Page:The Ancient Geography of India.djvu/381

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CENTRAL INDIA. 333


by Mr. Bowring. The circuit stated by the Chinese pilgrim could not have been more than 35 or 10 miles, at 7 or 8 miles to the yojana, but the circle mentioned by Abul Fazl could not be less than 53 miles, at the usual valuation of the Padshahi kos at 13 miles, and might, at Sir H. Elliot's valuation of Akbar's kos at more than 2 miles, be extended to upwards of 100 miles. It is possible, indeed, to make these different statements agree very closely by changing the pilgrim's number to 400 li, or 10 yojanas, which are equivalent. to 40 kos, or 80 miles, and by estimating Abul Fazl's 40 kos at the usual Indian rate of about 2 miles each. I am myself quite satisfied of the necessity for making this correction in the pilgrim's number, as the narrow extent of his circle would not only shut out the equally famous shrines at Prithudaka, or Pehoa on the Saraswati, and at the Kausiki-Sangam, or junction of the Kausiki and Drishadwati rivers, but would actually exclude the Drishadwati itself, which in the l'amana Purána is specially mentioned as being within the limits of the holy land,-

Dirgh-Kshetre Kurukshetre dirgha Satranta yire Nudyâstire Drishadvatyâh punyayah Suchirodhasah. "They were making the great sacrifice of Satrantu in the wide region of Kurukshetra on the banks of the Drishadwati, esteemed holy on account of its virtues." This river is also specially mentioned in the Fana Parva of the Mahabharata as being the southern boundary of the holy land.*

Dakshinena Sarasvatyâ Drishadvatyuttarena-cha Ye vasanti Kurukshetre te vasanti trivishtape.

"South from Saraswati, and north from Drishadwali,

  • Chap. 83, v. 4.
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