But
General Cunningham Suggests A More Probable Locality In DILAWAR On The
West Bank Of The Jelam, Close To Darapur, And Opposite To Mung.
These two
sites, Dilawar-Darapur on the west bank, and Mung on the east, are
identified by General Cunningham (I believe justly) with Alexander's
Bucephala and Nicaea.
The spot, which is just opposite the battlefield of
Chilianwala, was visited (15th December, 1868) at my request, by my friend
Colonel R. Maclagan, R.E. He writes: "The present village of Dilawar
stands a little above the town of Darapur (I mean on higher ground),
looking down on Darapur and on the river, and on the cultivated and wooded
plain along the river bank. The remains of the Old Dilawar, in the form of
quantities of large bricks, cover the low round-backed spurs and knolls of
the broken rocky hills around the present village, but principally on the
land side. They cover a large area of very irregular character, and may
clearly be held to represent a very considerable town. There are no
indications of the form of buildings,... but simply large quantities of
large bricks, which for a long time have been carried away and used for
modern buildings.... After rain coins are found on the surface.... There
can be no doubt of a very large extent of ground, of very irregular and
uninviting character, having been covered at some time with buildings. The
position on the Jelam would answer well for the Dilawar which the Mongol
invaders took and held.... The strange thing is that the name should not
be mentioned (I believe it is not) by any of the well-known Mahomedan
historians of India.
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