67 
1899.] POSITION AND CONFIGURATION OF KASAI III YALLEY. 
of Baramula where the mountains scarcely seem to leave an opening. 
It is necessary to bear in mind here the singular flights of Hindu imagin¬ 
ation as displayed in the Puranas, Mahatmyas and similar texts. Those 
acquainted with them, will, I think, be ready to allow that the fact of 
that remarkable gorge being the single exit for the drainage of the 
country, might alone have sufficed as a starting-point for the legend. 
In respect of the geological theory above referred to it may yet 
be mentioned that in the opinion of a recent authority “ even the pre¬ 
sence of true lacustrine deposits does not prove that the whole of the 
Kasmir lake basin was ever occupied by a lake.” 1 At the present day 
true lacustrine deposits are still being formed in the hollows of the rock 
basin represented by the lakes of the north-west portion of the Valley. 
It is held probable “ that the conditions have been much the same as at 
present, throughout the geological history of the Kasmir Valley,” only a 
minor area of the latter having at various periods been occupied by lakes. 
Whatever view may ultimately recommend itself to geologists, it is 
certain that the lacustrine deposits of Kasmir, though of no remote date, 
speaking by a geological standard, are far older than any monuments 
of man that have yet been discovered. 2 Mr. Drew was undoubtedly 
right in denying the existence of lacustrine deposits round any known 
ancient buildings or other works of man in the Valley. 
39 . None of the natural features of Kasmir geography have had 
a more direct bearing on the history of the 
^" a fS^mouEd:aDis^ ^ country than the great mountain-barriers 
that surround it. They may hence rightly 
claim our first consideration. 
The importance of the mountains as the country’s great protecting 
wall has at all times been duly recognized both by the inhabitants and 
foreign observers. Since an early time Kasmirians have been wont to 
pride themselves on their country’s immunity from foreign invasion, a 
feeling justified only by the strength of these natural defences. We 
find it alluded to by Kalhana who speaks of Kasmir as unconquerable 
by the force of soldiers and of the protection afforded by its mountain 
walls. 3 The feeling is very clearly reflected in all foreign records. We 
have already seen what special notice is taken by Hiuen Tsiang and 
Ou-k'ong of the mountains enclosing the kingdom and of the difficulty 
of the passes leading through them. 4 The statements of the early Arab 
1 See Oldham’s Manual of Indian Geology (1893), quoted by Mr. Lawrence, 
Valley , p. 50. 
S See Drew, Jummoo, pp. 207 sq, 
3 See Raj at. i. 31, 39. 
* Compare above, §§ 9, 11. 
