140 
ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF KAS'MIR. [Extra No. 2, 
There is in the first place the significant name Puranadhisthana, ‘ the 
Old Capital,’ which shows that the site of Pandretlian must have once been 
occupied by an important city. Next it is to be noted that Kalhana’s 
narrative knows nothing of any other capital which might have been 
founded in this vicinity previous to the new capital built by Pravarasenall. 
on the site of the present S'rinagar. Lastly we have an indication in 
the very name S’rlnagara which Pravarasena’s city has come to bear in 
general usage instead of its proper and official designation Pravarapura. 
If Asoka’s S'rinagari actually lay at or near the present Pandrethan 
the transfer of its name to the new capital is most readily accounted 
for. General Cunningham already has rightly pointed out the numerous 
analogies for such a transfer furnished by the history of other Indian 
capitals. 1 Pravarasena’s city was practically contiguous to the older 
S'rinagari and existed for centuries side by side with it. We can 
hence easily understand that popular usage retained for the new capital 
the old familiar designation. 2 Exactly in the same way the several new 
cities founded by successive kings in the vicinity of Delhi all continued 
to be known simply by the name “ Delhi,” though each of them was 
originally intended to bear the distinctive name of its founder. 
Though Puranadhisthana had sunk to small importance already in 
Hindu times, extensive remains of ancient buildings can still be traced 
on the terraced slopes rising immediately to the north and north-east of 
Pandrethan. Foundations of old walls, carved slabs, and architectural 
fragments cover the foot of the hill-side for about one and a half miles. 
Broken Lihgas of colossal dimensions are scattered among them. All 
the remains above ground, however, are far too much decayed to permit 
of a distinction of individual structures. 3 
The advantages of Pandrethan as the site for a great city cannot be 
compared with those offered by the position of S'rinagar. Yet the 
close vicinity of the Vitasta, coupled with the security from floods which 
the near hill-slopes afford, must have been appreciated in an earlier 
1 See Anc. Geogr ., pp. 97 sq. 
2 The feminine form S'rinagari is used also for the new capital; comp. Rajat. 
i. 104 note. There is thus no difference in the name as applied to both Asoka’s and 
Pravarasena’s cities. S'rmagara or S'rinagari means the “City of S'ri ”, i.e. of 
Laksmi, the Goddess of Fortune. For a whimsical etymology of European growth, 
which has turned S'rinagar into the “ City of the Sun ”, see above § 4, note. 
8 Compare for an account of these ruins, Cunningham, J. A. 8. B., 1848, pp. 283 
sq ., Ajic. Geogr. 95 sq. [The remarks made in the latter place as to the supposed 
cause of the desertion of Puranadhisthana rest on a misinterpretation of certain 
Rajatarangini passages. The reconstruction of an alleged ‘ Pravaresvara symbol * 
at Pandrethan, J. A, S. B 1848, pp. 324 sq. } is also unsupported by evidence.] 
