G. W. (Gottlieb William) Leitner - Dardistan in 1866, 1886 and 1893

Being
An Account of the History, Religions, Customs, Legends, Fables and
Songs of Gilgit, Chilas, Kandia (Gabrial) Yasin, Chitral,
Hunza, Nagyr and other parts of the Hindukush,

AS ALSO A SUPPLEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION OF
THE HUNZA AND NAGYR HANDBOOK

And An Epitome of
PART III OF THE AUTHORS THE LANGUAGES AND RACES
OF DARDISTAN

By
G. W. LEITNER M.A., PH.D., LL.D., D.O.L., ETC.

(With appendices on recent events, a map and
numerous illustrations)

MANJUSRI PUBLISHING HOUSE
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Herodotus (III. 102-105) is the first author who refers to the country of the Dards, placing it on the frontier of Kashmir and in the vicinity of Afghanistan. Other Indians are those who reside on the frontiers of the town Kaspatyros and the Paktyan country; they dwell to the north of the other Indians and live like the Baktrians; they are also the most warlike of the Indians and are sent for the gold, etc. Then follows the legend of the gold-digging ants (which has been shown to have been the name of a tribe of Tibetans by Schiern), and on which, as an important side-issue, consult Strabo, Arrian, Dio Chrysostomus, Flavius Philostratus the elder, Clemens Alexandrinus, lian, Harpokration, Themistius Euphrades, Heliodorus of Emesa, Joannes Tzetzes, the Pseudo-Kallisthenes and the scholiast to the Antigone of Sophocles The Mahabharata also mentions the tribute of the ant-gold paipilika brought by the nations of the north to one of the Pandu sons, king Yudhisthira.

In another place Herodotus [IV. 13-27] again mentions the town of Kaspatyros and the Paktyan country. This is where he refers to the anxiety of Darius to ascertain the flow of the Indus into the sea. He accordingly sent Skylax with vessels. They started from the town of and the towards the east to the sea. I take this to be the point where the Indus river makes a sudden bend, and for the first time actually does lie between Kashmir and Pakhtu-land (for this, although long unknown, must be the country alluded to),