384 Legends of the Saurashtra group [May,. 



by Colonel Pottinger in his history of Sinde* seems to throw an im- 

 portant light upon the point before us. After noticing the utter absence 

 of any information on the dark age between the Macedonian expedition 

 and the incursions of the Musulmans, this author says — "The native 

 princes are not mentioned by name in all the manuscripts I have peru- 

 sed, until the time of the celebrated Khoosroo (Noursherwan) kin;* 

 of Persiaf, who sent a large army and ravaged the western frontier of 

 Sasee Raja's dominions ; which are described, including his tributaries, 

 to have extended on the north to the present provinces of Kashmeer 

 and Kabool ; southward to Surat and the island now called Diu ; west- 

 ward along the sea coast to Mukran, and eastward to the provinces of 

 Mdrw&r, Bikaneer, &c." 



Colonel Pottinger states that the rajas name was Subeer Singh ; 

 but this may be the learned mode of expanding the original Sa-See into 

 a genuine Sanskrit name. He was killed and his country plundered, 

 but after the enemy had retired with their spoil, two princes of the 

 same dynasty succeeded and reigned with great vigour and equity, 

 repairing the forts of Sehwan, Moo, Oocha, Narain koih, &c, which 

 had fallen to decay under their peaceful progenitors. The second 

 prince, resigning himself to sensual pleasures, left the conduct of affairs 

 to his minister, during whose illness a young brahman of his office, 

 named Chuch, having occasion to visit the king in the seraglio, was seen 

 and loved by the queen, and on the death of the king they married and 

 brought about a revolution which placed him on the throne. " Such," 

 says the historian, " was the close of the race of Raja Sasee, which 

 had governed the kingdoms of Sinde for upwards of two thousand 

 years ; whose princes at one period received tribute from eleven 

 dependent kingdoms, and who had set the threats of the greatest 

 monarchs of the world at defiance." 



Now the word Sasee, the general name of the royal line, has a much 

 greater affinity with Sdha (genitive, Sdhasa) than with Subeer Singh — 

 and this name we find borne by seven out of the eleven princes whose 

 names have been thus fortunately preserved. Many other consi- 

 derations might be adduced in favor of their identity. A commercial 

 maritime kingdom seated in Saurashtra and at the mouth of the Indus, 

 would naturally extend its sway up the valley of that river and its 

 branches. From its wealth and liberal form of government, it would 

 be stable and powerful, especially under a tributary treaty (in general 



* Pottinger's Travels in Beloochistan, p. 386. 



f Noursherwan nourished about the middle of the sixth century. He was 

 contemporary with the Roman Emperors Justinian and Justin. 



