ON MOUNT CAUCASUS. 535 



intercourse was forbidden on all sides : thus in my 

 humble opinion, these three rivers were deno- 

 minated Attaca or forbidden. The Yavcms it 

 seems were expelled afterwards with their chief 

 De'o-ca'l-yun byCRisHNA, and his brother Bala 

 or Balas, the Indian Hercules, called also Be- 

 Lus. This I suppose was the Bactrian war alluded 

 to by NoNNUS in his Dio?ii/siacs. It was then that, 

 Indian Hercules besieged in vain the famous fort 

 of Aoriws called ako Avei'mis on the banks of the 

 Indus. It has preserved its ancient name to this day 

 being called Varanas or Benares: it is more gene- 

 rally known by the name oi Attock, It was surveyed 

 some years ago by my friend Mirza Mogul Beg, 

 and his description of that famous place, answers * 

 minutely, to that given by the historians of Alex- 

 ander, of the fortified rock of Aor?ios*. 



There are four rivers, which were once much 

 dreaded by a religious people accordi^ig to the follow- 

 ing text : 



Carmandsd jala sparshdt ; Caratoyd vagdkandt : 



Gandaci bahutarandt : Sindho pdregamdttatkd. 



Evam carma Dzvija curvan punah Sanscdram arhati. 



By which it is forbidden even to touch the waters 

 of the Carmandsd, to bathe in the Caratoyd (a river 

 in Bengal called Curratya in the maps), to swim in 

 the Gandaci, and to cross the Indus. The inhabi- 

 tants of the countries on the banks of these rivers, 

 claim however, an exemption, which is admitted by 

 the rest of the Hindus: and on the banks of the 

 Carmandsd live many Brdhmens who daily perform 

 their ablutions in it, and drink of its waters ; 

 and to my knowledge they are not considered as 

 defiled in the least ; on the contrary they are in ge- 



* To the north north east o? Attock-Benares, about eighteen miles 

 distant, is the town o^ Bazar near the western banks of the Indus : 

 it is the Bazha of the historians of Alexander. 



neral 



