ENCYCLOPAEDIA LONDINENSIS; 
OR, AN 
UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY 
O F 
ARTS, SCIENCES, and LITERATURE. 
HINDOOSTAN. 
H INDOOSTAN', a molt celebrated country of Afia, 
famed in all ages of the world for its elegant pro¬ 
ductions of the loom, and for its abundant ftores of gold, 
diamonds, and precious ftones. In the original language 
of the country, according to fir William Jones, (the learn¬ 
ed founder and prefident of the Afiatic Literary Society,) 
it was called Medhyama ; but, being long wifely and bene¬ 
volently governed by a fovereign whofe name was Bharat, 
the country itfelf, in procef? of time, came to be called 
after him, Bharata. It was known, for many centuries 
before the Chriitian era, by the general denomination of 
India, which was given to it by the Greeks; and in com¬ 
mon language amongft us, it is often diftinguifhed by the 
vague appellation of “the East Indies.” Its denomi¬ 
nation Blind appears to have originated with the Perfians, 
from whom the Greeks received it; who firft applied the 
name of Hindoo to the aboriginal inhabitant, and Jlan to 
the diftrift or region: whence Hindoostan ; “the region 
< 5 r country of the Hindoos.” 
The extenfive territories to which the Greeks gave the 
name of India, were divided by the river Ganges into 
two unequal parts, denominated India within the Ganges, or 
India Proper, which means the country of Hindooftan; and 
India without the Ganges, which comprehends all the coun¬ 
try lying on the ealtern fide of that river, between Hin¬ 
dooftan and the empire of China; occupying what is 
called the Farther Peninfula. See the article Geography, 
vol. viii.-p-4.03. The boundaries of this widely-extended 
portion of Alia, is thus defined by fir William Jones : 
. “ India, on its moft enlarged fcale, in which the ancients 
appear to have underftood it, comprifes an area of near 
forty degrees on each fide, including a fpace almoft as 
large as all Europe; being divided on the weft from Per- 
fia by the Arachofian mountains; limited on the eaft by 
the Chinefe part of the farther peninfula; confined on the 
north by the wilds of Tartar}'-;. and extending to the fouth 
as far as the ifies of Java. This trapezium, therefore, 
comprehends the ftupendous hills of Potyid, or Thibet; 
the beautiful valley of Cachemire ; and all the domains 
of the old Indo-Scythians, the countries of Nepal and 
Butant, Camrup. or Afam, together with Siam, Ava, Racan, - 
and the bordering kingdoms, as far as the China of the 
Hindoos, or Sind of the Arabian geographers ; not to men¬ 
tion the whole weftern peninfula, (now Hindooftan,) with 
the celebrated ifland of Ceylon at its louthern extremity. 
By India, in ftiort, I mean that whole extent of country, 
in which the primitive religion and languages of the Hin¬ 
doos prevail at this day with more or lefs of their ancient 
purity; and in which the Nagari letters are {till ufed, 
with more or lefs deviation from their original form.”— 
See Afiatic Refearches, vol. i. Difcourfe the Third. 
Vol. X. No. 636. 
Mr. Maurice, in his valuable work on the “ Antiquities 
of Hindooftan,” recently publilhed, ftates the ancient 
boundaries of'that country, or the wefltrn peninfula, thus; 
“ On the weft it is terminated by the great river Indus; 
on the north and north-weft by a chain of mountains, to> 
which the ancients gave the general name of Caucafus-, on 
the eaft by the Ganges; and on the fouth by the Indian 
Ocean. It is to be remarked, however, that Ptolemy does 
not aflert the Indus to be the weftern boundary of India 
Proper, or Hindooftan; fince he affigns for its confines, 
on that fide, the territory of the Paropamifida, and the 
provinces of Arachofia and Gedrofia. The firft of thefe 
are the Afghans of modern hiftory 5 the fecond, Sablcfan 
or Zabuliftan ; the third and laft, Mucran." 
The modern boundaries of Hindooftan, the fame inge¬ 
nious writer ftates thus : “ It is bounded on the north by 
the mountains of Tartary and Thibet; on the weft it is 
feparated from Perfia and Ufbeck Tartary by deferts and 
mountains; on the fouth it is confined by the countries 
of the Deccan; and on the eaft it has for its limits the 
kingdoms of Tipra, Alfam, and Arracan. According to 
the Ayeen-Akbery, it was parcelled into grand diviiions 
by the emperor Akbar. Each of thefe divifions was 
called a fou'oah ; and was fubdivided into circars, or coun¬ 
ties ; and thefe again were divided into pergunnahs, or hun¬ 
dreds.”—See the article Geography, vol. viii. p.402-403. 
The names and boundaries of this countiy have fo of¬ 
ten varied, that its defcription has been in general per¬ 
plexed and unfatisfaflory; we hope, however, that the 
ftatements recited above, aided by the improved Map of 
Hindooftan hereunto annexed, will cure thefe anomalies, 
and place both its ancient and modern geography in an 
obvious point of view. We fhall therefore only add, in 
this place, a few particulars of its ancient fplendour and 
importance, from the valuable work laft mentioned, with 
a view to reconcile ancient with modern names, in refpeft 
to places on its weftern boundary; over which the earlieft 
inroads were made by foreign invaders, and from whofe 
victories the firft dawn of its hiftory came to be deve¬ 
loped. 
The firft place of confiderable importance -was-Taxila, 
which, it is fuppofed was fituated where the cattle and 
city of Attack now ftand, on the eaftern bank of the In¬ 
dus. This city, according to Strabo, was-tlie capital of a 
kingdom as large as Egypt. It was here that Alexander 
the Great made his invafion of India;- and from Taxila 
he advanced to the banks of the Hydafpes, called in mo¬ 
dern language the Behat, or Chelum, but, in the Ayeen- 
Akbery, Bedujla ; Ptolemy calls it Bedafpes. It takes its- 
rife in the Indian Caucafus, and joins the Indus at Moul- 
■fan ; and it feems to have conftituted the boundary, be¬ 
ll tween 
