139 But the P r a s i i surpass in power and glory every other people, not only in this quarter, but one may say in all India, their capital being Palibothra, a very large and wealthy city, after which some call the people itself the P a 1 i- b o t h r i, — nay, even the whole tract along the Ganges. Their king has in his pay a standing army of 600,000 foot-soldiers, 30,0a0 cavalry, and 9000 elephants : whence may be formed some conjecture as to the vastness of his resources. After these, but more inland, are the M o ne d e s and S u a r i, § in whose country is Mount M a 1 e u s, on which shadows fall towards the north in winter, and towards the south in summer, for six months alternately . II Baeton asserts that the north pole in these parts is seen but once in the year, and only for fifteen days ; while Megasthenes says that the same thing happens in many parts of India. The south pole is called by the Indians D r am as a. The river J o m a n e s flows through the Palibothri into the Ganges between the towns M e t h o r a and Carisobor a.^ In the § The Monedes or Mandei are placed by Yule about Gangpur, on the upper waters of the BrShmanl, S.W. of Chlratia Nfigpur. Lassen places them S. of the Mah&nadi about Sonpur, where Yule has the Suari or Sabaraa, the ^avara of Sanskrit authors, which Lassen places between Sonpur and Singhbhiim. See Ind. Ant vol. VI. note §, p. 127.— Edi Ind. Ant. II This, of course, can only occur at the equator, from which the southern extremity of India is about 500 miles distant. IT Palibothri must denote here the subjects x>f the realm of which Palibothra was the capital, and Jiot merely the inhabitants of that city, as Bennel and others supposed, Digitized by Google
