254 Essay on the Ancient Geography of India. [No. 3. 



Caldcala, or Coldhala, implying strange sounds and noises : and Cold- 

 hala is the Sanskrit name of the country bordering upon the Hdb. 

 The mountains of Coldhala, are mentioned in the first section of the 

 Maha-Bharat, as well as the Hdb under the name of S'uctimatl, or 

 the river full of oysters, which are found in abundance and of an 

 unusual size, at its mouth, according to Nearchus. The famous Fasu- 

 rdjd, who conquered all the world, and seemingly contemporary with 

 Vesores king of Egypt, was one day hunting over this mountain, and 

 was very much displeased to find, that the mountain obstructed the 

 passage of the river to the sea. He then dug several channels, recon- 

 ciled the river, and the mountain, and they were married. From this 

 union came a son called Fw, and a daughter called Giricd, or the 

 mountain damsel. Rivers and mountains have two countenances, the 

 first is such as implied by their names, and the second is a human 

 countenance. The offspring of the above couple had also two counte- 

 nances. Yu in a human shape became the charioteer of Vasu-raja, 

 and Giricd remains there as a distinct mountain, and is probably Cape 

 Mun'd : but in her human shape, she became the wife of Vasu-raja : 

 and on Coldhala was the scene of the filthy, and obscene origin of the 

 mother of Vydsa. 



From that circumstance the Hdb is also called Pritd or Narmmd, 

 the river of pleasure, and dalliance. 



The latter may be an allusion to Nammri, the name of the aboriginal 

 tribes of that country. That the consort, and originally the daughter 

 of the mountain of noises, should be called also the river of noises or 

 Araba, seems highly probable. 'Araba y or 'Arba, being used, as the 

 name of a place, of a river, becomes y Arabd, ' Arbd and ' Arbu S'ucti 

 is generally used to signify oysters, however it implies all sorts of 

 bivalves. 



S'anc'ha is an univalve shell, a conch ; but it is used also to express 

 shells in general ; and S'anc'ha-desa in Sanskrit, 'Sanc'ha-deh in the 

 spoken dialects, implies a country abounding with shells, and is, I 

 believe, the origin of Sangada, the name of the country between the 

 Hdb, and Cape Mun'd, according to Nearchus. Though 'Arabd 

 implies the river of noises ; yet it is probable, that originally it meant 

 no such a thing ; and that its name was either accidental, or that of 

 some tribe living on its banks, which perhaps no longer exists ; or at 



