1 Its course.
2 The river is fordable
3 in many points.
4 The Danks Alanoiri,
5 S HISTORY OF THE (isa
6 in the low mountains of Bungall, a short distance wert of the Rotang Pass,
7 about lat. 32°26’, long. 77.° “Taking a westerly direction, it unites with |
8 the Sibkirotar, a rivulet that rises from a spring between Dal Kund and
9 Gouri Kund, near Munimys, or Mani Mohis, regarded as sacred by the
10 Hindus, and the two, swollen by mountain torrents, run south-west with
11 a tortuous current. In these mountain tracts the river is called Raina
12 by the people. Debouching from them, it flows past the city of Chamba,
13 on its right bank, and flowing to Ulans, receives the Liang from Bhaunso, in
14 the Chamba country, 80 kos from the capital. Here it is called the Ravi.”
15 It receives the Tavi, which rises in the mountains of Seoj, in the Badarwa
16 territory, 10 kos from Jamm%, at Trimmai Ghat. The Ravi is crossed by
17 the bridge of Shah Daula, thirty kos lower down, and 15 or 20
18 from Lahore. It enters the plaias near Rajpur, from which point the
19 Shdhnahr, or Royal Canal, was, in old times, dug to Lahore, a distance
20 of about 80 miles. The distance, as the crow flies, from Wazirabad
21 ferry, on the Chinab, to that of Miani, on the Ravi, is 55 miles, In
22 the vicinity of Midni the river has many quicksands, and its banks are
23 low but well-wooded. At M4adhoptr, at the head works of the Bari
24 Doadb canal, in the Girddsptr District, the water of the river is much
25 reduced by artificial canals. In the same district the river washes the
26 skirts of the town of Der4 Nanak, having, in 1870, carried away the Tali
27 Sahib, a shrine of great sanctity with the Sikhs. It still threatens this
28 sacred town of the Sikhs on its banks. After leaving the hills, the general
29 course of the river is south-westerly, and, passing through the Grirddspur
30 and Amritsar Districts, in the same direction, it enters the Lahore District.
31 Near the city of Lahore the river divides into three branches, one of which
32 runs close to the town. Continuing a south-westerly course, but latterly
33 inclining more to the west, it receives its principal tributary, the Degh,
34 on its right bank, in the Montgomery District, and, passing through the
35 Multan District, finally emerges into the combined waters of the Chinab
36 and Jhelum near Ahmadpur, in lat. 30°40’ N., after a course of 450 miles
37 from its source and 40 miles above the city of Multéin. Beyond this point
38 the rapidity and breadth of the river, now the Chinab, are particularly
39 noticed by the historians of Alexander and Taimur.
40 The water of the Ravi is redder than that of the Chinab, and it is ford-
41 able, in many places, for eight months in the year. The bottom is more
42 muddy than that of any of the other rivers, but the banks are high and
43 firm, and there are only a few places where the breadth exceeds 150 yards.
44 Nothing can, however, exceed its sinuosities, which almost double the dis-
45 tance and are a great impediment to navigation. Thus, Lahore is only 175
46 miles from the mouth of the Ravi, but the distance exceeds 380 miles by
47 river, A considerable quantity of grain is exported from Lahore by boats
48 and, in seasons of heavy flood, deodar timber is floated down in rafts from
49 the Chamba forests. :
50 From the muddy nature of its bottom (about one-fifth being mud, the
51 remainder sand), the Ravi is a foul river, and is much studded with sand
52 banks, some of which are dangerous quicksands. Near Lihore its banks
53 Sometimes rise to a perpendicular height of forty feet; at other places their
54 height is about half that, giving the river much the appearance of a nicely
55 cut canal. In 1661 the encroachments of the river in the direction of the
56 town of Lahore having caused much alarm, the Emperor Aurangzeb had a
57 * . ame i. y - 7
58 p. me Blase was first visited by Vigne. Compare Vigne’s Travels in Kdshmir, vol. i,
59 vali , Tay looreroft’s Fravels in the Himdlayan Provinces of Hindostin and the Panjab,
60 ec oaey Be Lad.
61 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary ‘NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com