THE KAS'MlR CHRONICLES. 
31 
1899.] 
which Kalhana has used and quoted, have all been lost. We are hence 
unable to judge what he took from each, and how he worked up their 
contents. Largely legendary in the first three Books, his narrative 
reaches firm historical ground with the Karkota dynasty in the Fourth 
Book. From Avantivarman’s reign (a.d. 855-883) onwards which 
opens the Fifth Taraiiga, the Chronicle may be considered an accurate 
and reliable historical record.. As the author approaches his own time, 
his narrative grows more and more detailed. 
In illustration of the latter fact it may be mentioned that of the 
whole work comprising nearly eight thousand S'lokas, more than one-half 
is devoted to the relation of the reigns which fill the century and a half 
immediately preceding the date of composition. We have certainly no 
reason to regret the fulness with which Books vii. and viii. relate the 
events of the author’s own time and of the period that lay near it. 
From a historical point of view, Kalhana’s detailed account of contem¬ 
porary history and the near past must always retain its value. We 
can appreciate its advantages also with special regard to the elucida¬ 
tion of the old topography of the country. This will become at once 
clear by a brief analysis of the topographical information contained in 
the Chronicle. 
It is doubtful whether Kalhana writing for readers of his own 
country and time, would have deemed it necessary to give us a connec¬ 
ted and matter-of-fact description of the land, even if the literature 
which he knew and which was his gnide, had furnished him with a 
model or suggestion for such a description. The nearest approach to it 
is contained in a brief passage of his introduction, i. 25-38. This ac¬ 
quaints us in a poetical form with the legends concerning the creation 
of Kasmir and its sacred river, the Vitasta, and enumerates besides the 
most famous of the many Tirthas of which Kasmir has ever boasted in 
abundance. The few panegyric remarks which are added in praise of 
the land’s spiritual and material comforts, i. 39-43, do credit to the 
author’s love of his native soil. But they can scarcely be held to raise 
the above to a real description of the country. 
18. Notwithstanding the absence of such a description Kalhana’s 
Chronicle yet proves by far our richest source 
of information for the historical geography of 
Kasmir. This is due to the mass of incidental 
notices of topographical interest which are spread through the whole 
length of the narrative. They group themselves conveniently under 
three main heads. 
Considering the great attention which the worship of holy places 
has at all times claimed in Kasmir, we may well speak first of the 
Kalhana’s notices 
of Tirthas. 
