96 
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF KAS'MIR. 
[Extra No. 2, 
which the route descends immediately after crossing the Marbal Pass, 
is known now as Khaisal. It is once mentioned as Khasali by Kalhana 
and more frequently referred to in the last Chronicle by the name of 
Khasalaya . 1 From the latter source we learn that it was inhabited 
by Khasas to whose occupation it may have owed also its name. So we 
note here once more in the east the coincidence of the ethnic boundary 
with the natural watershed. 
Section V.—Upper Course of the Vitasta. 
61 . We have now completed the circuit of the great mountain- 
barriers which enclose the Kasmir Valley, and can turn our attention 
to its interior. This is naturally divided into two great parts. One 
comprises the plain formed by the alluvium of the Vitasta and its main 
tributaries ; the other consists of plateaus or Karewas elevated above 
the river flats and largely caused by old lacustrine deposits. We shall 
first notice the alluvial plain and the river-system which has created it. 
The great river which is the recipient of the whole drainage of the 
countrv, is now known to Kasmiris by the 
Name of Vitasta. "» Tr , 7 m t . , , . ,. . 
name or Vyath. This modern designation is the 
direct phonetic derivative of the ancient Sanskrit Vitasta which we meet 
already among the river-names of the Kigveda. 2 The intermediary 
Prakrit form *Vidasta underlies the Hydaspes of the Greeks in which 
we note, as so frequently in Greek renderings of foreign names, the 
modifying action of popular etymology. 3 In Ptolemy’s Bidaspes we 
have another rendering which though later in date yet approaches 
closer to the sound of the Indian original. 4 The name Jelilam which is 
1 Compare Rajat. vii. 399 note. 
s The line of phonetic development may be roughly represented as Skr. 
Vitasta >Pr. *Vidasta >Ap. *Vi[K]ath >Ks. Vyath. 
The name Vitasta is still well-known to Kasmir Brahmans from the Mahatmyas 
and similar texts, and is currently used by them. The form ‘ Vedasta ’ which Drew 
and other writers indicate as the old name of the river “ still used by those who 
follow Sanskrit literature,” is due to some error of hearing. It is curious to 
meet a similar form *Vidastd in the transcription of the Chinese Annals of the 8th 
century; see my Notes on On-Wong, p. 31. 
3 The ending in the form Hydaspes is undoubtedly due to the influence ' of the 
numerous Persian names known to the Greeks which end in -acnnjs (Old Persian 
aspa). For the rendering of initial Vi- by *Y compare Hystaspes : Vishtdspa. 
4 Ptolemy’s Bi (for Vi) is the most exact phonetic reproduction possible in Greek 
characters. It is evident from Ptolemy’s Panjab river names that he did not take 
