[44]. This would almost imply that Lahore and Salbahana were one and the same place, but from what follows, the intervening distance could not have been great between the two cities. There is a Sangala, south of Lahore, near the altars of Alexander, and a Sialkot in our modern maps. Salbahana, Salbahanpur, or simply Salpura, may have been erected on the ruins of Kampilanagari. We may hope that researches in that yet untouched region, the Panjab, will afford much to the elucidation of ancient history. [Sālbahanpur is usually identified with Siālkot (Cunningham, ASR, ii. 21).]
[45]. The Lakhi Jungle is well known in India for its once celebrated breed of horses, extinct within the last twenty years.
[46]. [They take their name from the old town of Abohar in the Firozpur District, Panjāb (IGI, v. 2). Compare the local legend with that from Hissār (Rose, Glossary, ii. 103 f.).]
[47]. Thus it is that the most extensive agricultural races spread all over India, called Jāts or Jats, have a tradition that they are descended from the Yadu race (qu. Yuti?), and that their original country is Kandahar. Such was stated to me as the origin of the Jats of Bayana and Bharatpur. Why the descendants of Saran assumed the name of Jats is not stated.
[48]. This incidental mention of the race of Tak, and of its being in great consideration on the settlement of the Yadus in the Panjab, is very important. I have given a sketch of this tribe (Vol. I. p. [123]), but since I wrote it I have discovered the capital of the Tak, and on the very spot where I should have expected the site of Taxila, the capital of Taxiles, the friend of Alexander. In that sketch I hesitated not to say that the name was not personal, but arose from his being the head of the Takshak or Naga tribe, which is confirmed. It is to Babur, or rather to his translator, that I am indebted for this discovery. In describing the limits of Banu, Babur thus mentions it: “And on the west is Dasht, which is also called Bazar and Tak”; to which the erudite translator adds, “Tak is said long to have been the capital of Daman.” In Mr. Elphinstone’s map, Bazar, which Babur makes identical with Tak, is a few miles north of the city of Attok. There is no question that both the river and city were named after the race of Tak or Takshak, the Nagas, Nagvansi, or snake race, who spread over India. Indeed, I would assume that the name of Omphis, which young Taxiles had on his father’s death, is Ophis, the Greek version of Tak, the ‘serpent.’ The Taks appear to have been established in the same regions at the earliest period. The Mahabharata describes the wars between Janamejaya and the Takshaks, to revenge on their king the death of his father Parikshit, emperor of Indraprastha, or Delhi. [These theories have no foundation. Omphis is the Greek form of Skt. Āmbhi, and has no connexion with a snake cult (Smith, EHI, 60).]
[49]. [This is a series of folk etymologies intended to explain the intermixture of these tribes. For the Kalhora tribe see Rose, Glossary, ii. 440 ff.]
[50]. The names of these Rajput races, several of which are now blotted from the page of existence, prove the fidelity of the original manuscript. The Barahas are now Muhammadans.
[51]. The Buta is amongst the extinct tribes.
[52]. Pugal from the most remote times has been inhabited by the Pramar race. It is one of the Nau-koti Maru-ki, the nine castles of the desert.
[53]. The Sodhas of Umarkot have inhabited the desert from time immemorial, and are in all probability the Sogdoi of Alexander. See Vol. I. p. [111].