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Art. XIII.—On the Sites of Brahmanábád and Mansúrah in Sindh; with Notices of others of less note in their Vicinity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Extract
Notwithstanding the labours of the various authorities who have from time to time written upon the ancient topography of the lower Indus Valley, the subject remains in much need of further investigation. Attempts to identify places mentioned by the historians of Alexander's Expedition, by the author of the Periplus of the Erythræan Sea, the geographer Ptolemy, the Chinese pilgrim Hiouen Thsang, the historians of the Arab conquest, and by later writers, have not usually been attended with the happiest results. Nor, when the difficulties which beset investigation are considered, is it at all surprising that this should be so. It is hard enough to have to contend with the vagueness, inconsistencies and contradictions of old writers; but these are as nothing compared with the obstacles which the physical characteristics of the country itself oppose to the inquirer. For ages the Indus has been pushing its bed across the valley from east to west, generally by the gradual process of erosion, which effectually wipes out every trace of town and village on its banks; but, at times also, by a more or less sudden shifting of its waters into entirely new channels, leaving large tracts of country to go to waste, and forcing the inhabitants of many a populous place to abandon their old homes, and follow the river in search of new settlements.
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References
page 282 note 1 Ancient Geography of India, p. 268.
page 283 note 1 See History of India, vol. i. Appendix, s.v. Brahmanábád and Nerún.
page 283 note 2 Mr. Bellasis, in Journal Bomb. As. Soc. vol. v. pp. 413, 467. Col. Sykes, in Illustrated London News, 02 21st, 28th, 1857Google Scholar.
page 283 note 3 See Thomas's Prinsep, vol. ii. pp. 119–124.
page 283 note 4 Bhamana, Bhámbanah, Bhámbar-wáh, Bhaman-wáh, Bhamanwási are variants of the name of the old city. Bahmanah is the name in vogue among Sindhís.
page 284 note 1 He took great pains to collect local histories and acquire correct information, but never was in Sindh, and doubtless never heard of a place which in modern times has sunk into obscurity.
page 285 note 1 I have translated this from the copy belonging to the India Office Library. Sir H. Elliot's copy appears to have been defective at this place, and his translation would make it appear that Dhalíl was a farsang from Brahmanábád, while the general tenour of the narrative shows that it was at some distance from that place. See his Hist., vol. i. p. 176.
page 287 note 1 Biládhúrí calls this prince Sasah 
, which is the Arabic transliteration of Chach. He must have been so named after his famous grandfather, the founder of the Brahman dynasty. According to Ibn Khallikan, he was the inventor of Chess (Elliot, Hist. vol. i. p. 409). Sir Henry Elliot had evidently forgotten what Biládhúrí shows to have been the fact, that there was really a “Chach son of Dáhir,” as stated by Ibn Khallikan, and he thought that it must have been Chach, the first Brahman prince, who invented the game. On this point I may observe that, whoever invented the game of Chess, prince Dáhir, if we may credit the Chach Námah, certainly played it, and was much too fond of it. In that chronicle we are told that when the Arabs were preparing to cross the Indus to attack him, Dáhir manifested the utmost indifference to the peril of his situation, so that at last a “Samaní” made bold to remonstrate, and roundly charged him with spending his whole time in hunting and Chess when the enemy were almost at the gates. The passage is not among the extracts translated by Sir H. Elliot. It is as follows:
Among the relics exhumed by Mr. Bellasis from the ruins of the so-called Brahmanábád was a set of ivory chess-men.
page 290 note 1 It is possible that Al-Mahfúdhah occupied a position opposite the northern face of Mansúrah. It seems to have been a mere temporary place of refuge, and was doubtless small and poorly fortified.
page 293 note 1 General Cunningham, it will be remembered, considers O-fan-cha to be Brahmanábád.