326 R. D. Oldham — On iirolahle Changes in the Geography [No. 4, 



known phenomena, and that when they have their origin in historical 

 fact, this has become so modified by the alteration inherent in oral 

 transmission, not to mention that resulting from a change from prose 

 to verse, that it is impossible to separate the original foundation of 

 fact from the superstructure of fable. JSTevertheless, as no tradition 

 ever arose without some foundation in fact, whether an historical 

 occurrence or a phenomenon requiring explanation, these legends 

 must not be neglected, but rather regarded as valuable hints as to 

 the direction that research should take, although they can never be 

 appealed to as proof. But even legend throws some doubt on the 

 correctness of the common idea, if we may believe the following quota- 

 tion from the Tarikh-i-Tahiri. After mentioning the size of the ruins 

 of Muhammad Tur, the capital of the Sumra chiefs of Sind, he gives 

 the following account of its destruction : " The cause of the ruin of 

 the above-named city and its dependencies which had flourished between 

 900 and 1000 years was as follows. Below the town of Alor (Aror) 

 flowed the river of the Panjab which was known as the Hakra, Waliind, 

 Dahan, and by others, for it changes its name at every village by which 

 it flows, after fertilising the land the river poured its waters into the 

 sea." The legend then goes on to say how, as a result of the oppression 

 and lust of Delu Rai, who ruled all the land between the capital and Aror, 

 the Hakra was diverted into the present bed of the Indus.* This exhibits 

 the legend in a form slightly different from that which it now takes ; and 

 the mention of Muhammad Tur as well as the names of the river, Hakra, 

 Wahind, and Dahan, none of which are applied to the Indus, but all of 

 which are applied to a dry river bed further east in which the Indus has 

 certainly not flowed within the historic period, all points to the conclusion 

 that the legend originally referred to the drying up of that second river 

 whose existence I have hypothetically inferred. The change that has 

 come over it is easily understood, for to this day part of the flood waters 

 of the Indus find their way into the deserted bed of this river ; and, 

 when the memory of the co-existence of the two had passed away, what 

 more natural than to suppose that what had occurred was an alteration 

 in the course of the Indus, which, as usual, came to be attributed to the 

 vices of the ruler of the country so laid waste. 



This supposition also fits in with a tradition which, according to 

 the writer just quoted,t is prevalent, on the borders of Bikaner, to the 

 effect that the waters of the Hakra spread out into a great lake at a 

 place called Kak, south of the Mer country. "No place of the name of 

 Kak is now known, but we have Kachh, which may be it, and the early 

 Arab Historians mention a piratical tribe, the Kerks or Kurks, who 

 » Calcutta Review, LIX, 20. f Calcutta Review, LIX, 17. 



