108 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
deserts of Sind and Eajputana as well as in the "woody and 
inaccessible gorges of Kandesh and Akmedabad. 
The name of the Bhils occurs in various Sanskrit works, 
and also in Ptolemy, VII, 1, 66. He makes mention of 
the PhyllUai together with the Bettigoi and Kandahi. 
Instead of connecting the PhyU'itai with the Bhils, as 
Lassen first rightly proposed to do, Sir A. Cunningham 
prefers to derive the term PhylUtai from the Greek word 
Saurashtra that temples to this orb ahound ; so that religion, tradition as 
regards their descent, and personal appearance, all indicate an Indo-scy- 
" thic origin for this race, and in order to conceal their barbarian (inletcha) 
' ' extraction, the fable of their birth from Rama may have been devised. 
" The city of Balabhi, written Wulleh in the maps, and now an inconsider- 
"able village, was said to he twelve coss, or fifteen miles, in circiunference. 
" From its foundations, gigantic bricks, from one and-a-half to two feet in 
"length, are still dug; but of this hereafter. Enough has been said to 
" trace the origin of the Balhara of the Arabian travellers, the Baleokouras 
of Ptolemy ; for, even in the second century, it had claims to the attention 
" of the royal geographer of Egypt." ^ee ibidem, pp. 1-56, 159-169, where 
Colonel Tod discusses the Arabic accounts of the Balhara -^Tincea oi India. 
On page 160 he says : " We may remark upon this description, first, of the 
«' title Balhara, that it was derived from Balla-cd-Rae, whose ancient capital 
"was Balabhipoor, on whose site Ptolemy has placed a Byzantium." I 
also derive Balhara from Balla Raja, the word Balla having undergone the 
change, which I have explained on pp. 99 and 100. Though Colonel Tod 
gives above the right explanation, he called these rulers on p. 145 ■ ' Balhara, or 
more correctly Balha-raes, exalted kings." The Arabic travellers, especially 
Ibn Khurdadba and Al Idrisi, styled these monarchs and interpreted their 
name Balhara as meaning king of kings, and the late Mr. Edward Thomas, of 
numismatic reputation, explained it to signify Bara Rai, great king or lord 
paramount of the time being. Compare about this subject " The History of 
India," edited from the posthumous papers of Sir H. M. Elliot by Professor 
John Dowson, vol. I, pp. 3-5, 9, 13, 21, 2i, 86, 87, 201 and 354-358. which 
latter passage contains a great deal of information on this subject. The 
Relation des Voyages /aits par Ics Arabes et les Persatis dans V Indc et d la 
Chine, par M. Eeinaud; Paris, 1846, should be also consulted. 
Colonel Tod devotes a special chapter to Balabhi in his Travels in 
Western India, pp. 268-271. " The name of this is now Balli, or "Wulleh . . 
Some interesting additions . . amply confii-med all I had recorded of it (Balabhi) 
from the Yutis of Balli and Sandera in Marwar, the descendants of those 
who were expelled on its sack in S. 300 (A.D. 214)" . . StiU. both books 
and tradition connect the tribe of Balla with the ancient sovereigns of 
Balabhi . . Tlie lord of Balla-khetra would, of coiirse, be Bal-ca-rae, 
wliich doubtless originated the epithet, so often noticed, of the Balhara 
princes . . . Not far from Balabhi, there is a spot still $.K-red to the pilgrim, 
