417-418); In The Famous Sindian Romeo-And-Juliet Tale Of Sassi
And Pannun (Elliot, I. 333); By Pietro Della Valle (I. 724, II.
358); by
Sir F. Goldsmid (J.R.A.S., N.S., I. 38); and see for other examples,
J.A.S.B. VII.
298, 305, 308; VIII. 764; XIV. 158; XVII. pt. ii. 559:
XX. 262, 263.
The argument that Mekran was not a province of India only amounts to
saying that Polo has made a mistake. But the fact is that it often was
reckoned to belong to India, from ancient down to comparatively modern
times. Pliny says: "Many indeed do not reckon the Indus to be the western
boundary of India, but include in that term also four satrapies on this
side the river, the Gedrosi, the Arachoti, the Arii, and the Parapomisadae
(i.e. Mekran, Kandahar, Herat, and Kabul) .... whilst others class all
these together under the name of Ariana" (VI. 23). Arachosia, according to
Isidore of Charax, was termed by the Parthians "White India." Aelian calls
Gedrosia a part of India. (Hist. Animal. XVII. 6.) In the 6th century
the Nestorian Patriarch Jesujabus, as we have seen (supra, ch. xxii.
note 1), considered all to be India from the coast of Persia, i.e. of
Fars, beginning from near the Gulf. According to Ibn Khordadbeh, the
boundary between Persia and India was seven days' sail from Hormuz and
eight from Daibul, or less than half-way from the mouth of the Gulf to the
Indus.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 771 of 1350
Words from 207405 to 207657
of 370046
