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It would be useless to attempt to seek now for an explanation of the erroneous location. The researches of the most competent scholars have amply proved how little reliance can be placed on the apparent exactness of Ptolemy's latitudes and longitudes in the Asiatic portion. of his work. None of the other city names in the same list can be connected with Kaśmir. Nor is the identification of any one of them certain, expect that of Módovpa Tov Ocov, the sacred Mathura. This alone. suffices to show how far away from Kaśmir we are liable to be taken.

The value of Ptolemy's notice of Kaspeiria lies mainly in the fact that it presents us with an accurate enough transcription of that form. of the country's name which on independent phonetic evidence we must assume as an intermediate stage between the Sanskrit Kasmira and the modern Kaśmiri form Kasir. The explanations given below (§ 36) will show that a well-established phonetic law presupposes a form *Kaśvīra for the earlier Prakrit stage of Kaśmiri. Of this form we have in Kaspeira (pronounced Kaspira) as close a rendering as Greek writing permitted.2

The Sanskrit form of the name, Kasmira, has, as far as we can go back, been always the one in official use. By it the country has been, and is still to this day, generally known abroad (Hindi Kaśmīr, Persian Kashmir.) The preservation of the popular Prakrit Kasvira by Ptolemy deserves hence attention with regard to the original source from which this particular item of information was obtained.

Kaspeiroi of Dionysios and Nonnos.

6. It is very probable that we have also to connect with Kasmir a curious notice which Stephen of Byzance has preserved from the Bassarika, a lost poem of Dionysios of Samos. The passage, first apparently noticed by D'Anville, mentions the KASPEIROI as a tribe famous among all Indians for their fast feet. We do not know the

is really meant) is not greater than that which can plainly be proved in the case of his entry for Barbarei, the port at the mouth of the Indus.

1 I cannot refrain from quoting here in full the very just remarks of SIR HENRY YULE, Cathay and the Way Thither, p. cli, which ought ever to be remembered by those who have to deal with Ptolemy on Indian soil. "We see here how Ptolemy's Asiatic Geography was compiled. It is evident that he first drew his maps embodying all information that he had procured, however vague and rough it might be. From these maps he then educed his tables of latitudes and longitudes and his systematic topography. The result is that everything assumes an appearance of exact definition; and indications on the map which meant no more than (somewhere hereabouts is said to be such a country), became translated into a precision fit for an Act of Parliament."

2 Thus the tribal name Aspasioi of Arrian (iv. 23) reproduces the Sanskrit Asvaka; comp. MCCRINDLE, Invasion of India, p. 333.

3 The text of the passage is reproduced by TROYER, ii. p. 307. Another short quotation from the same text mentions the Ariênoi along with the Kaoneipo.

time of this Dionysios. Nor is there any indication as to the source from which he may have taken the reference. That the Kasmiris had abroad the reputation of being good pedestrians may be concluded from a remark of Albērūni. It is clear that the natural conditions of an alpine valley enclosed by difficult mountain ranges are likely to develop the marching powers of its inhabitants. The Rājatarangiņī gives us in fact several instances of very respectable marching performances. It shows at the same time the scant use made of riding animals in the mountains. There is thus more than the mere name to justify us in referring the notice of Dionysios of Samos to Kasmir.

We meet with the name of the Kaspeiroi also in the Dionysiaka of Nonnos. There they are mentioned among the Indian tribes rising in arms against Bacchos.3 As Nonnos' list names in the same passage also the Ariênoi whose name we see coupled with that of Kaspeiroi in the fragment of the Bassarika, it is probable that Nonnos has taken his reference either from the latter work or from some common

source.

7. We should, indeed, have a far earlier reference to Kasmir in

Kaspatyros of
Herodotos.

classical literature, and one by no less an authority than the 'Father of history,' if the opinion of those scholars could be accepted who have thought to recognize the name of the Valley in the KASPATYROS Of Herodotos. The facts are briefly the following. Herodotos mentions the city of Kaspatyros as the place at which the expedition under Scylax of Koryanda, sent by Darius to explore the course of the Indus, embarked. He distinctly places this city in the Paktyan land (Ilaktvikỳ yŷ). This is described as being to the north of the other Indians and apparently bordering on the Baktrian territory. The place meant by Herodotos is evidently the same that Hekataios knew before him by the name of KASPAPYROS and as a city of the Gandarians.5

The notice of Hekataios (circ. 549-486 B.C.) makes it clear that Kaspatyros or Kaspapyros, whichever form may be more accurate, must have been situated in that territory where the Indus first becomes navigable, i.e., in the ancient Gandhāra, the present Peshawar District. That the designation Paktyike used by Herodotus refers to the same

1 India, transl. Sachau, i. p. 206.

2 Compare Rajat. vii. 140, 1301; viii. 192, 379, 1588, 1796, 1887, 2673 sq.

8 See Dionysiaka, xxvi. 165 sqq. I take this reference from TROYER, ii. p. 308. See iv. 44, also iii. 102. The points bearing on the interpretation of the passage have been fully discussed by SIR E. H. BUNBURY, History of Ancient Geography, i. pp. 228, 256.

5 See Stephanos Byzant., s.v. TANAAPIKH; also Müller's Fragmenta historic. graec., i. p. 12.

territory and represents the earliest mention of the ethnic name Pakhtun or the modern Indian Paṭhān, seems also probable. The exact site of Kaspatyros has not been identified. Considering the great changes which local nomenclature in Gandhara has undergone, it perhaps never will be.2

WILSON was the first who distinctly attempted to connect the name of Kaspatyros with Kaśmir. But the idea seems to have occurred earlier. For D'Anville thought it necessary to refer to it and to refute it. Wilson saw clearly enough that the city of Seylax must have been situated close to the Indus and hence far away from Kaśmir. If notwithstanding this important fact he yet proposed to identify its name with that of Kaśmir, on the assumption that the borders of the latter kingdom extended as far as the Indus, the mistake must be traced to a fanciful etymology of the latter name.

Wilson assumed that the name Kasmir was derived from * Kasyapapura, a name which he supposed to have been given to the country owing to its colonization by the Ṛsi Kasyapa. He supported this strange derivation by a reference to the uniform assertion of 'Oriental writers.' But it is difficult to believe that he could have meant any

1 This identification seems to have been first made simultaneously by DORN and LASSEN; compare V. DE ST. MARTIN, E'tude sur la géographie grecque de l'Inde, Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscriptions, Sav. E'trang., Ire Série, V., p. 17 sqq. His note on Kaspatyros, ib. pp. 81-86, contains a judicious review of the whole question from the geographical point of view and a detailed account of earlier opinions. For a more recent résumé compare DARMESTETER, Chants Populaires des Afghans, pp. clxxx sqq.

2 Proper navigation begins now at Jahāngira, a place situated on the left bank of the Kabul River, some six miles above the confluence of the latter with the Indus at Attock. The lower part of the Kabul River's course lies in a well-defined single bed which, in view of the natural configuration of the banks, cannot have changed materially in historical times. Above Jahangira the current becomes too strong for safe navigation.

I doubt very much whether the Indus immediately above Attock can ever have been suitable for proper navigation. The river is cut up there into many, often very shallow, channels and obstructed by continually shifting sandbanks. On the eastern bank spreads the low plain of Chach, which must have always left a wide scope to the vagaries of the great river. Taking into account these circumstances I should not be surprised if Scylax's expedition had chosen some place near Jahāngīra for the start on their voyage. There are many ruined sites near the latter place, and near Alladher closeby on the Indus.

3 See Essay, p. 117; for a reproduction of the argument, also, Ariana Antiqua, p. 136 sq.

4 This (the name of Cashmir) was derived, it is uniformly asserted by the Oriental writers, from the colonization of the country by Casyapa, the first settlement or city being named after him Casyapapur, converted in ordinary pronuncia.

better authorities than the Persian Tarikhs of Kasmir, of the 17th and 18th century, which he had occasion to consult in connection with his above-quoted Essay. They, indeed, indulge in whimsical etymologies. like Kashmir, i.e., Kashap (Kasyapa) +mar (matha), etc.

ther these etymologies nor the name *Kasyapapura are in any way known to our genuine sources.

Wilson would scarcely have chosen to put forth such a derivation, had the whole of the Chronicle or the other Kasmirian texts been at the time accessible to him. Extensive as this literature is, it does not furnish any evidence whatever for *Kasyapapura or a similar name having ever been used as a designation of the country. This fact is all the more significant as allusions to the legendary origin of the country are otherwise so frequent. The philological impossibility of deriving Kasmira from Kasyapapura need scarcely be specially indicated at the present day. A reference to the theory was, however, here necessary, as it has found its way into works of authorities like Ritter, Lassen and Humboldt, and has hence been reproduced even by recent writers.2

*

SECTION II.-CHINESE RECORDS.

Earliest Chinese

notice.

8. If classical literature has thus nothing to tell us of Kasmir but the bare name, it is very different with the Chinese records. Buddhist pilgrims from China on their way to the sacred sites of the Indian plains visited Kaśmir and chose it as a resting place. Their itineraries as well as the records of the political relations established with Kasmir during a period of Chinese extension to the west, furnish us with a series of interesting data for the old geography of Kaśmir.

It seems difficult to ascertain from the materials at present accessible in translations or notices of European scholars, which is to be considered the earliest Chinese reference to Kaśmir. The difficulty is connected with the use of the geographical term Ki-pin. This name

tion into Cashappur or Caspapur, the latter of which forms is the proper reading of the Greek text;" Essay, p. 117.

1 It is curious to note that Kasyapapura was, according to an Indian authority quoted by Albērūnī, India, transl. Sachan, i. p. 298, one of the old names of Multān.

See RITTER, Erdkunde, ii. p. 1087; LASSEN, Ind. Alt., ii. p. 635 (where for *Kasyapapura > Kasmira an equally unfounded derivation from Kasyapamira is substituted); HUMBOLDT, Asie Centrale, i. p. 102; for modern works, e.g., MCCRINDLE, Ancient India, p. 108; Beal, Si-yu-ki, i. p. 148.

originally and properly designated the Upper Kabul Valley. It appears, however, at a period when Chinese knowledge of India was less developed, to have been used in a vague and general fashion for a variety of territories on the northern confines of India, among them also Kaśmir. However this may be, our loss seems scarcely to be great, as these notices of the Chinese Anualists regarding Ki-pin do not seem to give characteristic local details.

The first clear reference to Kaśmir which I can trace at present, is contained in a record dating from 541 A.d. It is taken from the account of an Indian envoy who reached China during the early part of the reign of the T'ang dynasty.3 The name of Kasmir is not mentioned. Yet it is evident that M. PAUTHIER who published the extract, was right in referring to Kasmir the description given of the northern portion of India as a country "situated at the foot of the snowy mountains and enveloped by them on all sides like a precious jewel. In the south there is a valley which leads up to it and serves as the gate of the kingdom." The points noticed here are exactly those with which we meet in all Chinese accounts of Kaśmir.

9. Ninety years after the date of this notice Kaśmir was visited by HIUEN TSIANG. He reached the Valley from Urasa in the west and resided in it as an honoured guest for fully two years. The

Visit of Hiuen

Tsiang.

records of the great Chinese pilgrim contain by far the fullest and most accurate description of Kaśmir that has come down to us from a foreign pen during the period with which we are here concerned.

Hiuen Tsiang must have entered Kasmir by the valley of the Vitasta as he describes his route as leading to the south-east of Uraśā, the present Hazara District. After crossing over mountains and treading along precipices' he arrived at the stone gate which is the western entrance of the kingdom.' We shall see below that this gate known also to Ou-k'ong and Albērūni, was the frontier watchstation or Duāra in the gorge of Bārāmūla (Varāhamūla). He passed the first night on Kasmir soil at Huşkapura, the modern Uşkür, opposite Bārāmūla. Thence he proceeded to the capital which he describes

1 Compare the explanations of Messrs. Lévi and Chavannes in their paper 'L'Itinéraire d'Ou-k'ong, Journal asiatique, 1895, vi. pp. 371 sqq., together with the supplementary and modifying statements, ib., 1896, vii. pp. 161 sq.

2 These notices are enumerated by Messrs. Lévi and Chavannes, Journal asiat., 1895, vi. pp. 378 sq.

3 G. PAUTHIER, Examen méthodique des faits qui concernent le Thian-Tchou ou l'Inde, Paris, 1839, p. 40.

4 See Si-yu-ki, transl. Beal, i. pp. 148 sqq.; Life of Hiuen Tsiang, transl. Beal, pp. 68 sqq.

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