the general water-logged condition of the country. Many attempts had been made to mend matters, and at last, to quote Stein, " Suyya, a man of conspicuous talents but low origin, offered to remedy the troubles. The operations commenced at Yaksadara, where large rocks, which had rolled down from the mountains lining both river-banks, obstructed the Vitasta (.Jhelum).... Yaksadara, the present Dyaragul, is a spur projecting into the river-bed some three miles below the commencement of the Baramula gorge. Its rocky foot forms the first rapid of the river [after it leaves the Kashmir plain]. By removing the obstructing rocks, the level of the river was lowered. Then a stone dam was constructed across the bed of the river, and the latter thus blocked up completely for seven days. During this time the river-bed was cleared at the bottom, and stone walls constructed to protect it against rocks which might roll down. The dam was then removed, and the river flowed forth with increased rapidity through the cleared passage. I must leave it to competent engineering opinion
to decide to what extent and at which point of the Baramula gorge the operations so far described were practicable
with the technical skill of that age. What follows in Kalhana's account is so matter-of-fact, and so accurate in topographical points, that a presumption is raised as to the previous statements, also resting, partially at least, on historical facts."
Yaksadara, the seat of the operations, lies directly opposite the mouth of a large stream which, in the ten miles from
its source near Gulmarg, descends seven thousand feet. It appears as though, at the time of Avantivarman, the large
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