Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3: or the Central and Western Rajput States of IndiaTod, James
History
Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3: or the Central and Western Rajput States of India
Tod, James
Rajasthan (India) -- History; Rajput (Indic people) -- History
Aror, or Alor, was the capital of Sind in remote antiquity: a bridge
over the stream which branched from the Indus, near Dara, is almost
the sole vestige of this capital of the Sogdoi of Alexander. On its
site the shepherds of the desert have established an extensive hamlet;
it is placed on a ridge of siliceous rock, seven miles east of the
insular Bakhar, and free from the inundations of the Indus. The Sodha
tribe, a powerful branch of the Pramara race, has ruled in these
countries from remote antiquity, and to a very late period they were
lords of Umarkot and Umrasumra, in which divisions was Aror. Sahl and
his capital were known to Abu-l Fazl, though he was ignorant of its
position, which he transferred to Debal, or Dewal, the modern Tatta.
This indefatigable historian thus describes it: “In ancient times
there lived a raja named Siharas (Sahl), whose capital was Alor, and
his dominions extended north to Kashmīr and south to the ocean”
[_Āīn_, ii. 343]. Sahl, or Sahr, became a titular appellation of the
country, its princes, and its inhabitants, the Sehraes. [See p. 21
above.] Alor appears to have been the capital of the kingdom of
Sigerdis, conquered by Menander of Bactria. Ibn Haukal, the Arabian
geographer, mentions it; but a superfluous point in writing has
changed Aror into Azor, or Azour, as translated by Sir W. Ouseley. The
illustrious D’Anville mentions it; but, in ignorance of its position,
quoting Abulfeda. says, in grandeur “Azour est presque comparable à
Mooltan.” I have to claim the discovery of several ancient capital
cities in the north of India: Surpur, on the Jumna, the capital of the
Yadus; Alor, on the Indus, the capital of the Sodhas; Mandodri,
capital of the Pariharas; Chandravati, at the foot of the Aravalli
mountains; and Valabhipura, in Gujarat, capital of the Balaka-raes,
the Balharas of Arab travellers. The Bala Rajput of Saurashtra may
have given the name to Valabhipura, as descendants of Balaka, from
Sahl of Aror. The blessing of the bard to them is yet, Tatta Multān ka
Rāo (‘lord of Tatta and Multan,’ the seats of the Balaka-putras): nor
is it improbable that a branch of these under the Indian Hercules,
Balaram, who left India after the Great War, may have founded Balich,
or Balkh, emphatically called the ‘mother of cities.’ The Jaisalmer
annals assert that the Yadu and Balaka branches of the Indu race ruled
Khorasan after the Great War, the Indo-Scythic races of Grecian
authors. Besides the Balakas, and the numerous branches of the
Indo-Medes, many of the sons of Kuru dispersed over these regions:
amongst whom we may place Uttara Kuru (_Northern Kurus_) of the
Puranas, the Ottorokorrhai of the Greek authors. Both the Indu and
Surya races were eternally sending their superfluous population to
those distant regions, when probably the same primeval religion
governed the races east and west of the Indus. [Much of this is
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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