30 
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF KAS'MlR. [Extra No. 2, 
parts of India which have furnished their contingent to the phalanx of 
Sanskrit authors. Yet unfortunately this is by no means the case. 
The advantageous position we enjoy in Kasmir is due to a combina¬ 
tion of causes-of which the most important ones may at once be here 
indicated. In the first place we owe it to the preservation of connected 
historical records from a comparatively early date which acquaint us 
with a large number of particular localities and permit us to trace their 
connection with the country’s history. 
Another important advantage results from the fact that Kasmir, 
thanks chiefly to its geographical position and the isolation resulting 
from it, has escaped those great ethnic and political changes which have 
from time to time swept over the largest portion of India. Local 
tradition has thus remained undisturbed and still clings to all prominent 
sites with that tenacity which is characteristic of alpine tracts all over 
the world. The information preserved by this local tradition in Kasmir 
has often proved for our written records a most welcome supplement 
and commentary. 
Finally it must be remembered that in a small mountain country 
like Kasmir, where the natural topographical features are so strongly 
marked and so permanent, the changes possible in historical times as 
regards routes of communication, sites for important settlements, cul¬ 
tivated area, etc., are necessarily restricted. The clear and detailed 
evidence which the facts of the country’s actual topography thus fur¬ 
nish, enables us to elucidate and to utilize our earlier data, even where 
they are scanty, with far greater certainty and accuracy than would be 
possible on another ground. The observations here briefly indicated 
will be in part illustrated by the review of our Kasmlrian sources. 
17. Epigraphical records on stone or copper such as elsewhere in 
India form the safest basis for the study of 
local topography, have not yet come to light 
in Kasmir. The few fragmentary inscriptions 
hitherto found are all of a late date and do not furnish any topographi¬ 
cal information. In their absence Kalhana’s RajataranginI is not only 
the amplest but also the most authentic of our sources for the historical 
geography of Kasmir. The questions connected with the historical 
value of the work, its scope and sources, have been fully discussed 
in the introduction to my translation. Here we have only to consider 
its character as our chief source of information on the old topography 
of Kasmir. 
Kalhana’s work, composed in the years 1148-49 a.d., is our oldest 
record of the history of the various dynasties which ruled Kasmir from 
the earliest period to the time of the author. The earlier Chronicles 
Kalhana’s Raja- 
taranginl. 
