1852.] On the Sites of Nikaia and Boahephalon. 257 



from Taxiles, I think it more probable that the place was so called 

 from a rocking-stone now displaced or lost. For touch-stones are peb- 

 bles of black jasper found only in small masses and removed for the 

 use of goldsmiths wherever found. If the Pundit's translation is cor- 

 rect, Tukshasilla was most probably on the Indus, where the touch- 

 stone is common. It is found only in the beds of rivers ; whereas 

 the rocking-stone, which would be a durable monument, occurs both 

 in the sandstone and in the lime formation. It is however, not pro- 

 bable that Alexander's friend was either Raja Rockingstone or Raja 

 Touchstone. 



The same Pundit informs me of a Raja Tuksh of Cashmere cele- 

 brated in the following slokas from the Ramayana. 



^: II 



"Yoodhajit, his maternal uncle, leading an army through Cashmere 

 summoned Bhurta, having smitten Gundharu kings : and having 

 instated Pooshkurrun (son of Bhurta) at Pooshkurrah (in Cashmere) 

 and Tukshun (son also of Bhurta) inTukshilla (of Cashmere) returned 

 to Ayoodia." 



Raja Tuksh may have been king of Cashmere, but Taxiles was 

 prince only of Potawar Satur of Chuch. The throne of Tuksh would 

 very probably, if made of stone, be called Tukshilla, but Raja Tuksh 

 would not have been called Taxiles by the Greeks. He would have 

 been called simply, Tv£, Tux. 



Professor Wilson in his Ariana Antiqua writes thus of Turrukpurri, 

 or rather of Manikyala in its neighbourhood. " In 1808, the embassy 

 to Cabul, conducted by Mr. Elphinstone, when upon their way back 

 to India, arrived at a part of the country between the Indus and 

 Jelum in which, according to the notions of Col. Wilford, the capital 

 of Taxiles, the ally of Alexander was situated." The party sent to 

 search for the city found the tope of Manikyala which is described, 

 he then proceeds : " Its geographical position leaves little doubt of 

 its being the site of the capital of Taxiles, or more correctly speaking 

 of the city Taxila, the Tax-sila of the Hindus ; and the identity is 

 confirmed by the ancient remains scattered about the country. The 



