EARLY ARAB GEOGRAPHERS.
of the Kúsarí and Mámharí,[1] which flow from the mountains of Shamílán,[2] is eight parasangs. Thence you arrive, at a distance of five days’ journey, at a defile through which the Jailam runs.
At the end of the defile lies Dawáru-l Marsad, on both sides of the river. There the Jailam enters the plains, and turns towards Adashtán,[3] the capital of Kashmír, which it reaches at a distance of two days’ journey. The city of Kashmir is four parasangs from Adashtán. It is built on both banks of the Jailam, on which there are many bridges and boats. The source of the Jailam is on the mountains of Harmakut,[4] near the source of the Ganges. This mountain is impassable on account of the exceeding cold, for the snow never melts, even when the sun is in Cancer or Leo. On the other side of it lies Máhá Chín, i.e., great Chín. After the Jailam has left the mountains, it reaches Adashtán in two days. Four parasangs from that, it expands into a lake, a parasang square, on the borders of which there is much cultivation, and a dense population. It then leaves the lake, and enters another defile near the city of U′shkárá.[5]
The Sind rises in the mountains of A′mak,[6] on the borders of the
- ↑ [So read by Elliot. Reinaud has “Kosâry et Nahry:” the first syllable of Mámharí was doubtless taken as meaning “water,” a reading favoured by our Arabic MS. C., which says
. The MSS. A., B., and D. have 
(
B., 
D.). The name must therefore be as Elliot reads it, unless Rashídu-d dín mistook Al Bírúní's text.]
- ↑ [Sílák in first edition. A. has
.]
- ↑ M. Reinaud reads Addashtan, and Capt. A. Cunningham identifies it with Pandritan, the local corrupt form of Puránádhisthána, the “old chief city.” Jour. As. Soc. Beng. No. CLXXVII. p. 97.
- ↑ M. Reinaud has Hazmakout. Har-Mukut, meaning the cap of Har, or Mahá Deo, is a better reading. [Hema-kúta is the correct one. See ante p. 46, and Wilson's Vishnu Purana, p. 168.]
- ↑ [“This must be Hushka-pura which still exists near Barámula—Hwen Tsang's ‘Hushkara.’”—Cunningham.]
- ↑ [U′mah in first edition, and Onannak according to Reinaud. All our MSS. agree in reading ámak or amak.“ This is apparently the Tibetan or Gya-nag, pronounced Ganak, which means the ‘Black Plains,’ and is the name for Chinese Tartary where the Indus actually rises. Arrowsmith’s map gives ‘Guinnak, capital of Chinese Tartary.’”—Cunningham.]
