1892.] H. G. Raverty —The Mihran of Sind and its Tributaries. 
303 
in tlie Bahawul-pur territory, were all three places on the west bank of 
the river. The Ohin-ab and its tributaries, the Jililam and Rawi, flowed 
some miles farther east, the junction being then a few miles east of 
Sliahr-i-Sultan. S0Q Just at the close of the last century, the Indus sud¬ 
denly forsook its channel about twenty miles above Gchqhh, and took a 
direction more to the south-south-west towards Mit-lii da Kot, thus 
placing ’Ali-pur, Jatu-i, and Sit-pur in the Sind-Sagar Do-abali, in 
which l/chchh was once situated. 301 The Janun Canal (the “Jamoo 
Canal ” of the maps) now runs in this deserted chanuel, and unites 
with the Panj Ab or Panch Nad below Makhan Belah. 
Another purdnah, buddli , or old channel, of which there are several 
others in different parts of the district, called the dhand of Shah Garh, 
can be traced a short distance from the present Kureshi Patan or Ferry. 
It takes a tortuous course among the sand ridges of the Thai , and 
The same “ authority ” states, that u Sitpur was first called Kanjan Mai, then 
Khudi Bhir—the hunting seat of Raja Khudi,” only her - signifies an enclosure 
—the hunting seat, so called—not bhir. There is no mention whatever of Ratta- 
Matta, which famous place is situated only four miles and a half from Jatii-1. See 
a subsequent page and note on this subject farther on. 
8°° See note 292, page 299. 
801 The cause of this change, according to native statements, and which are 
probably correct in the main, is, that from near Kinjhir, the point where the Indus 
formerly turned eastwards to unite with the Ohin-ab, one of the modern Nahar 
chiefs of Sit-ptir, excavated a canal to irrigate some land farther west in the direc¬ 
tion of the present course of the river. All at once (at the commencement of the 
inundation it may be presumed), it suddenly left its old channel and took to the 
canal, and very soon made a new channel for itself; and in it, with occasional minor 
changes, it has since flowed, thus showing how easily great changes can be brought 
about in such a sandy, alluvial tract, and that the feat of Saif-nl-Muluk near Aror, 
according to the tradition elsewhere related, and which is said to have caused such 
mighty changes in Sind, was not so difficult to effect after all. 
It will be noticed, that it was at this same period, when the Ab-i-Sind or Indus 
thus suddenly changed its course, and taking to the abovementioned canal speedily 
cut a new channel for itself, that the Blah and Sutlaj likewise changed their courses, 
and united into one river, and that the Ohin-ab and Rawi, instead of uniting as 
before, a short distance west of Sidhu ki Sara’e, turned some ten miles farther 
towards the south-west. All this shows that the same causes produced the same 
effects—all the rivers were more or less affected. This is said to have happened 
about the year 1202 H. (1787-88, A. D.). 
The place where the Ab-i-Sind or Indus changed its course farther to the west, 
as noticed above, was near Kinjhir (the “ Keenjur ” of the maps) on the west, which 
place lies about twelve miles west of Khan Garh in the Muzaffar Garh district. 
After the Ab-i-Sind or Indus made this sudden change, the Nawwab of Baha- 
wal-pur, who considered that river his boundary on the west, wherever it might be, 
annexed the whole of the intervening tract between the old channel and the new 
to his territory, and managed to hold it up to about the year 1820. 
