SILAS
SILAS (
Σιλής,
Arrian Ind. chap. 6;
Strab. xv. p.703;
Diod. 2.37), a river of the Upper
Panjáb, the story of which, as told by ancient writers, is clearly fabulous.
According to Arrian and others, the water of this river was so light that nothing could swim in it. Lassen, who has examined this story with his usual acuteness, has shown from the
Mahabhárata that there was a stream in the northern part of India called the
Sila, the water of which was endowed with a highly petrifying power, from which circumstance the river obtained its signification,
Sila meaning in Sanscrit a stone. (
Zeitschr. f. Kunde des Morgenlands, ii. p. 63.)
It may be remarked that the name occurs differently written. Thus Diodorus writes
Σίλλαν ποταμόν; Antigonus
Σίλαν κρήνην. (
Mirab. 100.161.) Pliny evidently refers to the same story, but calls the river Side in his quotation from Ctesias (31.2. s. 18).
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