383 
1895.] M. A. Stein —Topography of /he Plr Pantsal Route. 
We are all the more justified in accepting the glossator’s statement 
as to the identical meaning of the term dhaJcJca, as the same frontier-post 
after its transfer to furapura is directly mentioned by Kalhana under 
the name of Curapuradrayga. We find this designation in vii. 1352 and 
in the interesting passage viii. 1577-1580, which relates, how the 
commander of this frontier-station (draygadhipa, draygBga) caught and 
executed in July-August 1128 a.d., the rebel Utpala, King Sussala’s 
murderer, who was passing through the mountains on a roving expedi¬ 
tion from Pnsyanancida (Pusiana). 1 
Even later yet, about the end of the fifteenth century, Crlvara 
knows the drayga of (furapura , iv. 582, and refers evidently to the same 
place when relating, i. 408, of Sultan Zainu-l- £ abidln that the latter 
established on the route of furapura a hospice for travellers and settled 
at the customs station ( gulkasthana) of the same route load-carriers 
from Abhisdra (i.e., the country about Bhimbliar). 
explained according to tlie above interpretation of drayga. The form drayga is 
found in my MS. of the Kagmirian commentary on Mankha’s K5£a as the equiva¬ 
lent of rak§dsthdna ‘ watch-station,’ s. v. gulrna . 
[Since this paper was sent to the press, Messrs. Levi and Chavannes’ 
important publication, L’ltineraire d’Ou-K’ong (Journal Asiatique, Septembre-Octo- 
bre 1895) has reached me. The Chinese traveller, whose life and wanderings it 
records, passed four years (759-703 a.d.) in Kacpnir in study and pilgrimages. We 
owe to him besides interesting notices of the sacred buildings he visited there, the 
following curious account of the “ Gates ” of the Valley {l.c., p. 356). 
‘Le royaume (de Cachemire) est entoure des quatre cotes par des montagnes 
qui lui font un rempart exterieur ; on y a ouvert en tout trois chemins sur lesquels 
on a etabli des fermetures.’ In the routes which lead in the east towards T'ou-fan 
(Tibet) and in the north towards Po-liu (Baltistan), we can easily recognize the 
passes of the Zuji-ld and the Trdgabal (of Gilgit Transport notoriety), respectively. 
The third route, £ le chemin qui part dela porte derouest,’ leading towards Gandhdra, 
can be no other but the road which passes through the Varahamula gorge. The 
Plr Pant^fd route may possibly be intended in the following description of a fourth 
route closed in Ou-K'ong's days: ‘Ilya encore un autre chemin; mais il est tou- 
jours ferine et ne s’ouvre pas pour un instant que lorsque une armee imperiale fait 
l’lionneur de venir.] 
1 The commanders of these frontier-posts play under the title of margeqa, 
mdrgapati, a great part in tke narratives of the later chroniclers. Their duties were 
entrusted in Mughal times to hereditary ‘ Maliks ,’ true “ Lords of the Marches” who 
retained considerable power and revenues until the time of the Sikh conquest. 
Their descendants, though deprived long ago of their privileges and most of their 
Jaglrs, are found residing to this day at the entrance of the valleys leading to the 
more important passes, e. g., at §Jupiyon on the way to Horapor. For interesting 
information regarding the Maliks and the routes in their charge, see the detailed 
account given by Baron Von Hiigel, Kaschmir und das Reich dev Siek, Stuttgart, 1840 
ii., pp. 167 sqq.; i., p. 347. 
