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[German version] (Νόσαλα; Nósala). Uninhabited island on the Gedrosian coast of the Ichthyophagi (Arr. Ind. 31), location unknown. The island, which was visited by Nearchus [2], was 100 stadia from the coast, and was regarded by the Ichthyophagi as sacred to the Sun. Nearchus' visit to the island is also mentioned in Str. 15,2,13. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography O. Stein, s.v. Νόσαλα, RE 17, 1051f.

[German version] (Κάσπειρα; Káspeira). City of the Caspiraei in India (Ptol. 7,1,47; 49). The name C. was often associated with modern Cashmere, but whereas Ptolemaeus locates C. in the eastern Punjab, the Caspiraei's territory extends from the Punjab as far as the Vindhya mountains in the south; the Caspiraei appear therefore to have lived approximately in modern Rajasthan and Gujarāt. Ptol. (7,1,42), however, connects the land of Caspeiria with the upper reaches of the Jhelum, the Chenāb and the Rāvi, and this again rather suggests Cashmere. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliograph…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: India, trade with (Νέλκυνδα; Nèlkynda). Trading town in Limyrice, in the south of India (Peripl. m. r. 53f.). It was situated on a river 500 stadia to the south of Muziris  in the kingdom of Pandion, i.e. Pāṇdya, in the southernmost part of India. The port of Barace lay at the mouth of a river. The town is also known as Melcyda (Μελκύδα/ Melkỳda, Ptol. 7,1,9); cf. also gens Nelcyndon in Plin. HN. 6,24,105. The exact location of N. is unknown. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography O. Stein, s.v. Nelkynda, RE 16, 2281-2285.

[German version] (Κωφήν; Kōphḗn: Arr.; Κώφης/ Kṓphēs: Diod., Dionys Per., Str.; Cophes: Plin. HN). Western tributary of the river  Indus [1], old Indian Kubhā, today's Kabul. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography K. Karttunen, India and the Hellenistic World, 1997, 112.

(Ναγαδίβα; Nagadíba). [German version] [1] Coastal city on Taprobane Coastal city on Taprobane (modern Sri Lanka); Ptol. 7,4,7. It seems obvious to identify it with the Middle Indian Nāgadīpa ‘Island of serpents’, but no city with this name is known. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography D.P.M. Weerakkody, Taprobanê, 1997, 85ff. [German version] [2] Island near Taprobane One of the numerous islands near Taprobane, Ptol. 7,4,13. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki)

[German version] (Σῖναι; Sînai). People in eastern Asia (Ptol. 1,17,5 and several times in Ptol. 7,3) with capital Thínai, Latin Thinae (Ptol. 7,3,6, Peripl. m. r. 64); also a term for southern China, which people visited by sea, whereas northern and eastern China were approached by way of the central-Asian caravan routes and was known as Serica, the land of the Seres , or the 'Silk Land'. S. and Serica were never associated with one another. The name S. is from the name of the Chinese Qín dynasty (3rd cent. BC), probably by way of the Old Indian Cīna. China Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliogra…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: India, trade with According to Peripl. M. Rubr. 52f., an empórion on the west coast of India close to what is now Bombay, Sanskrit Kalyāṇa. C. was established by the elder Saraganes as an important commercial harbour; under Sandanes in the 1st cent. AD it was abandoned in favour of  Barygaza. Also attested in Cosmas [2] Indikopleustes as Calliana (11,16; 11,22). Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography H. P. Ray, Monastery and Guild. Commerce under the Sātavāhanas, 1986.

[German version] also Gangaridae. Mentioned in accounts of Alexander's campaign ( Alexander [4], with map) and in Megasthenes as a powerful people in India. They lived east of the  Prasii on the lower Ganges. Also mentioned in Ptol. 7,1,81. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography D. C. Sircar, Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India, 1971, 213ff.

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Alexander (Βάζιρα; Bázira). Town in north-western Pakistan, on the river Swat between the Indus and the Hindu Kush, captured and fortified by  Alexander [4] the Great (Arr. Anab.). Probably near Bīr-kōt̥-Ġundai, where Hellenistic walls, pottery and graffiti have been found. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography P. Callieri, in: A. Gail, G. Mevissen (ed.), South Asian Archaeology 1991, 1993, 339-348.

[German version] Indian people in today's Swat, west of the Indus, with capital Massaga, subjugated by Alexander (Arr. Anab. 4, 23ff.; Ind. 1,1). Called Aspagani by Plin. HN and in Pāli called Assaka, from Old Indian aśva-/Iranian aspa ‘horse’. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography O. v. Hinüber, Arrian. Der Alexanderzug -- Indische Gesch., ed. and translation by G. Wirth, O. v. Hinüber, 1985, 1081f.

[German version] Graeco-Indian king of the 1st cent. BC, only documented from coins, Middle Indian Arkhebiya. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography Bopearachchi, 110-112, 319-324.

[German version] (Ταξίλης/ Taxílēs). King of Taxila, who ruled over a broad and fertile plain between the Indus and the Hydaspes; his neighbours were Abisares in the north and Porus [3] in the east. His father already had allied with Alexander [4] by letter (Diod. Sic. 17,86,4; Curt. 8,12,4 f.; see also Arr. Anab. 4,22,6), and the young king approved the alliance when Alexander stayed with him as a guest for some time in the spring of 326 BC (Arr. Anab. 5,3,5 f.; 5,8,2 f.; Diod. Sic. 17,86,4-7; Plu…

[German version] Indo-Greek king sometime around 100 BC. No literary evidence, but mentioned in an Indian Brāhmī insription (Besnagar inscription; by his envoy, Heliodorus of Taxila), and named on Greek-Bactrian and Indo-Greek coins with the legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ ΑΝΤΙΑΛΚΙΔΟΥ / maharajasa jayadharasa aṃtialkidasa. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography O. Bopearachchi, Monnaies Greco-Bactriennes et Indo-Grecques, 1991, 95-97, 271-288.

[German version] (Μανιόλαι νῆσοι; Manióloi nêsoi). An archipelago off the coast of India, beyond the Ganges (Ptol. 7,2,31). Otherwise attested in Greek literature only in Pseudo- Palladius ( Perí tōn tēs Indíēs ethnṓn 1,5), but located by him in the vicinity of Ceylon (perhaps the Maldives or in the dangerous waters around the southern tip of India). Later often mentioned by Arabs, Persians and others. From the time of Ptolemy it was believed that these islands were so magnetic that they pulled the iron nails out of ships. Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography A. Herrmann, s.v. Μανιό…

[German version] (Σάγαλα/ Ságala, Ptol. 7,1,46; Old Indian Śākala, Middle Indian Sāgala). City in the Punjab east of Hydaspes, the capital city of the Indo-Greek king Menander [6] in Pāli Milindapañha. S. with its rectangular, probably Hellenistic city plan, was also called Euthydemia or Euthymedia, according to Ptol. l.c.. The city is also known in ancient Indo-Iranian literature (Mahābhārata etc.) and was visited in the 7th cent. AD by the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang. Its exact location is not known (perhap…

[German version] (Παροπάμισος/ Paropámisos, Str. 15,1,11; 2,9). Mountain range including the Paropamisadae region (Παροπαμισάδαι/Paropamisádai, Str. 15,2,8ff.). Both names occur in many variants that render identification more difficult [1]. Old Iranian (Avesta) * Parupairisaena (cf. upairisaena in Yasna 10); in the Akkadian version of the Bisutun inscription, Paruparaesanna is used instead of Gandara (Gandaritis) in the Old Persian version [2. DB 1,18]. The mountain range with Taurus, Caucasus, Elburs and Himalaya was regarded as part of the great Asian …

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Alexander | Graeco-Bactria (Σάγγαλα/ Sángala). Capital and fortress of the Indian Cathaei in the Punjab, to the east of Hydraotes (modern Irāvatī). The city was conquered and destroyed in 326 by Alexander [II 4] the Great after a fierce battle (Arr. Anab. 5,22-24; Polyaenus, Strat. 4,3,30). Karttunen, Klaus (Helsinki) Bibliography A. Herrmann, s. v. Σάγγαλα, RE 1 A, 1740.

[German version] (Old Indian; Early Middle Indian yona, yonaka; later also joṉa). The Indian name for the Greeks (most likely from Old Persian yauna) originally described the Iones. The earliest records are from about the 4th and 3rd centuries BC (in the grammarian Pāṉini and king Aśoka), hence in the Mahābhārata it may have been a term for the Indo-Greeks. Later the name receives a more general significance as a term for more distant neighbours, and from about the 7th cent. AD it was used as a name for Arabs and Moslems. In the Tamil literature of southern India, Yavanar is found as a term f…

The Old Indian name M. designates two towns. [German version] [1] Indian locality at the confluence of the Yamuna and the Ganges This item can be found on the following maps: Graeco-Bactria | Graeco-Bactria | Mauryas The northern M. (also Méthōra/Μέθωρα in Megasthenes fr. 13a apud Arr. Ind. 8,5) in the land of Śūrasena, at the confluence of the Yamuna and the Ganges. It was an old and important centre of the cult of Kṛsṇa, but also of that of the Indian Heracles; the latter may not, however, be simply identified with Kṛsṇa. Ptol. 7,1,…

[German version] Prehistoric high culture in the 3rd millennium in northwestern South Asia, from Punjab to Baluchistan and Gujarat, with Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro as the most likely important centres. There was lively overseas trade (a harbour was excavated at Lothal in Gujarat) with Makan (modern Oman),  Dilmun (modern Bahrain), the island of Failaka (now part of Kuwait) and Mesopotamia [1. 107ff.]. The famous Indus script is only attested in the form of very short seal legends; the language on wh…