the river Namados is a mart of commerce, the city of Barygaza .........................113 15 17° 20'
63. To the east of the river :Agrinagara ..... ................118° 15' 22° 30' Siripalla ...........
..........118° 30' 21° 30' Bammogoura....................... 116° 20° 45' Sazantion .........................115° 30' 20° 30' Zérogerei
..116° 20' 19° 50 Ozênê, the capital of Tiastanes ......
.........117° Minagara .........
...............115° 10 19° 300 Tiatoura...........................115° 50' 18° 50' Nasika ...........................114° 17°
Larikê:-LArdêsa was an early name for the territory of Gujarat and the Northern Konkan. The name long survived, for the sea to the west of that coast was in the early Muhammadan time called the sea of Lâr, and the language spoken on its shores was called by Mas'udi, Lâri (Yule's Marco Polo, vol. II, p. 353, n.). Ptolemy's Larikê was a political rather than a geographical division and as such comprehended in addition to the part of the sea board to which the name was strictly applicable, an extensive inland territory, rich in agricultural and commercial products, and possessing large and flourishing towns, acquired no doubt by military conquest.
Barygaza, now Bharôch, which is still a large city, situated about 30 miles from the sea on the north side of the river Narmade, and on an elevated mound supposed to be artificial, raised about 80 feet above the level of the sea. The place is repeatedly mentioned in the Periplús. At the time when that work was written, it
was the greatest seat of commerce in Western India, and the capital of a powerful and flourishing state. The etymology of the name is thus explained by Dr. John Wilson (Indian Castes, vol. II, p. 113): “The Bhargavas derive their designation from Bhargava, the adjective form of Bhrigu, the name of one of the ancient Rishis. Their chief habitat is the district of Bharoch, which must have got its name from a colony of the school of Bhrigu having been early established in this Kshotra, probably granted to them by some conqueror of the district. In the name Barugaza given to it by Ptolemy, we have a Greek corruption of Bhrigukshôtra (the territory of Bhrigu) or Bhrigukachha, the tongue-land' of Bhrigu." The illiterate Gujaratis pronounce Bhriguksh&tra as Bargacha, and hence the Greek form of the name.
Agrinagara:-This means 'the town of the Agri.' Yule places it at Ågar, about 30 miles to the N. E. of Ujjain.
Suripalla :-A place of this name (spelt Sêripala) has already been mentioned as situated where the Namados (Narmada) changes the direction of its course. Lassen therefore locates it in the neighbourhood of Haump, where the river turns to southward.
Bammogoura :-In Yule's map this is identified with Pavangar, a hill to the north of the Narmada.
Sazantion :--This may perhaps be identical with Sujintra, a small place some distance north from the upper extremity of the Bay of Khambat.
Zérogerei:-This is referred by Yule to Dhar, a place S. W. of Ozênê, about one degree.
Ozô nê:- This is a transliteration of Ujja. yini, the Sanskrit name of the old and famous city of Avanti, still called Ujjain. It was the capital of the celebrated Vikramaditya, who having expelled the Skythians and thereafter established his power over the greater part of India, restored the Hindd monarchy to its ancient splendour. It was one of the seven sacred cities of the Hindas, and the first meridian of their astronomers. We learn from the Mahdvansa that Åsha, the grandson of Chandragupta (Sand. rakottos) was sent by his father the king of Pataliputra (Patna) to be the viceroy of Ujjain, and also that about a century and a half later (B.C. 157) a certain Buddhist high priest took with him 40,000 disciples from the Dakkhinagiri temple at Ujjain to Ceylon to assist there in laying the foundation stone of the great temple at Anuradhapura. A century later than this is the date of the expulsion of the Skythians by Vikramaditya, which forms the æra in Indian Chronology called Sarwat (57 B.C.) The next