68 
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF KAS'MIR. [Extra No. 2, 
geographers brief as they are, lay due stress on the inaccessible cha¬ 
racter of the mountains. Alberuni does the same and shows us besides 
the anxious care taken in old days to maintain this natural strength of 
the country by keeping strict watch over the passes. 1 
Even when Kasmir had suffered a partial conquest from the north 
and had become Muhammadanized, the belief in the invincibility of 
its bulwarks continued as strong as before. Thus Sharlfu-d-dln, the 
historian of Timur, writing apparently from materials collected during 
the great conqueror’s passage through the Panjab Kohistan (circ. a.d. 
1397), says of Kasmir: “This country is protected naturally by its 
mountains on every side, so that the inhabitants, without the trouble 
of fortifying themselves, are safe from the attacks of enemies.” The 
subsequent account of the routes into Kasmir and other exact details 
suggest that the author of the Zafarnama had access to genuine 
Kasmlrian information. 2 
40. It is this defensive character of the mountain ranges to which 
we owe most of our detailed information 
^uoimt^n routes. 11 regarding their ancient topography. We have 
already in connection with the accounts of 
Alberuni and the Chinese pilgrims had occasion to note the system of 
frontier watch-stations by which a careful guard was kept on the passes 
leading through the mountains. These fortified posts and the passes they 
guarded, play an important part in the narrative of Kalhana and his 
successors. As most of the Chronicle’s references to Kasmir orography are 
directly connected with these watch-stations it will be useful to promise 
here a few general remarks regarding their character and purpose. 3 
The small forts which since ancient times closed all regularly used 
passes leading into the Valley, are designated in the Chronicles by the 
word dvara ‘ gate ’ or by the more specific terms dranga or dliakka. 
Numerous passages show that they served at the same time the 
purposes of defence, customs and police administration. They were 
garrisoned by troops under special commanders, designated as drangesa 
or drahgadhipa. The control over all these frontier stations and the 
command of the ‘ Marches ’ generally was vested in Hindu times in one 
high state officer, known by the title of dvarajpati , ‘ lord of the Gate,’ 
or equivalent terms. 4 
1 See above, § § 12, 14. 
2 See the extract from Sharifu-d-din’s Zafarnama in Tdrikh-i-Rashidz. transl. 
by N. Elias and E. D. Ross, p. 432; compare also Ritter, Asien, ii. pp. 1122, sq. 
8 For detailed references regarding these stations see my notes, J, A. S . B., 
1895, pp. 382 sqq .; Raj at. i. 122 ; iii. 227 (D). 
4 Compare Rdjat, note v. 214. 
