1 lt is considered the
2 great Indian barrier
3 on the North-West.
4 The source of the
5 Indus
6 It course,
7 2 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
8 them in the summits of the Himalayas and being the trunk or stock into
9 which the streams of Kdbul and the Panjab flow. From its long, tortuous
10 and circuitous course, no less than from its position in a country inhabited,
11 for the most part, by semi-barbarous races, it has been most appropriately
12 recognised as the great Indian barrier on the north-west. Conquerors from
13 the far west and north have regarded the crossing of this barrier as the first
14 step in the conquest of the fertile regions of Hindostén ; while travellers,
15 equally with historians, have testified to its importance in its relations with
16 the countries to the east and west of it. Its loud, rushing stream, together
17 with the broad expanse of its waters, inspired the Hindus with awe, and,
18 believing that the river issued from a lion’s mouth, they have called its
19 source Sinh-kd-béb, signifying the mouth of the lion.* The river rises in
20 an unexplored region called Kanre, Kangri, or Kantesi, in the Kaildsa range
21 of the Himélayas, the Olympus of Hindu mythology, the mansion of their
22 gods and Sivd’s paradise, 22,000 feet above the level of the sea, in latitude
23 31°20’ N. and longitude 81°80’ E. Its source is fixed on the northern
24 declivity of Kailds, not far from the Chinese town of Goretope, or Giri,
25 and within a few miles of Lake Réwan Hrod. Its course through the moun-
26 tains has been carefully followed by the European travellers Moorcroft, Tra-
27 beck, Vigne and Gerard, while the public is indebted for much valuable
28 information regarding it to the plans furnished by that enterprising
29 traveller, Alexander Burnes, who navigated it from the sea to its mouth at
30 Panjnad. Taking its rise in Tibet, behind the great mountain walls of the
31 Himalayas, its course is first to the north-west, for about 160 miles. In this
32 part of its course, the river is known as Sinh-kd-bd4b, until it receives, on its
33 left bank, the Ghar river. A short distance lower down it enters the valley
34 of Kashmir, and, continuing a north-westerly course, reaches Leb, the capital
35 of Laddékh. Several large streams and mountain torrents join it in its pro-
36 gress through Ladakh, after which it dashes down a gorge beyond Iskardo
37 in the north-west of Kashmir. Taking thence a southerly direction, it re-
38 ceives, from the north-west, the Gilgit, a considerable river, which joins it
39 about three miles south of Makpani Shagaron. Penetrating then through
40 the lower hills of the great Hindu Kush chain, where, for 120 miles, its furi-
41 ous waters are confined between a succession of rocky gorges and deep and
42 narrow valleys, rugged and difficult of access, it reaches Darband, the north-
43 western angle of the Panjab, 812 miles from its base, in latitude 31°25’ N.
44 and longitude 72°51’ E.
45 Entering next the valley of Chuch, in a broad channel, the Indus be-
46 comes navigable by rafts, but is of no great depth and forms many sand-
47 banks and islands. About 40 miles lower down it receives from the west
48 the great Kabul f river, which, after draining the extensive basin of Kabul
49 and fertilizing the valleys of the Sufed Koh, the Hindu Kush and Chitrdl,
50 meets it amidst numerous rocks. The volume of water in the river Kdbul’
51 being as large as that of the Indus, and its course as rapid and violent, the
52 confluence is turbulent and attended with great noise. Soon after the river
53 rushes, once more, through a narrow opening in the midst of the branches
54 of the Sulaiman range of mountains, and is fordable at many points during
55 the winter, though the attempt is perilous, from the force and rapidity of
56 the current and the benumbing coldness of the water, while it is liable to
57 Be a ag eg co te ea,
58 * According to Thibetan notions, borrowed evident! i i i
59 ‘ : 7 y from the Hind ‘i
60 holy Gam the mouths of different animals. Thus the Indus issues ies ee eee ae
61 ; Lencen Petta Mon re a eacock (Mahcha-k4-bab), the Sables from that of an elephant
62 Praveis wot Le ie the Tibet river from that of a horse (Sterc huk-ka-bab),——Mooreroft’s
63 q me
64 The Cophas of Strabo and the Cophenes of Arrian,
65 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh J i eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com