J. F. Campbell Collection > Mathurá

CONNECTION BJITWEEN" MATHURA AND KASHMIR. 75
of the Vitasta, the Chandra-bhaga aud the Ravi — and the Kashpciroei, dwelliug
lower down on the Vindhya range, and the banks of the Jamuna, one of whose
chief towns was Mathura. For, further, Ptolemy represents 'f/ iravlcuov Xtvpa,
the country of Pandu, as lying in the neighbourhood of the Vitasta,
or Jhelam ; while Arrian, quoting from Megasthenes, says it derived its
name from Pandoea, the daughter of Hercules, the divinity specially vene-
rated by the Suraseni on the Jamuna, Thus, as it would seem, he identifies
Mathura, the chief town of the Suraseni, Avith Pandoea. Balarama, one of
its two tutelary divinities, may be certainly recognized as Belus, the Indian
Hercules ; while, if we allow for a little distortion of the original legend, Pritha,
another name of Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas and sister of Kinshna and
Balarama's father, Vasudeva, may be considered the native form which was
corrupted into Pandoea. In historical illustration of the same line of argument,
it may be remarked that Gonarda I., the king of Kashmir, contemporary
with Krishna, is related (Raja-Tarangini, I., 59)* to have been a kinsman of
Jarasandha and to have assisted him in the siege of Mathura. He was slain
there on the bank of the Kalindi, i. e., the Jamuna, by Balarama. His son
and successor, Damodara, a few years later, .thinking to avenge his father's
death, made an attack on a party of Krishna's friends as they were returning
from a wedding at Gandhara near the Indus, but himself met his death at that
hero's hands. The next occupant of the throne of Mathura in succession
to Jarasandha was Kama, the faithful ally of the Kauravas, against whom
the great war was waged by Krishna and the Pandavas. Gonaixla II., the
son of Damodara, was too young to take any part in the protracted struggle ;
but the reigning houses of Mathura and Kashmir acknowledged a common
enemy in Krishna, and the fact appears to have conduced to a friendly feeling
between the two families, which lasted for many generations. Thus we read
in the Raja-Tarangini (IV,, 512)t that when Jayapida, who reigned over
Kashmir at the end of the eighth century after Christ, built his noAV capital
of Jayapura, a stately temple Avas founded there and dedicated to Mahadeva
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" Gonarda, the king of Kashmir, having been sumnioiiecl by \\U relation, Jarasandha, to his
assistance, besieged with a mighty army Krishna's city of Mathurfi."
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