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WESTERN INDIA. 249
Lohána, all of which will be discussed presently, as
they would appear to correspond with the divisions
noted by Hwen Thsang.
Upper Sindh.
The single principality of Upper Sindh, which is now generally known as Siro, that is the "Head or Upper" division, is described as being 7000 li, or 1167 miles, in circuit, which is too great, unless, as is very probable, it comprised the whole of Kachh Gan- dâva on the west. This was, no doubt, always the case under a strong government, which that of Chach's predecessor is known to have been. Under this view Upper Sindh would have comprised the present dis- tricts of Kachh-Gandava, Kâhan, Shikârpur, and Larkâna to the west of the Indus, and to the east those of Sabzalkot and Khairpur. The lengths of the frontier lines would, therefore, have been as follows:- on the north 340 miles; on the west 250 miles on the east 280 miles, and on the south 260 miles; or altogether 1030 miles, which is a very near approxi- mation to the estimate of Hwen Thsang.
In the seventh century the capital of the province was named Pi-chen-po-pu-lo, which M. Julien tran- scribes as Vichava-pura. M. Vivien de St. Martin, however, suggests that it may be the Sanskrit Vichála- pura, or city of "Middle Sindh," which is called Vicholo by the people. But the Sindhi and Panjabi Vich and the Hindi Bích, or "middle," are not derived from the Sanskrit, which has a radical word of its own, Madhya, to express the same thing. If Hwen Thsang had used the vernacular terms, his name might have been rendered exactly by the Hindi Bichwá-pur, or