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find accordingly the route leading over the Tōs maidan Pass often referred to in the last two Books of Kalhana's Chronicle.

But apart from this historical connection the Tōs maidān route must have always been prominent among the old lines of communication from Kaśmir owing to its natural advantages. It was the shortest route into the Valley of Punch (Parņotsa) and hence to that portion of the western Panjab which lies between the Jehlam and Indus. It was besides under the old conditions of road and travel probably the easiest and safest route in that direction.1

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This old route started from the present village of Drang, situated at the foot of the mountains in the Biru Pargana, circ. 33° 57′ lat. 74° 36′ long. The name of the village is, of course, nothing but the old term of dranga, watch-station.' In old times the place was distinguished as KARKOṬADRANGA. It may have received the distinctive first part of its name, Karkoța, from the mountain-ridge now known as Kākōdar, which is passed higher up on the route. Ks. Kākōdar could well be derived form an earlier Skr. form like * Kārkoṭadhara. The Tirthasamgraha also mentions a Karkoṭanāga somewhere in this direction.

From Drang where a customs-station exists to this day, the road ascends over an easy forest-clad slope to the edge of the Tōs maidān. This is, as the name indicates, a large upland plateau of undulating grazing grounds, rising very gradually from a level of about 10,000 feet. At the point where the road strikes the northern edge of the plateau, there are several ruined towers. They seem to have been last repaired on occasion of the Sikh invasion of 1814 to be referred to below, but are probably far older. The spot is known to this day as Barbal which in Kś. means the place of the Gate' (Kś. bar < Skr. dvāra). In view of this designation and the commanding position of the place we can safely locate here the proper Dvāra or' Gate' of this route.3

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The route after crossing the Tōs maidan plateau ascends over gently sloping grassy ridges to the Kākōdar spur and passing along the south foot of the latter reaches the Pass. The ascent is so gradual and easy that though the elevation of the latter is over 13,000 feet, the construction of a cart-road would so far meet with little difficulty. The Pass itself is equally easy.

On its west side two routes are available. One descends in the

The historical references to this route will be found collected in Note E (Rajat. iv. 177) on Lohara, §§ 5-14.

2 Compare Rajat. vii. 140; viii. 1596 notes.

3 The term dvāra is actually used by Kalhaṇa, vii. 140, 1301, for a fortified post on this route. The village Drang is a suitable enough position for a customs and police station; the point for military defence, however, is higher up at 'Barbal.'

Gāgri Valley past the village of Chambar mentioned in the Rājatarangiņi by the name of SARAMBARA. The other leads over a cross-spur in a south-westerly direction straight down into the valley now known as Loh rin. The position of the ancient castle of LOHARA which I was able to trace in the centre of this great and fertile valley, has been fully discussed by me in a separate note. About 8 miles further down the valley and at the point where its waters meet the stream coming from Gāgri, lies the large village of Mandi. It marks the site of the old 'market of AṬṬĀLIKA,' repeatedly mentioned by Kalhaņa. From Mandi onwards the route passes into the open valley of the Tohi (Tauși) of Prūnts which offers an easy line of communication down to the plains.

The historical importance of the Tōṣ maidān route is best illustrated by the fact that it was chosen on two occasions for expeditions aiming at the invasion of Kaśmir. We have already referred to Maḥmud of Ghazna's expedition, probably of A.D. 1021, which Albērūni accompanied, and to which we owe the valuable information recorded by him. This attempt at invasion, perhaps the most serious of which we know during Hindu times, was frustrated by the valorous defence of the castle of Lohara and a timely fall of snow. Nor was Mahārāja Ranjit Singh more successful when in 1814 he first attempted to invade Kaśmir by this route. The portion of the Sikh army led by him in person, safely reached the Tōs maidan plateau where the Afghan defenders were posted near the towers above mentioned. Difficulties of supplies, however, and the news of a reverse sustained by the column marching by the Pir Pantsal route forced on a retreat. This ended in a complete rout in the mountain defiles about Loh rin.

It may yet be mentioned that the route over the Tōṣamaidān was already in all probability followed by Hiuen Tsiang on his way to Parņotsa or Prūnts.6 It remained a favourite trade route until the recent Jehlam Valley cart-road was constructed. Owing to the elevation of the Pass, however, this route is always closed by snow longer than, e.g., that of the Pir Pantsal. During the winter, therefore, the road from Lohara to Kasmir lay by the lower passes in the west leading into the Vitasta Valley below Bārāmūla."

1 See Rajat. viii. 1875-77 note.

2 See Note E, iv. 177; also Ind. Ant. 1897, pp. 225 sqq.

8 See Rajat. viii. 581 note.

4 See above, § 14.

5 For a more detailed account of this expedition, see Note E, iv. 177, § 14.

6 Compare above, § 9.

1 See Note E (Rijat. iv. 177), §§ 7, 8, for Kalhana's references to the occasions when this more circuitous route was used.

J. 1. 11

Not far to the north of the Tōş maidān Pass the range still attains a height of over 15,000 feet in a group of bold snowy peaks. Its summit ridge then gradually descends and is crossed by some lower passes from the neighbourhood of the well-known alpine plateau of Gulmarg. From a summit behind Gulmarg (marked 'Sallar' on the map) several spurs radiate. They form the northern end of the range, and descend very steeply and with faces of rugged cliffs into the narrow valley of the Vitastā.

SECTION III-THE VITASTA VALLEY.

50. We have already spoken of the Vitasta Valley as the single outlet for the waters of Kasmir and as the Valley of Vitastā. great gate of the country. We may now cast a glance at the old route leading through it and at the defences by which nature has fortified it.

The Vitasta Valley below Bārāmūla is confined between two ranges of mountains. The one to the south is a branch of the Pir Pantsal Range separating from the main chain at a point behind Gulmarg. The range to the north belongs to a mountain-system which culminates in the Kājnāg Peak (14,400 feet) and is usually designated by the name of the latter. These two ranges accompany the course of the river for some eighty miles westwards down to the point near Muzaffarābād where the Vitastā makes its sudden bend to the south.

Along the whole length of the Valley, cross-ridges, more or less steep and rugged, run from both sides down to the river-bed. This consists from below Bārāmūla of an almost unbroken succession of rapids, the fall in level being nearly 3000 feet in the above distance. The Valley is throughout narrow and wanting in level ground. But for about 50 miles, down to the old Kasmir frontier line, it may more fitly be described as a narrow ravine. Only occasional alluvial terraces high above the river afford room here for settlement and cultivation. Owing to this extremely confined nature of the Valley, communication on the route leading along it must have always been troublesome and risky in old times. The natural difficulties of this long defile were no doubt considerably increased by the restless disposition of the Khasa tribe which has held it since ancient times. The Sikhs who were the last to fight their way through these passes, suffered more than one disaster at the hand of the hill-men. The line of forts erected by them along the valley attests to this day the trouble they experienced

in holding the passage. The military difficulties of a march through. such a succession of dangerous defiles must have been even greater in old times which knew no fire-arms. The protection of the route against an active enemy who could easily seize and hold all commanding posi tions, was then, no doubt, a still more difficult task.

51. It is probably on account of the circumstances here briefly indicated that we hear in the Chronicles com

Vitastā Valley Route.

paratively little of the route following the Vitastā. Being the shortest line of communication to the present Hazara District and the Iudus, it was certainly used from early times. We have seen that Hiuen Tsiang and Ou-k'ong coming from the ancient Gandhāra and Uraśā followed it on their way to Kaśmir, and that it was well-known to Albērūni.

But it seems probable that its importance, military and commercial, was then far smaller than that of the Pir Pantsal and Tōṣ maidān routes. It is only in modern times that this western route has attained real prominence. This originated in the time of the Afghan rule over Kaśmir when the route along the Vitasta to Muzaffarābād and hence though Hazāra afforded the shortest and least exposed line of communication between Kaśmir and Peshawar. Subsequently after the annexation of the Panjab, the establishment of the hill-station of Murree naturally drew traffic in this direction. The construction of the Tonga Road from Murree to Bārāmūla in our own time finally assured to this route its present supremacy.

There is at present a road on each side of the Valley leading down to Muzaffarābād. But only the route along the right bank of the river can claim any antiquity. The one on the opposite bank has come into general use only within the last few decades since traffic towards Murree and Rawalpindi sprung up. The track chosen for the old road is easily accounted for by topographical facts. We have already noticed that the Vitasta Valley route was of importance chiefly as leading to Hazāra (Uraśā) and hence to the old Gandhāra. A glance at the map will show that the open central portion of Hazara is most easily gained by crossing the Kisangangā just above Muzaffarābād and then passing the comparatively low ridge which separates this river from the Kunhar stream. The route here indicated finds its natural continuation towards

1 Moorcroft's account of his attempt to use the Muzaffarābād route in 1823 gives a graphic picture of the obstacles created by the rapacious hill-tribes; see Travels, ii. pp. 281 sqq. Compare also LAWRENCE, Valley, p. 200.

2 Baron HÜGEL quite correctly notes a Kasmir tradition that the Bārāmūla route was properly opened up only about 80 years before his own visit (1835) on the arrival of the Pathans; see Kaschmir, ii. p. 174.

Kasmir on the right bank of the Vitasta, the crossing of the latter being wholly avoided. It has already been shown above that this route, now marked by the stages of Abbottabad, Garhi Habibullah, Muzaffarābād and Bārāmāla, is directly indicated in Albērüni's itinerary.1

52. We may now proceed to examine the old notices regarding this route. It started in Kasmir from the twin Gate of Varāhamūla. towns of Varahamūla-Huṣkapura which occupied the sites of the present Bärāmula and Uşkür, respectively. Huskapura on the left river bank, though the more important of the two places in ancient times, has dwindled down to a mere village. Varahamūla-Bārāmūla, however, on the opposite bank is still a flourishing place and an emporium of trade. It occupies a narrow strip of open ground between the river and the foot of a steep mountain side.

Close to the western end of the town a rocky ridge with a precipitous slope runs down into the river-bed. Only a few yards' space is left open for the road. At this point there stood till last year (1897) an old ruined gateway known to the people as the Drang or watch-station.' It had been occupied as a military police post; until the 'Rahdārī’ system was abolished, watch was kept here over those who entered or left the Valley. I had examined the gateway in 1892. When revisiting the spot in May, 1898, I could scarcely trace its foundations. The decayed walls had meanwhile been sold by auction, and its materials carried away by a contractor.

Though the structure I had seen, was scarcely older than the time of Sikh rule, there can be little doubt that it marked the site of the ancient Gate' of Varāhamāla. This is clearly indicated by the situation of the spot which is by far the most convenient in the neighbourhood for the purpose of a watch-station. Moorcroft does not mention the name Drang, but describes the gateway itself accurately enough. Here then, we may assume, stood in ancient times "the stone gate, the western entrance of the kingdom", through which Hiuen Tsiang had passed before he reached Huşkapura (Hu-se-kia-lo), his first night's quarter in the Valley. Ou-k'ong too and Albērūui, as we have seen, knew well this watch-station which is also mentioned by Kalhana under the general designation of Dvāra.?

The road keeps close by the bank of the river as it winds in rapid fall through the rock-bound gorge. About two and a half miles below 'Drang' the hill sides recede slightly, leaving room for a small village

1 See above, § 14. [The construction of a Tonga road between Abbottabad and Muzaffarābād, recently sanctioned (1899), is sure to make the old route through Hazara again popular.]

* See Rajat, viii. 413 note.

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