VICRAMADITYA AND SALIVAHAXA. 197 



though improperly, for the door itself. It is used 

 in that sense only in the west of India; yet the 

 verb derived from it, harna^ in the infinitive, and 

 bar in the imperative mood, is used all over India, 

 except in the peninsula. Twasht a', the chief en- 

 gineer of the gods, having built a palace there, for 

 Ran'achurji or Crishna, (that is he who fled from 

 the field of battle,) and Tricumji his brother, placed 

 many of the doors the wrong way ; and those that 

 were properly situated were -barred or shut up. When 

 finished, every body crowded to see it ; but were 

 astonished to find the doors either placed wrong or 

 barred ; and great was the confusion and the uproar, 

 some calling out Dwdra-chdnh ? where is the door? 

 and others bawling out Bhdrco-col, open the door ; 

 hence the place was ever since denominated Dwd- 

 racd ; and this ridiculous etymology is countenanced 

 in the Purdnas. 



The geography of Ptolemy, in this part of India , 

 is distorted to an astonishing degree; for besides a 

 few mistakes, which I have mentioned, he supposes 

 the river Mahi to form an elbow, and to run close 

 to the Narmadd, with which it is made to communi- 

 cate, through a short canal ; and then afterwards to 

 fall into the gulf of Cdntha, or CacJiha. We were 

 guilty of as gross an error, two centuries ago; for 

 we made the Indus to fall into the gulf of Camhdt. 

 The Mahi is a celebrated river, and the daughter of 

 the earth (Mahi,) and of the sweat (usJma,) that 

 ran copiously from the body of Indradyumna, 

 •king of Ujjaifim., and famous in the legends relating 

 to the white island in the west. The place where 

 this happened, in consequence of a most fervent 

 tapasya^ was called Ushnmahi and Ushmahi, and is 

 probably the Axuamis or AiLvomais mentioned by 

 Ptolemy. The author of the Periplus * says, that 



* P. 25 and 34. 

 o 3 



