Chapter SITTRINGY to SIWALIK of S by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

on the right hand towards the South, amongst the hills, as you go to Kángra and Nagarkot.” (See NUGGUR- COTE).—Táríkh-i-Dáúdí, in Elliot, iv. 493–4.

c. 1555.—“The Imperial forces encountered the Afghans near the Siwálik mountains, and gained a victory which elicited gracious marks of approval from the Emperor. Sikandar took refuge in the mountains and jungles. … Rájá Rám Chand, Rájá of Nagarkot, was the most renowned of all the Rájás of the hills, and he came and made his submission.”—Tabakát-i-Akbarí, in Elliot, v. 248.

c. 1560.—“The Emperor (Akbar) then marched onwards towards the Siwálik hills, in pursuit of the Khán- Khánán. He reached the neighbourhood of Talwára, a district in the Siwálik, belonging to Rájá Gobind Chand. … A party of adventurous soldiers dashed forward into the hills, and surrounding the place put many of the defenders to the sword.”—Ibid. 267.

c. 1570.—“Husain Khán … set forth from Lucknow with the design of breaking down the idols, and demolishing the idol temples. For false reports of their unbounded treasures had come to his ears. He proceeded through Oudh, towards the Siwálik hills. … He then ravaged the whole country, as far as the Kasbah of Wajráíl, in the country of Rájá Ranka, a powerful zamíndár, and from that town to Ajmír which is his capital.”—Badáúni, in Elliot, iv. 497.

1594–5.—“The force marched to the Siwálik hills, and the Bakhshí resolved to begin by attacking Jammú, one of the strongest forts of that country.”—Akbar Náma, in Elliot, v. 125.

c. „ “Rám Deo … returned to Kanauj … after that he marched into the Siwálik hills, and made all the zamíndárs tributary. The Rájá of Kamáún … came out against Rám Deo and gave him battle.”—Firishta’s Introduction, in Elliot, vi. 561.

1793.—“Mr. Daniel, with a party, also visited Sirinagur the same year [1789]: … It is situated in an exceedingly deep and very narrow valley; formed by Mount Sewalick,¹ the northern boundary of Hindoostan, on the one side; and the vast range of snowy mountains of HIMMALEH or IMAUS, on the other; and from the report of the natives, it would appear, that the nearest part of the base of the latter (on which snow was actually falling in the month of May), was not more than 14 or 15 G. miles in direct distance to the N. or N.E. of Sirinagur town.

“In crossing the mountains of Sewalick, they met with vegetable productions, proper to the temperate climates.”—Rennell’s Mem., ed. 1793, pp. [368–369].

d.—

1834.—“On the flank of the great range there is a line of low hills, the Sewalik, which commence at Roopur, on the Satlej, and run down a long way to the south, skirting the great chain. In some places they run up to, and rise upon, the Himálayas; in others, as in this neighbourhood (Seháranpur), they are separated by an intermediate valley. Between the Jumna and Ganges they attain their greatest height, which Capt. Herbert estimates at 2,000 feet above the plains at their foot, or 3,000 above the sea. Seháranpur is about 1,000 feet above the sea. About 25 miles north are the Sewálik hills.”—Falconer, in J.A.S.B. iii. 182.

1835.—“We have named the fossil Sivatherium from Siva the Hindu god, and [Greek Text] qhrion, bellua. The Siválik, or Sub-Himalayan range of hills, is considered, in the Hindu mythology, as the Lútiah or edge of the roof of SIVA’S dwelling on the Himálaya, and hence they are called the Siva- ala or Sib-ala, which by an easy transition of sound became the Sewálik of the English.

“The fossil has been discovered in a tract which may be included in the Sewálik

range, and we have given the name of Sivatherium to it, to commemorate the remarkable formation, so rich in new animals. Another derivation of the name of the hills, as explained by the Mahant, or High Priest at Dehra, is as follows:—

“Sewálik, a corruption of Siva-wála, a name given to the tract of mountains between the Jumna and Ganges, from having been the residence of ISWARA SIVA and his son GANES.”—Falconer and Cautley, in As. Res., xix. p. 2.

1879.—“These fringing ranges of the later formations are known generally as the Sub- Himalayas. The most important being the Siwálik hills, a term especially applied to the hills south of the Deyra Dún, but frequently employed in a wider sense.”—Medlicott and Blanford, Man. of the Geology of India, Intro. p. x.

[1899.—Even so late as this year the old inaccurate etymology of the word appears: “The term Shewalic is stated by one of the native historians to be a combination of two Hindee words ‘sewa’ and ‘lae’ (sic), the word ‘sewa’ signifying one and a quarter, and the word ‘lae’ being the term which expresses the number of one hundred thousand.”—Thornhill, Haunts and Hobbies, 213.]

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