462 H. G. Raverfcy— The Mihrdn of Sind and its Tributaries. [Ex. No. 
In proof of wliat I have advanced, let us look at the two channels 
of the Hakra or Wahindah in their present or recent state. 
it.” The author of the “Life and Actions of Alexander the Great,” previously 
quoted, not knowing anything of the existence of the Hakra and its tributaries, 
supposes it to suit the well watered plains between the lower course of the Aral, 
the Arabis of Ptolemy [the author should have added “ and the Ardbis of Arrian,” 
which is supposed to be the Purali river in Mukran, ninety miles west of the 
Aral] and the Indus,” a part, which, of course, he knew nothing about. I shall 
not follow his other statements, and would merely remark, that Alexander must 
have sailed down the Mihran of Sind ; for the writer just alluded to, says, “ he 
was now approaching the upper end of the delta of the Indus [Mihran] where the 
river divides into two streams.” This cannot refer to the separation of the great 
river below the Dosh-i-Ab into two branches and below which Wanjh-rut stood 
(See page 497), one of which passed Aror on the east, from what is stated after, 
but to the position of Kalari, where the Mihran separated into two branches about 
forty miles above Bahman-abad. It is stated further, that, “ the river enters the 
sea by two channels of unequal size, more than one hundred miles apart from each 
other. The enclosed space was named Pattalene by the Greeks, from the city of 
Pattala, situated within the delta below the point of division,” which the learned 
author supposes was “at no great distance from modern Hyderabad,” and which 
he, not knowing how or when Haidar-abad was built, supposes may be “ the same 
cities , as some modern Hyder might easily have imposed his own name on the 
ancient Pattala [!]*** Here Hepheestion was ordered to build a citadel, and 
construct docks and a harbour at Pattala, while Alexander himself sailed down 
the right [west] branch to the ocean.” He is then said to have returned to Pattala, 
and, subsequently, to have sailed down the left or eastern branch, and reached an 
extensive lake, and an estuary, to the ocean, and “ was satisfied that the western 
branch [ ? eastern, apparently, from the context, and what the other writers say] 
was better calculated for navigation than the eastern [western ?].” See the 
extract from the Balazarf, page 256. 
To judge from the courses of the Mihran as it existed some fourteen centuries 
ago, Bahman-nih or Bahman-abad lay below the point of separation of the river 
into two branches, and about the position in which Pattala is said to have stood ; 
and the lake reached in going down the left or east channel, that which existed 
at the time of the ’Arab conquest, and the estuary at the Shakarah or Sagarah 
mouth, some twelve miles wide, the Shagarah inlet or estuary. At the time of the 
Greeks, the last named mouth must have been at least fifty miles above Badin, and 
the western branch not much to the south, if so far south as the Makhalili hills 
near Thathah. The whole of the Shah Bandar district of Sind may be said to be 
of comparatively recent formation. 
Strabo, quoting Aristobulus, says “ Pattalene was formed by the two 
branches of the Indus [Mihran of Sind], and that the two branches are distant 
1,000 stadia from each other [at their greatest distance ?] # * * he reckons 
each side of the included island [or bet], which is of triangular shape, at 2,000 
stadia, and the breadth of the river, where it separated into two mouths, at about 
200 stadia. He calls the island delta.” 
These distances must be greatly exaggerated—doubled at least. 
