1899.] 
LOWER COURSE OF THE V1TASTA. 
Ill 
river. Even so it is still liable to be invaded by tbe Vitasta at times of 
flood. For tbe swamp as well as the fertile village lands reclaimed 
around it, lie below the level of the river-bed. 1 
The old course of the rivers here briefly indicated explains the 
curious position of the Nor (map ‘Noroo’). This canal which is of 
importance for navigation leaves the Vitasta. on the left bank just 
opposite to the present junction with the Sindhu and practically conti¬ 
nues the southwesterly course of the latter for some distance. Only 
about | mile of low ground divides the Nor from the end of the swamp 
which marks the bed of the Sindhu at the point of its old junction 
opposite the Vainyasvamin ruin. 
Similarly the position of Parihcisapura which King Lalitaditya 
chose for his splendid capital, becomes now intelligible. The plateau 
or Karewa of Par^spor which still preserves its name is now flanked 
on the east by the Panz i nor Nambal and on the west by the marshes of 
HarHrath. Neither of them affords in their present condition the 
convenient waterway we find invariably near all other Kasmir capitals. 
Before Suyya’s regulation, however, the Vitasta flowed as we have seen, 
immediatly to the north of the plateau and at the very foot of the great 
temples erected here by King Lalitaditya. 
71 . The object and result of the change of the confluence can, I 
? think, also be traced yet. By forcing the 
Results of Suyya s Vitasta to pass north of Trigam instead of 
south of it, the reclamation of the marshes south 
of the Volar lake must have been greatly facilitated. The course thus 
given to the river carries its waters by the nearest way into that part of 
the Volur which by its depth and well-defined boundaries is naturally 
designed as a great reservoir to receive the surplus water of dangerous 
floods. The southern shores of the lake are still to this day the scene 
of a constant struggle between the cultivator and floods. The reclama¬ 
tion of laud which has gone on for centuries in these low marshy 
tracts, 8 could never have been undertaken if the Vitasta had been 
allowed to spread itself over them from the south, the direction marked 
by its old course. 
The change in the confluence of the Vitasta and Sindhu was a neces¬ 
sary condition for the subsequent course given to the united rivers. It 
• See Lawrence, Valley, pp, 210 sq. Kalhana’s account shows that the huge 
embankments guarding the Panzhior tract must be far older than the times of the 
Mnghals to which they are popularly attributed. 
8 Compare Drew, Jtnnmoo, p. 116, for a description of these tracts and the 
amphibious ways of the inhabitants who get their living as much from the water as 
the land around. 
