Page:The Ancient Geography of India.djvu/299
WESTERN INDIA. 253
In Upper Sindh the only places of ancient note are
Alor, Rori-Bhakar, and Mahorta, near Larkâna.
Several other places are mentioned in the campaigns
of Alexander, Chach, Muhammad bin Kâsim, and
Husen Shah Arghun; but as the distances are rarely
given, it is difficult to identify the positions where
names are so constantly changed. In the campaign
of Alexander we have the names of the Massana, the
Sogdi, the Musikani, and the Præsti, all of which must
certainly be looked for in Upper Sindh, and which I
will now attempt to identify.
Massana and Sodra, or Sogdi.
On leaving the confluence of the Panjâb rivers, Alexander sailed down the Indus to the realm of the Sogdi, Zoydot, where, according to Arrian,* "he built another city." Diodorus† describes the same people, but under a different name:-"Continuing his descent of the river, he received the submission of the Sodra and the Massana, nations on opposite banks of the stream, and founded another Alexandria, in which he placed 10,000 inhabitants." The same people are described by Curtius, although he does not mention their names :—“On the fourth day he came to other nations, where he built a town called Alexandria." From these accounts it is evident that the Sogdi of Arrian and the Sodra of Diodorus are the same people, although the former have been identified with the Sodha Rajputs by Tod and M'Murdo, the latter with the servile Sudras by Mr. Vaux. The Sodhas, who are a branch of the Pramâras, now occupy the south-
- Anabasis,' vi. 15.
† Hist. Univers. xvii. 56.
+ Vita Alex., ix. 8.