صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

JOURNAL

OF THE

ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL.

Part I.-HISTORY, LITERATURE, &c.

Extra-Number 2.-1899.

Memoir on Maps illustrating the Ancient Geography of Kasmir.—
By M. A. STEIN, PH.D.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

Ancient topography in Kasmir Chronicle.

1. The maps accompanying this memoir are primarily intended to show the results which a detailed study of Kalhana's RAJATARANGIŅI has furnished regarding the early topography of Kasmir and the adjacent territories. From the first when engaged in preparing a critical edition of that text, the earliest and most important of the Sanskrit Chronicles of Kaśmir, I had realized that an exact identification of the very numerous old localities mentioned in it was indispensable for a correct understanding of the narrative. This conviction forced itself even more strongly upon me in the course of the labours I devoted to the preparation of the commentated translation of the work which is now passing through the press.

1 Kalhana's Rajatarangini or Chronicle of the Kings of Kasmir, Bombay Education Society's Press, 1892, pp. xx and 296, 4to.

To be published, with a Historical Introduction, by MESSRS. A. CONSTABLE AND Co., London, in two volumes, 4to.

J. 1. 1

Many of the questions thus raised were so detailed and intricate that it would have been manifestly impossible to attempt their solution without carefully studying on the spot those topographical facts which alone could elucidate them. It was, therefore, fortunate for my researches in this direction that I was able during successive years to make a series of antiquarian tours in Kaśmir. These acquainted me not only with the extant ancient remains of the Valley, but also with its actual topography and that of the neighbouring mountain regions. I cannot feel too grateful for the advantage I thus enjoyed. It has allowed me in more than one case to fix with certainty the position of important ancient sites, which no amount of philological acriby would have sufficed to locate correctly.

Preparation of

Maps.

2. In order to place before the student of the Kasmir Chronicle the results of these researches, as well as the evidence on which they were based, the preparation of maps appeared necessary that would show the modern topography of the country in full detail together with the ancient sites and local names identified. While considering the means for the execution of such maps I received in the autumn of 1896 the generous offer of the Asiatic Society of Bengal to bear the cost connected with their preparation, on the understanding that the maps would be published also in the Society's Journal with a separate explanatory memoir. I accepted this offer all the more readily as it gave me the desired opportunity of treating the subject of the early geography of Kaśmir in a connected form and before a larger public. For the liberal assistance thus rendered to me, I wish to record here my sincere thanks. I owe special obligations to Dr. G. A. GRIERSON, C.S., C.I.E., and Dr. A. F. R. HOERNLE, C.I.E., whose kind offices were maiuly instrumental in securing the above arrange

ment.

The

The successful execution of the maps as now published was rendered possible by the ready co-operation of Colonel J. WATERHOUSE, 1.S.C., late Assistant Surveyor General, in charge of the Lithographic and Photographic Office of the Survey of India Department. preparation of a new ground map to show on a sufficiently large scale the details of the modern topography of Kasmir would have cost much trouble and entailed very heavy, almost prohibitory, expense. At the same time it had to be considered that there were no other materials available for such a map but those supplied by the Trigonometrical

The tours referred to occupied the greatest part of my summer vacations in 1888, 1889, 1891, 1892, 1894 and were supplemented by shorter visits to particular sites during the summers of 1895-96.

Survey operations in Kaśmir, 1856-60, which had been embodied on the scale of 4 miles to 1 inch in the corresponding sheets of the 'Atlas of India.'

It hence appeared to me the most convenient plan to use as a ground-map a mechanical reproduction of that portion of the 'Atlas of India' which contains Kaśmir and the adjacent territories. Over this ground-map the entries relating to the ancient topography of the country could be printed in a distinguishing colour. This plan having received Colonel Waterhouse's approval, the required portions of the engraved plates containing Sheets 27 and 28 of the Atlas,' were transferred to the stone and the copies of the larger map reproduced from the latter by lithography. A similar process was used for the smaller map showing the capital, SRINAGAR, and its environs on the enlarged scale of 1 mile to 1 inch. But in this case the original map which was not engraved but only zincographed, had to be retraced on the stone.1

In the case of either map the entries marking ancient sites and names were printed in red over the ground-map from a separate stone. In order to distinguish at a glance the old local names in the Rājatarangini from those known only to the later Chronicles and other sources, the former were shown in GROTESQUE type and the latter in Italic.

By following the method here briefly explained it was possible to provide maps which exhibit in all needful detail the latest and most authentic survey of Kaśmir and at the same time show clearly all important features of the old topography. The success of the technical execution is due mainly to the great care and attention bestowed on it by Colonel WATERHOUSE and his staff. For this as well as much valuable advice accorded to me in connection with the work I may be allowed to offer here my grateful acknowledgments.

Arrangement of memoir.

3. It has already been stated that the maps here presented are in the first place intended to illustrate those data of the ancient geography of Kaśmir which are contained in KALHANA'S Chronicle. But in addition to the old local names and sites taken from this our most important source of information those mentioned in the later Sanskrit Chronicles and other Kasmirian texts have also been inserted as far as

they can claim antiquity and interest. These maps may, therefore, equally well serve to illustrate a comprehensive account of the historical topography of Kaśmir, such as I shall attempt to give here, up to the close of the Hindu epoch.

1 The original of this smaller ground-map had appeared as an inset in the "Map of Jummoo, Kashmir and Adjacent Territories," 4 miles to 1 inch, published by the Survey of India, 1861.

In treating this subject it appears to me most convenient to examine first the sources of information from which our knowledge regarding the ancient topography of Kaśmir is drawn. I shall next proceed to notice what we can learn from these sources as to the general physical features of Kasmir geography and their bearing on the historical and economical conditions of the country during the Hindu period. In the last chapter I intend to discuss the political divisions of the territory and to indicate briefly the information available to us regarding the particular places of historical or religious interest.

Most of the data upon which this account of the old topography of Kasmir is based, are contained in Kalhana's Chronicle, and have therefore already been explained by me in the notes which accompany my translation of that work. In order to avoid unnecessary repetition I shall refer to these notes for all such detailed evidence as could not conveniently be set forth within the limits of the present paper.

4. Before, however, closing these preliminary remarks it is necessary to refer briefly to those few publications in which facts bearing on the old topography

Earlier publications.

of Kasmir have received an earlier treatment.

In view of what has been said above we naturally turn first to the works which have dealt directly with the interpretation of the Rajatarangiņi. Dr. WILSON who was the first European to study the Chronicle in the original, published an abstract of the contents of the first six Books as early as 1825. He seems to have fully realized the importance of an accurate and sober examination of the geographical questions connected with the narrative. The textual materials at his disposal were, however, extremely defective, and European knowledge of Kasmir restricted at the time solely to the accounts of BERNIER and FORSTER. He could hence scarcely do more than indicate the more or less corrupt modern equivalents by which the Persian Chronicles render some of the Kasmir local names taken from Kalhana's account. The judgment and accuracy with which Dr. Wilson discussed the Chronicle's notices of countries and places situated outside Kaśmir and better known at that time, shows sufficiently that only the defective character of the available materials prevented that distinguished Sanskrit scholar from doing justice to the task.

The elaborate commentary with which Mr. TROYER accompanied his French translation of the Rājatarangiņi, does not represent any material advance beyond the contents of Wilson's Essay. Yet Mr. Troyer 1825,

1 An Essay on the Hindu History of Cashmir, in Asiatic Researches, vol. · pp. 1 sqq.

Radjatarangini on Histoire des rois du Kachmîr, Paris, 1840-52.

XV.,

« السابقةمتابعة »