482 Essay on the Ancient Geography of India. [No. 6. 



place of some note, and whose inhabitants are called Pariroe by Pliny, 

 for Pasirce or Pasirei : and their borders extended to the river Tuberus 

 or Tomerus, according to him. 



The next place is Condigrama, called to this day Chandigrdma, or 

 the town of Chandi-devi ; otherwise the fort of Shabda-coti. The 

 river Cophes is the Arbis, being the principal river in the country of 

 Cuf, Cofy or Coph ; which is also, that of a powerful tribe in that 

 country, mentioned by several eastern writers, as Ebn Haucal, &c. 

 The source of this river is called Habesan, for Habe-sar by El Edrisi* 

 and Khabsar by Ebn Haucal, or the head of the Hdb or Khdb. To 

 the west of the Indus, and in the lower part of its course, and conse- 

 quently close to the sea, Pliny mentions the tribe of the Amatce so 

 called, because they lived in the country of Aimdtd, the mother of 

 mankind ; who rules over all that region ; which is called in the 

 Puranas, for that reason, Stri-rdjyam, or the country of the woman ; 

 and this legend is much more ancient than the times of Alexander : 

 for Nearchus says, that, according to tradition, a woman in former 

 times, ruled all over that country. She has three principal forms : 

 the first is of a white complexion, and is Swetd-devi, the daughter, 

 and consort of Brahma ; and she is the mother of the gods and of 

 mankind, and the sovereign queen of all living beings. In that cha- 

 racter, she has a vast number of places all over the world, which she 

 visits in rotation. Some places she is particularly fond of, as Hihgldj, 

 which she visits every year during the cold weather. The day and 

 hour is fixed, when all the pilgrims stark naked, rolling themselves 

 upon the rough stony ground, call, as loud as they can, " Ai-Mdtd ! 

 Sri-mdtd ! our blessed mother ; Devi-mdtd ! our divine mother, do 

 awav with all our impurities." Assuming another shape, she becomes the 

 consort of every Manu ; hence she is acknowledged by the Musalmans 

 to be Eve ; and they call her Bibi-Ndni, our honoured lady and grand- 

 mother : and she is held in great veneration by them. The range of 

 mountains west of the Indus, is called the mountains of Bibi-Ndni* 

 When our first parents were ejected out of paradise with the seducer, 

 Adam fell into Ceylon; Eve at Hingldj ; and the Devil at Cabal. 

 From her oven near Hingldj, sprang the waters of the flood. Her 

 name is Brahmi-Sitd y or simply Sitd. The second form is that of 

 * El Edrisi p. 134, Ebn Haucal, p. 210. 



