1 PART I.—THE EARLY PERIOD.
2 CHAPTER I.
3 HYDROGRAPHY OF THE PANJAB.
4 HE Panjab, the Pentapotamia of the Greek historians, the north-western re-
5 gion of the empire of Hindostén, derives its name from two Persian words,
6 pany (five), an db (water:, having reference to the five rivers which confer on
7 the country its distinguishing physical features. Itis bounded on the north by
8 the vast Himdlayan ranges, which divide it from China, Tibet and Kdshmir ;
9 on the east by the river Jamna, the North-Western Provinces and the Chinese
10 Empire ; on the south by Sind, the river Sutlej, which separates it from Ba-
11 hawalpur, and Rajputdnd; and on the west by the Sulaiman range, which
12 divides it from Biluchistdn, and Afghanistén, which joins the Khaibar. The
13 great network of the lofty Himdlayan mountain ranges along the northern
14 line includes the States of Chamba, Mandi, Suket and Nadhan, as also the
15 hill stations of Simla, with its smaller mountain, States, the famous Kangra,
16 the Nagarkot of Abulfazl, including the valleys of Kulu, Seoréj, Lahoul and
17 Spiti, and Dalhousie to the farthest north. Along the western line of the
18 range, the Mari hills and the fertile Hazard valley contribute magnificently to
19 the colossal grandeur of the solemn mountains. The divisions of Delhi and
20 Hissar, in the south-east, which had previously formed part of the territory
21 under the Agra Government, were, for convenience of local administration,
22 transferred to the Panjab after the mutiny of 1857.
23 The most remarkable feature in the topography of the country is found
24 in its rivers, the feeders of the great Indus, which, after traversing for hun-
25 dreds of miles the mountainous regions of the lofty Himalayas, descend into
26 the plains, fertilizing the soil, and continue their course generally to the south,
27 until, after their confluence with the Indus, the Nile of India, the amalga-
28 mated waters fall into the ocean. These rivers run between the Indus and
29 the Jamna, and their names, in succession, eastward from the Indus, are the
30 Jhelum, the Chindb the Ravi, the Bids and the Sutlej. With reference to
31 the designation of Panjab, or “ Country of the Five Waters,” it is to be ob-
32 served that there are, in fact, six rivers instead of five ; but, as the Indus
33 was much dreaded by the religious classes, and was considered the sacred
34 boundary of Hindostan to the far west, the ancients seem to have disregard-
35 ed it in giving the country its present name. A delineation of these rivers
36 is necessary, not only because they form the principal features in the topogra-
37 phy of the Province, but because their importance, from a military as well as
38 from a political and mercantile point of view, has been admitted from the
39 remotest antiquity to the present day.
40 THE INDUS.
41 The Indus,* though not itself one of the rivers which give the country
42 the name it bears, claims our first attention, having a common origin with
43 _ *The Sindhu (literally meaning sea or collection of water), or Sindhus of Sanskrit, the
44 Sinthus of the Greeks, the Sindus of the Romans, the Sintow of the Chinese, and the Abisindh
45 of the Persians, Pliny calleditIndus. Abul Fazal describes itas follows in the Ayint Akbari:—
46 “ According to some, the Sindh rises between Kashmir and Kashghar, while others place
47 its source in Khatta. It runs through the territories of Swat, Atak (Attock), Benares,
48 Chanparah and the territories of the Bilichis.” The Benares referred to here is the “‘ Atak
49 Banaras” of Mahomedan historians, at the opposite extremity of the empite, in contradistine-
50 tion to “ Katak Banaras” in Ori
51 Origin of the wad
52 Panjab.
53 Boundaries,
54 _ Remarkable features
55 in the topography of
56 the country,
57 The five Rivers of
58 the Panjab.
59 The Indus,
60 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh JieLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com