50 ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF KAS'MIR. [Extra No. 2, 
brief analysis of the most instructive of sucli names found in the 
Vitastamfthatmya. 
This text claims to furnish an account of all the Tirthas along the 
course of the holy river and is designated as a portion of the Bhrnglsa- 
samhita. Notwithstanding this pretended antiquity we find the famous 
Nilanaga introduced to us by the name of Viranaga (i. 58; ii. 33). 
This form is wholly unknown to the Nilamata, Rajatarangini or any 
old text. It is nothing but a clumsy rendering of the modern name of 
the village Vernag near which this fine spring is situated. 1 The 
ancient site of Jayavana, mentioned by Bilhana and Kalhana, the pre¬ 
sent Zevan , is metamorphosed into Yavanl (vi. 4). 2 The village of 
Pandrethan which derives its name from Puranadhisthana , 3 ‘the old 
capital,’ and bears the latter designation even in S'rivara’s Chronicle, 
figures as Pddadrstika (!), xii. 24. That Maksikasvamin (May^sum) 4 * 
and the Mahasarit (Mar) 6 7 appear as Mayasimd and Marl , can after this 
specimen of fancy nomenclature scarcely surprise us. 
But we must all the same feel somewhat startled when we find that 
this text which claims to be revealed by S'iva, refers repeatedly to the 
modern village of Shad 1 pur, at the confluence of the Vitasta and Sind, 
by the name of Sdradapura. Shad*pur, an abbreviation for Shahabuddln - 
pur , was, as Jonaraja’s Chronicle shows, founded only in the J4th 
century by Sultan Shahabu-d-din. 6 Quite on a level with the knowledge 
of old topography here displayed are many other references to loca¬ 
lities, e.g ., the mention of the modern garden Shdlimdv, a creation of 
the Mughals (S'alamara), xxi. 39; of the ancient Huskapura as TJsah- 
karanal (for Uskiir !), xxix. 103, etc. 
In several cases these fancy renderings of modern local names 
are explained by whimsical etymologies which again in due turn give 
rise to new-fangled legends quite in the style of the old niddnakathds. 
Similar proofs of modern origin can be traced in several other 
popular Mahatmyas, though perhaps not with equal frequency. Thus 
we find in the Haramukutagangdmahdtmya the name of the sacred 
mountain itself transformed from Haramukuta into Haramukha (the 
1 The name Vernag is probably derived from the name of the Pargana Ver, men¬ 
tioned by Abu-1-Fazl, ii. p. 370. 
2 See below, § 105. 
3 See Rdjat. iii. 99 note and below, § 89 ; also Srlv. iv. 290. 
4 See Rajat. iv. 88 note and below, § 99. 
6 Compare Rajat. iii. 339-349 note and below, § 65. 
8 See Jonar. 409. A popular etymology accepted in good faith by more than 
one European writer, sees in Shad^pur the * village of the marriage,’ soil, between 
the Vitasta and Sind Rivers ! 
7 Compare Rajat . i. 168 note and below, § 124. 
