Another opinion places the site of the lost city at Benares. This is no doubt also an ancient town; it was taken by the Sultan Mahmood of Ghuznee in A.D. 1017, and a mosque with two elegant minarets existing to this day, was built there by Aurungzebe to mortify the Hindoos. The river Birnah runs between the military cantonments and the civil station, across which a small stone bridge was thrown, about fifty years ago, by the late Major-General J. Garstin. This river is situated to the left of the city, where it enters the Ganges. It is a very narrow and inconsiderable stream, and could not bring Benares within the denomination of "a city with two large rivers;" so that we may dismiss this opinion also, as quite improbable.
Rajmahal has likewise been mentioned, as the place where the ancient city stood. But this is at a considerable distance below Patna, and it is not likely that the limits of the Prasii extended so far in this direction. A hundred years ago, Rajmahal was two or three miles inland; and though, by the encroachment of the current upon the land, it is now situated on the bank of the river, yet there is no other river near it, it does not stand at the confluence of any stream with the Ganges, and therefore does not answer to Arrian's description.
Of the opinions on this subject, which I deem erroneous, the only other worthy of mention is that which makes Kanoge the site of Palibothra. This is also a very ancient city, as is clear from the fact that Vicramaditya,[88] who lived in the year B.C. 57, resided alternately at Palibothra and at Kanoge. It is stated by Heeren[89] to have been founded by one of the kings of Ayodhya (Oude) who made it his capital. On the decline of Ayodhya, it rose in importance. Maurice[90] dates its foundation in B.C. 1000. But while we may respect the antiquity of Kanoge, we cannot assign to it the honour claimed for it. The rivers Ramgonga and Gurrah, whose united waters flow into the Ganges near its ruins, are very inconsiderable, and could not by any stretch of the imagination be looked upon as constituting the _third_ river in India.
But now, having, as I hope, clearly shown the great improbability that any of the opinions already quoted are correct, and having proved also, how irreconcilable they are to the historical evidence which we possess on this subject, I will mention my own opinion as to the site of the ancient city of Palibothra. According to Arrian, as we have seen, Palibothra is at the confluence of the Ganges and Erannoboas, which Erannoboas is said to be the third river in India. Now the Ganges is called the _first_, the Indus the _second_, and in respect of size, no other river has so great a claim to be ranked the _third_, as the Jumna. After the two streams just mentioned, the Jumna is certainly the largest in the country. This river and the Ganges may be termed twin-sisters, as their respective sources are within a few miles of each other. Its length is 780 miles, according to Rennel, exceeding by 280 miles that of the Sone.