AXUGAXGAM, ScC. 75 



clei)haiits. The town is situated on the Gagra or 

 Sarjew, called after it, the river O'cdanes, or Oude 

 river, by Strabo, who represents it as a large river, 

 abounding with crocodiles and dolphins, and falling 

 into the Ganges. The town itself is called Athl- 

 ■nagara, or the town of Jitha^ by Ptolemy. The 

 geography of the cpun tries to tlie north of the 

 Ganges^ in that author, is distorted in a most sur- 

 prising manner; and every geographer since has been 

 equally unfortunate, v/itli regard to that country, till 

 AIa.tor Rkxnell's time. AH the ancient maps of 

 India, in Thevexot's collection of travels, and in 

 other authors, are equally bad : and Mr. DaxvilleV 

 description of this tract is by no means superior to 

 that of pT0LE:\rY ; for he places Canouge below Alia- 

 hahad. Fortunately, the names of these places in 

 Ptolemy, beiug very little disfigured, may be easily 

 brought again into their proper order and situation. 

 The town o^ Athe (or Oeta) is Oude ; Siian-naguray 

 for Siian-nagara, is the Nagara or town of Sezvan, in 

 Sircar Sarun : Cassida is Ccisi, or Benares, with the 

 mark of the genitive case, according to the idiom of 

 the western dialects. Thus Taverxier calls Sooty, 

 Soutiki ; and ether travellers use Dacca-ca iov D'kaca. 

 S^elampura, from the Sanscrit S\tilam-pura, or the 

 Stone-toivn ox fort ; and in the spoken dialects, Pat- 

 tar-ghar, is near Hardwdr. The kings of Gaiida^ 

 were not known till the declension of the empire of 

 Magad'ha : until then they were vassals and tribu- 

 taries. They extended, afterward, their dominions 

 as far as Allahabad, and assumed the titles of Afahd- 

 rdjas : and Bengal is called Maai^azia, or country of 

 the Mahd Raja, by Nicolo de Coxti, who visited 

 it in the fifteenth century. 



Tradition says, that Buddha-sixha, emperor of 

 Gauda, was in possession of Benares, at the time of 

 the invasion of the Musulmans : and this is con- 



