[22]. The wild fable which envelops or adorns the cradle of every illustrious family is not easily disentangled. The bards weave the web with skill, and it clings like ivy round each modern branch, obscuring the aged stem, in the time-worn branches of which monsters and demi-gods are perched, whose claims of affinity are held in high estimation by these ‘children of the sun,’ who would deem it criminal to doubt that the loin-robe (dhoti) of their great founder, Bapa Rawal, was less than five hundred cubits in circumference, that his two-edged sword (khanda), the gift of the Hindu Proserpine, weighed an ounce less than sixty-four pounds, or that he was an inch under twenty feet in height.
[23]. [Vijayapur has been doubtfully identified with Bījapur in the Ahmadābād district (BG, i. Part i. 110).]
[24]. Presented to the Royal Asiatic Society of London.
[25]. Sorath or Saurashtra.
[26]. The ‘lord of Bal.’
[27]. Mārwār.
[28]. [The date of the fall of Valabhi is very uncertain (Smith, EHI, 315, note). It is said to have been destroyed in the reign of Sīlāditya VI., the last of the dynasty, about A.D. 776 (Duff, Chronology of India, 31, 67, 308).]
[29]. [There is possibly a confusion with the Soras of Aelian (xv. 8) which has been identified by Caldwell (Dravidian Grammar, 17) with the Σῶραι of Ptolemy, and with the Chola kingdom of Southern India. Surāshtra or Saurāshtra, ‘land of the Sus,’ was afterwards Sanskritized into ‘goodly country’ (Monier Williams, Skt. Dict. s.v.; BG, i. Part i. 6).]
[30]. Gaini, or Gajni, is one of the ancient names of Cambay (the port of Valabhipura), the ruins of which are about three miles from the modern city. Other sources indicate that these princes held possessions in the southern continent of India, as well as in the Saurashtra peninsula. Talatalpur Patan, on the Godavari, is mentioned, which tradition asserts to be the city of Deogir; but which, after many years’ research, I discovered in Saurashtra, it being one of the ancient names of Kandala. In after times, when succeeding dynasties held the title of Balakarae, though the capital was removed inland to Anhilwara Patan, they still held possession of the western shore, and Cambay continued the chief port. [For the identification of Gajni with Cambay see IA, iv. 147; BG, vi. 213 note. The site of Devagiri has been identified with Daulatābād (BG, i. Part ii. 136; Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World, ii. 255, note).]
[31]. The position of Minnagara has occupied the attention of geographers from D’Anville to Pottinger. Sind being conquered by Omar, general of the caliph Al-Mansur (Abbasi), the name of Minnagara[Minnagara] was changed to Mansura, “une ville célèbre sur le rivage droit du Sind ou Mehran.” “Ptolémée fait aussi mention de cette ville; mais en la déplaçant,” etc. D’Anville places it about 26°, but not so high as Ulug Bég, whose tables make it 26° 40´. I have said elsewhere that I had little doubt that Minnagara, handed down to us by the author of the Periplus as the μετρόπολις τῆς Σκυθίας, was the Saminagara of the Yadu Jarejas, whose chronicles claim Seistān as their ancient possession, and in all probability was the stronghold (nagara) of Sambos, the opponent of Alexander. On every consideration, I am inclined to place it on the site of Sehwan. The learned Vincent, in his translation of the Periplus, enters fully and with great judgment upon this point, citing every authority, Arrian, Ptolemy, Al-Biruni, Edrisi, D’Anville, and De la Rochette. He has a note (26, p. 386, vol. i.) which is conclusive, could he have applied it: “Al-Birun [equi-distant] between Debeil and Mansura.” D’Anville also says: “de Mansora à la ville nommée Birun, la distance est indiquée de quinze parasanges dans Abulféda,” who fixes it, on the authority of Abu-Rehan (surnamed Al-Biruni from his birthplace), at 26° 40´. The ancient name of Haidarabad, the present capital of Sind, was Nerun (نيرون;) or Nirun, and is almost equi-distant, as Abulfeda says, between Debal (Dewal or Tatta) and Mansura, Sehwan, or Minnagara, the latitude of which, according to my construction, is 26° 11´. Those who wish to pursue this may examine the Éclaircissemens sur la Carte de l’Inde, p. 37 et seq., and Dr. Vincent’s estimable translation, p. 386. [The site of Minnagara, like those of all the cities in the delta of the Indus, owing to changes in the course of the river, is very uncertain. Jhajhpur or Mungrapur has been suggested (McCrindle, Ptolemy, 72, Periplus, 1086 f.). Nīrūn has been identified with Helāi, a little below Jarak, on the high road from Tatta to Haidarābād (Elliot-Dowson i. 400).]