470 H. G. Raverty —The Mihran of Sind and its Tributaries. [Rx. "No. 
and history confirms, the state of the seven rivers — the Saptah Sindha- 
wah of the Sanskrit writings — between the Hakra, Wahindah, or Sind- 
Sagar, and the Sindhu, Nahr-i-Miliran, or Ab-i-Sind, the Indus of 
Europeans, the whole of which united formed the “ Mihran of Sind,” 
or “ Great Mihran,” as some of the old writers style it, may be divided 
or classed under five great transitions or changes. I may assume, how¬ 
ever, that it will be fully understood, that changes more or less, to a 
greater or lesser degree, took place then as now, during, and after, every 
annual inundation of these rivers; and that the beds or channels of 
the majority of them, in inclining westwards, were being gradually silted 
up, owing to the nature of the soil through which they flowed being, 
for the most part, alluvial, from causes well known to geologists, and 
particularly so with regard to the Sutlaj, but which latter river having 
reached a certain point where the tract of country on the west rose so 
considerably as to prevent its waters from surmounting the obstacle, this 
inclination westwards has been prevented, and, in all probability, 
finally stopped. 
I will not go back so far as the Macedonian Alexander’s time, 
because we have no definite or trustworthy information respecting the 
courses, or even the numbers of all the rivers and their tributaries 
of the parts now known as the territory of the Panj Ab or Five Rivers, 
and of the parts immediately to the east. But we learn from Aristo- 
bulus, as quoted by Strabo, that the country was subject to the shocks 
of earthquakes, that the soil was loose and hollow by excess of mois¬ 
ture, and easily split into fissures, whence even the courses of the 
rivers became altered. He also states, that, on one occasion, when he 
was despatched into the country upon some business, he saw a tract of 
land deserted, which contained more than a thousand cities (towns 
and cities ?) with their dependent villages. “ The cause of this was, 
that the Indus, having abandoned its proper channel, was diverted into 
another, on the left hand [east], much deeper, and precipitated itself into 
it like a cataract, so that it no longer watered the country by the usual 
inundation on the right hand, from which it had receded, and this was 
elevated above the level, not only of the new channel which the river 
had formed, but above that of the inundation.” 
We also know from Indian sources, that the Sutlaj or Satadru— 
the Hesudrus or Zaradrus of the Greeks — long after Alexander’s 
time, flowed in the easternmost of its ancient channels shown in the 
map No. 6. All the Greek accounts respecting these parts, are more 
or less, mere surmise and speculation; and when we find enthusiasts 
“ identifying ” towns, fortresses, and the rivers also, as they now flow, 
we can value such identifications accordingly. 
