National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

the construction was much coarser. Subsequently I traced plenty of similar ruins
of much decayed dwellings, built with large roughly laid blocks of stone, all along
the slopes as far as the village of Ratwāl, about 2½ miles from Jalālpur. Here,
too, pottery of the old type referred to above was plentiful. The specimens
reproduced in Pl. I show painted annular lines (Rat. 13) or ribbing and other
moulded ornamentation (Rat. 1, 4, 7, 11). Judging from the number of these
structures and their position, I was led to conclude that a considerable population
built its homesteads on these slopes, perhaps partly to save all fertile ground
below for cultivation and partly for greater safety.

I may now proceed to give an account of the route leading down from the
Salt Range through the pass of Nandana, and of the remains of the ancient
stronghold, a true chiusa, which guarded it. I was able to make a close examina-
tion of them, with the help of Dr. Fábri, between November 28th and December
2nd, after having gained the upper approach of the pass at the rest house of Āra
by a march of about 17 miles from Jalālpur. The route starting from the village
of Āra may, in view of the explanations given in the preceding section, well
claim our interest as the main one that saw Alexander's forces descend to the
bank of the Hydaspes. About 2 miles to the south of Āra the outer or southern
one of the two more or less parallel chains of hills into which the highest portion
of the Salt Range is here as elsewhere divided, dips down steeply towards the
riverine plain.

Between the two chains there extends a series of small open valleys, fertile at
their bottoms and situated at elevations between 2,000 and 3,000 feet approxi-
mately. Approach to these valleys is easily gained by several roads which
traverse the broken, but all the same for the most part carefully cultivated,
plateaux stretching to the west of the Grand Trunk Road and the railway line
between Taxila and Jhēlum. The distance between Taxila and Āra, approxi-
mately 72 miles in a straight line, but necessarily a good deal longer by road,
could readily be covered by five or six marches of ordinary length. But we shall
never know which of the several practicable routes between the two places, past
Rawalpindi or Chauntra, Chakwāl or Dhudiāl, and other localities of larger
size, are likely to have been followed by Alexander's army; for no definite
indications are recorded.

Near the village of Āra there extends an open plateau, over 2 miles across and
well provided with water. Sloping up gently towards the watershed it would
have afforded a very convenient place for assembling a force before its descent
to the river. We must assume that on this plain, more than thirteen centuries
after Alexander's passage, there took place that battle between Maḥmūd of
Ghazna and Bhīmpāl Shāhi, which the Muhammadan chroniclers mention as