336 R. D. Oldham — On in oh able Changes in the Geography [No. 4, 



of Satadru, but only in one case is it mentioned or supposed to be 

 mentioned in connection with the Beas, and that is the 33rd hymn of the 

 3rd Mandala, where the confluence of the Chutudri and the Vipas is 

 referred to ; there are, however, some points in the description which 

 render it open to doubt whether this refers to the confluence of the Sutlej 

 and Beas, and, moreover, it would not prove that the Sutlej did not 

 pursue an independent course at a subsequent period, unless we could 

 also prove that the present configuration of the ground, the distinction 

 of Khadir and Bhangar, of strath and upland, existed in Vedic times. 



Coming to a later period, we do not find the Sutlej mentioned by 

 any of the classic historians or geographers. In Arrian's Anabasis there 

 is no mention of the Sutlej, though all the rivers, from the Indus to the 

 Beas, are mentioned, and, in the description of his voyage down the 

 Jhelum and Indus, we find the statement that " these four large and 

 navigable streams at last discharge their waters into the Indus, though 

 they do not preserve their individual names until that time. The 

 Hydaspes falling into the Akesines loses its name there, the Akesinea 

 takes in the Hydraotes and also the Hyphasis, and retains its name 

 until it falls into the Indus."* Here not only is there no mention of 

 the Sutlej, but the special mention of four rivers shews that there was 

 no information extant of the existence of a fifth large river. 



In the " Indica " of Arrian- some other rivers or streams are men- 

 tioned ; it is there stated that the " Hydraotes, flowing from the domi- 

 nions of the Kambistholi, falls into the Akesines after receiving the 

 Hyj)hasis in its passage through the Astryabai as well as the Saranges 

 from the Kekians and the Neudros from the Attakenoi."t 



Ptolemy, however, mentions a river Zaradros which he makes to 

 receive the Bibasis (Beas) much in the same place as the junction takes 

 place at present, and furthermore he makes it preserve its name right 

 to the Indus. He also makes the Bidaspes (Jhelum) preserve its name 

 till it joins the Zaradros, although it receives first the Sandabal (Chandra- 

 bagha or Chenab) and then the Adris (Ravi). With the exception of a 

 few slif>"ht peculiarities of nomenclature, this is practically the same 

 arrangement as obtains at the present day, if we may regard the Zaradros 

 as the Satadru or Sutlej of modern times ; and when we find the great- 

 est of the classical geographers agreeing so closely with our modern 

 maps, we may well begin to doubt whether there has been any great 

 change in the course of any of the rivers since his time. 



Ptolemy, however, gives one peculiar piece of geography which 

 must not be passed over without notice ; in latitude 29° 30', or about 



«» Anabasis, LVI, CXIV. 



t Indica, cap. IV, McCriiidle's Tranalation, p. 190, 



