Page:The Ancient Geography of India.djvu/296
250 THE ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA.
"Middle City; ;" but as he invariably uses the
Sanskrit forms, I think that we must rather look to
some pure Sanskrit word for the original of his Pi-
chen-po-pu-lo. Now we know from tradition, as well as
from the native historians, that Alor was the capital of
Sindh both before and after the period of Hwen
Thsang's visit; this new name, therefore, must be
only some variant appellation of the old city, and not
that of a second capital. During the Hindu period it
was the custom to give several names to all the larger
cities, —as we have already seen in the case of Multân.
Some of these were only poetical epithets; as Kusuma-
pura, or "Flower City" applied to Pâtaliputra, and
Padmavati, or, "Lotus Town" applied to Narwar;
others were descriptive epithets as Varanasi, or Ba-
náras, applied to the city of Kâsi, to show that it was
situated between the Varana and dsi rivulets; and
Kányakubja, the "hump-backed maiden," applied to
Kanoj, as the scene of a well-known legend. The
difference of name does not, therefore, imply a new
capital, as it may be only a new appellation of the old
city, or perhaps even the restoration of an old name
which had been temporarily supplanted. It is true
that no second name of Alor is mentioned by the his-
torians of Sindh ; but as Alor was actually the capital
in the time of Hwen Thsang, it would seem to be
quite certain that his name of Pi-chen-po-pu-lo is only
another name for that city.
It is of importance that this identification should be clearly established, as the pilgrim places the capital to the west of the Indus, whereas the present ruins of Alor or Aror are to the east of the river. But this very difference confirms the accuracy of the identifi-