According to the geography of the original Hindoos, Hindoostan is bounded on the North by the Himalaya ridge of mountains, including Cashmere, Nepaul, and Bootan; on the South by the Ocean; on the West by the Indus; and on the East by Chittagong. With the exception of Bootan, the primitive Brahminical religion and languages prevail in the above boundaries; nor are they to be found beyond them, save in Assam and Cassey, where Brahminical doctrines still prevail; but in Bootan the people are Buddhists.
The modern name Hindoostan, is a Persian appellation, derived from the word "Hindoo" (black), and "Sthan" (a place). The above limits give 1,020,000 geographical miles. Elphinstone[95] says, "India is bounded by the Himalaya mountains, the river Indus, and the sea. Its length from Cashmere to Cape Comorin is about 1,900 British miles,[96] and its breadth, from the mouth of the Indus to the mountains east of the Berhampooter, is considerably above 1,500 British miles. In its southern boundary it is limited by the Nerbudda."
According to the Hindoo calculation, India extends northward to the thirty-fifth degree of latitude. Cabool, which was included by Akbar in Hindoostan, is reckoned between the thirty-third and thirty-fifth degrees of north latitude. But Hindoostan is bounded on the West by the river Indus, which excludes Cabool and Scinde. Sylhet, and Chittagong are to the East of the Berhampooter, near the mountains, and must be included. The southern boundary is the sea.
FOOTNOTES:
[73] The late Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, Dr. Samuel Butler, in his Ancient and Modern Geography, p. 267, called it also Helabas. In India some speak of it as "Illahabas."
[74] There is a magazine at Chunar, which serves for Benares and the stations immediately below it. The river from Chunar to Allahabad is not suited for a speedy transmission by boats, because the stream for about thirty miles below Allahabad is full of shoals.
[75] Rooke's Translation of Alexander's Expedition.
[76] Sanscrit, the Sone or Golden River.
[77] Ancient and Modern Geography, p. 522.
[78] P. 300.