12 
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF KAS'MIR. 
[Extra No. 2, 
territory and represents the earliest mention of the ethnic name 
Pakhtun or the modern Indian Pathdn, seems also probable, 1 The 
exact site of Kaspatyros lias not been identified. Considering the great 
changes which local nomenclature in Gandhara has undergone, it 
perhaps never will be. 2 
Wilson was the first who distinctly attempted to connect the name 
of Kaspatyros with Kasmir. s But the idea seems to have occurred 
earlier. For D’Auville thought it necessary to refer to it and to refute it. 
Wilson saw clearly enough that the city of Scylax must have been 
situated close to the Indus and hence far away from Kasmir. If not¬ 
withstanding this important fact he yet proposed to identify its name 
with that of Kasmir, on the assumption that the borders of the latter 
kingdom extended as far as the Indus, the mistake must be traced to a 
fanciful etymology of the latter name. 
Wilson assumed that the name Kasmir was derived from * Kasyapa- 
pura , a name which he supposed to have been given to the country 
owing to its colonization by the Rsi Ka^yapa. He supported this 
strange derivation by a reference to the uniform assertion of ‘ Oriental 
writers.’ 4 But it is difficult to believe that he could have meant any 
1 This identification seems to have been first made simultaneously by Dorn 
and Lassen ; compare V. de St. Martin, E'tude sur la gdographie grecque de VInde, 
Mem. de l’Acad. des Inscriptions, Sav. E'trang., He Seine, V., p. 17 sqq. His 
note on Kaspatyros, ib. pp. 81—36, contains a judicious review of the whole question 
from the geographical point of view and a detailed account of earlier opinions. For 
a more recent resume compare Darmesteteii, Chants Populaires des Afghans, pp. 
clxxx sqq. 
2 Proper navigation begins now at Jahanglra, a place situated on the left bank 
of the Kabul ltiver, some six miles above the confluence of the latter with the 
Indus at Attock. The lower Dart of the Kabul River’s course lies in a well-defined 
i 
single bed which, in view of the natural configuration of the banks, cannot have 
changed materially in historical times. Above Jahanglra the current becomes too 
strong for safe navigation. 
I doubt very much whether the Indus immediately above Attock cau ever have 
beeu suitable for proper navigation. The river is cut up there into many, often very 
shallow, channels and obstructed by continually shifting sandbanks. On the eastern 
bank spreads the low plain of Chuch, which must have always left a wide scope to 
the vagaries of the great river. Taking into account these circumstances I should 
not be surprised if Scylax’s expedition had chosen some place near Jahanglra for 
the start on their voyage. There are many ruined sites near the latter place, and 
near Alladher closeby on the Indus. 
3 See Essay, p. 117 ; for a reproduction of the argument, also, Ariana Antiqua, 
p. 136 sq. 
4 “ This (the name of Cashmir) was derived, it is uniformly asserted by the 
Oriental writers, from the colonization of the country by Casyapa, the first settle¬ 
ment or city being named after him Casyapapur, converted in ordinary pronuncia- 
