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

river and rises to a height of about 25 feet above the alluvial ground. Its top
measures about 190 yards from east to west and not much less across. Apart
from the abundant debris from mud- and rubble-built dwellings no structural
remains are traceable on the surface. Finds of copper coins are frequently made
here; among the coins brought by villagers, all badly worn, three were recogniz-
able as Muhammadan, while two thick oblong pieces might possibly be more
ancient. Among the pottery fragments picked up, all the painted ones as well as
the moulded or ribbed ones looked medieval (see Bhera. 1, 7, 14, 18, 22; Pl. I).

Indications of far older occupation are to be found on the top of two of the
low sandstone hillocks known as brāri (or burārī) which crop out above the
alluvial plain in the vicinity. The larger one, rising to a height of about 45 feet,
with slopes much eroded, is covered with plentiful potsherds of earlier types.
Among them may be mentioned numerous fragments showing such 'ribbing'
as in Balūchistān and elsewhere I have found frequent in pre-Muhammadan
ware (Bur. 3, 13, 14; Pl. I), as well as pieces decorated with moulded or painted
patterns (Bur. 4). Similar pottery is found also on the smaller hillock crowned
by the tomb of Khusro Khān, now visited as a ziārat. The thick walls enclosing
this tomb are built with slabs of red sandstone, some of which show relief
ornamentation, clearly proving that these materials have been brought here from
some Hindu structure.

General Cunningham proposed to locate at 'Old Bhēra' or Ahmadābād the
palace of Sōpeithes which Arrian mentions as the place on the Hydaspes where
Alexander after a three-days' voyage down the river rejoined the forces sent
along either river bank under Krateros and Hephaistion.⁷ From the narrative of
Arrian it is clear that Alexander himself started with his fleet from the vicinity
of Boukephala and Nikaia, i.e. from Jalālpur or some distance lower down. The
distance of approximately 35 miles between Jalālpur and Ahmadābād would fit
in with the proposed location, as also with Strabo's reference to the mountain of
salt got by quarrying situated in the country of Sōpeithes.⁸ The fact that Bhēra
has preserved the name of a territory which Fa-hsien already knew by that
designation points to its marking an ancient place of importance and supports
the proposed location.

From Bhēra I proceeded on December 12th to visit a number of old mounds