1850.] 



Sircar of Pytun. 



253 



hood of Poonah, meets a remarkable confirmation, in the cave inscrip- 

 tion of Junir, Kanari, and Carli mentioning Thakapoor as the ancient 

 name of that locality, and which led Dr. Bird to suppose might be 

 the celebrated city of Tagara, when Kalian was the Maritime Empo- 

 rium of that part of the country ;* to return however to Pytun,f 

 Colonel Wilford informs us that a prince of Malwa, called Munja, 

 and uncle to the famous Rajah Bojah, removed his seat of Govern- 

 ment from Oojein, to Sonitpoora upon the Godavery ; and according 

 to the appendix of the Agni Purana, it was named Munja-Puttana 

 from him: it received afterwards the name of Sonitpoora, on account 

 of a bloody battle fought there, in which Munja was slain, J and his 

 army defeated with great loss. Whether it be therefore the pre- 

 sent Moonghy Pytun, is merely a conjecture, but the coincidence of 

 names is sufficiently remarkable to lead to the supposition. In the 

 time of Ptolemy, Pytun was supposed to have been the metropolis of 

 Sri Pulimon, one of the Andhra kings,§ whose name the Greek his- 

 torian gives as king Siri Polemaios. 



The city is pleasantly situated upon rising ground on the banks 

 of the Godavery, and approached through broken gulleys, and hol- 

 lows : the rock it rests on, is a purple amygdaloid, abounding with 

 silicious minerals, and worthy of note, from the periplus specify- 

 ing onyx stones, as the article brought from Plithaua. We observe 

 little now that distinguishes this once celebrated city, from others 

 of less pretensions ; all traces of which have disappeared amidst 

 the religious feuds and political convulsions, that have shaken 

 this part of the Deccan. A mean wall, 20 feet high having nine 

 gateways, surrounds the town, which towards the river. Front 

 rests upon steep banks : at the south-west angle they have a pre- 

 cipitous scarp of nearly 150 feet, and there are seen the ruins of 

 the old fortress, which rose high above the town. The streets 

 within are narrow, and much impeded with rubbish ; the greater 

 number of houses are tenantless, and in ruins ; whilst those inhabit- 

 ed, have a mean and squalid appearance, particularly the eastern 

 part of the town, where the Weavers reside, the richer portion of 

 the community, such as the Soucars and Merchants, occupy several 

 lofty stone buildings, that rise in a conspicuous manner above the 

 surrounding houses. The common style for the better sort of build- 



.* Bird's Historical Researches, p. 56-72. + Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX. p. 199- 

 % Ayeen Akberi, Vol. II. p. 55. \ Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX. p. 199, 



