PRASIACA
PRASIACA (
Πρασιακή,
Ptol. 7.1.53), a very extensive and rich district in the centre of
Hindostan, along the banks of the Ganges and the Sona, whose chief town was the celebrated Palibothra.
The name of its inhabitants, which is written with slight differences in different authors, is most correctly given as Prasii by Strabo (
xv. p.702,
703), and by Pliny (
6.19. s. 22), who states that their king supported daily no less than 150,000 foot, 30,000 horse, and 9000 elephants. Diodorus calls them Praesii (17.93), as does also Plutarch. (
Alex. 62.) In Curtius again they occur under the form of Pharrasii (9.2.3).
It was to the king of the Prasii, Sandrocottus (
Chandragupta), that the famous mission of Megasthenes by Seleucus took place. (Plin.
l.c.; Curt. 9.2; Appian,
App. Syr. 55;
Plut. Alex. 62; Justin,
15.4.) All authors concur in stating that this was one of the largest of the Indian empires, and extended through the richest part of India, from the
Ganges to the
Panjáb. There can be no doubt that Prasii is a Graecised form for
[p. 2.668]the Sanscrit
Prachinas (meaning the dwellers in the east). (Bohlen,
Alte Indien, i. p. 33; Ritter,
Erdkunde, vol. v. p. 460.)
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