376 H. G. Raverty —The Mihran of Sind and its Tributaries. [Ex, No. 
The old bed which the Biah last flowed in as an independent river 
is sufficiently apparent; while others still more ancient, have, during 
the course of ages, as might be expected, become less defined, and some 
worn out or changed, consequent on the opening of canals or utilizing 
parts of the old beds for them. The breadth of country over which it 
has at different times flowed, now in one part, now in another, extends 
in most places from eight to ten miles, and, in some, to twelve. 881 
The physical features of the tract of country lying between the 
rivers Rawi, and the Hariari, Nili, or Gharah, which names the Biali and 
Sutlaj took, after their final junction, and about midway between which 
the old bed of the Biali runs, is so peculiar that, before I proceed 
further in my account, I had better attempt to describe it. 
I have before mentioned, that a plateau of some elevation—an 
elevated waste—separates the valley of the Rawi from that of the 
Cunningham considers, from the old coins found hereabouts, that this town 
was in existence “ in the time of the Indo-Scythians,” and is “ inclined to identify 
it with the Diadala of Ptolemy [it certainly has the letter d in it, enough perhaps 
for identification], which was on the Satluj to the south of Labokla and Amakatis,” 
etc. ; but, as he had previously “ suggested the identity of Diadala with “ Dehli,” 
we may easily dismiss it, more especially since Debal-pur never yet lay on the 
banks of the Sutlaj, which never approached nearer to it than at present. He 
probably meant the Biah, and so it still remains. 
In the time of Akbar Badshah, Debal-pur was the chief town of one of the 
three sarkdrs of the Multan subah, and the places dependent on it lay in three do- 
dbahs —“the Bist Jalandhar, Bari, and Rnchin-ab Do-abahs,” and another division 
styled, Berun-i-Panch Nad, or outside the Panj Ab, or Five Rivers, or Extra Panj 
Ab—and consisted altogether of twenty-nine mahalls (parganahs or sub-districts). 
The town and mahall are styled in the A ’in-i- Akbari, “ Debal-pfir Lakhhi, with a 
fortress of burnt brick.” The lands dependent on the mahall extended to 242, 344 
bigahs and 11 bisioahs under cultivation, assessed at 13,514,059 dams, equal to 
3 lakhs , and 37,851 rupis , and 19 dams ; while the whole sarkdr yielded 129,334, 
153 dams, equal to 32 lakhs, and 33,353 rupis, and 32 dams. Out of the revenue 
of the Debal-pur mahall, 499,535 dams, equal to 12,488 rupis and a fraction, were 
free grants. The people were Jats, Khokhars (not Gakhars), Kisus, and Bhatis ; 
and they were liable to furnish, according to their tenures, 500 horsemen, and 7,000 
foot for militia duties. 
Great quantities of rice used to be produced here up to the time that the Biah 
deserted its channel to unite with the Sutlaj at the close of the last century, and 
date palms flourished exceedingly. After the river deserted it, all went to ruin 
and decay. 
881 I had occasion, early in October, 1855, to cross from Tulanbah by Mian ki 
Panki to Ludhan, and, of course, had to cross the old bed or rather beds of the Biah. 
When I passed close to the high bank on the south, one of the beds was very 
broad, level as a bowling-green, covered with rich sward, and studded with fine, 
and handsome trees. I never saw anything in India that put me so much in mind 
of an English park scene as this did. 
