180
...for those of the vine, were it not that they are of smaller size. They bear a kind of gourd, about the size of a quince, which when ripe bursts asunder and discloses a ball of down, from which a costly kind of linen cloth is made.”
41. Minnagara. — This capital was identified by Müller with the modern Indore, but according to Vincent Smith (op. cit., 192-3) may be the ancient town of Madhyamikā or Nāgarī, one of the oldest sites in India, of which the ruins still exist, about eleven miles north of Chitor (24° 53' N., 74° 39' E.).
McCrindle and Fabricius prefer, but quite conjecturally, to place it in Kāthiāwār; but the text indicates the mainland in observing that from Minnagara cotton cloth was “brought down,” by river presumably, to Barygaza.
The name Minnagara means “City of the Min,” which was the Hindu name for the Saka invaders.
41. Barygaza. — This is the modern Broach (21° 42' N. , 72° 59'E. ). The Greek name is from the Prakrit Bharukacha, supposed to be a corruption of Bhrigukachha , “the plain of Bhrigu,” who was a local hero. Here is at least a suggestion of Dravidian connection with the Brahui of Gedrosia, their hero Braho and their Kach place- names.
The district of Barygaza was an important part of the empire of Chandragupta Maurya, who is said to have resided at Suklatirtha. After the collapse of his dynasty it fell into the hands of the Saka princes, who were in power at the time of the Periplus.
41. Signs of the Expedition of Alexander. — The Greek army reached Jhelum (32° 56' N., 73° 47' E.) on the river of the same name. Somewhat above that place, on the opposite side of the river, Vincent Smith locates the field of his battle with Porus. (Early History of India, 71-8.) Alexander then penetrated to Gurdaspur, on the Sutlej river, about 50 miles N. E. from Amritsar. Here he began his retreat. The author of the Periplus is mistaken in supposing that the Macedonians got beyond the Indus region, and is probably quoting what was told him by some trader at Barygaza, who would hardly have distinguished Alexander from Asoka. Under the caste system the traders were not concerned with the religious or political activities of the country, and those concerned with foreign trade were often, as now, mere outcasts; while even had they been informed, they would have been quite equal to attributing anything, for the moment, to Alexander, out of deference to their Greek customers, who. were far more interested in his exploits than any Hindu could be.
