MAHABAN, meaning Great Forest, is a bill on the Panjab frontier, 40 miles up from Attock, at the cast end of a spur of the Ilam range. It is situated on the right bank of tho Indus, and rises to a height of 7400 feet above the sea, and 50 miles in circuit. The southern side of the hill is thickly wooded, and is inhabited by the Jaduu tribe, the north aide being peopled by the Amazai. The hill would be suitable for a sana torium, but as a strategical point it is said to be worse than useless. The country of the Jadun is below that of the Husanzai, and on the right bank of the Indus, opposite the British town of Torbeila, and thence stretching westward. The most notable place in this tract is Mount Maha ban. Near its base and on the bank of the Indus was the Sitana colony. The Syuds of Sitana are the remnant of the followers of Syud Alimad, who gathered a handful of Muhammadan devotees from various parts of India, and raised a formidable rebellion in Peshawur. After win ning and losing Peshawur and Yusufzai, the Syud was eventually slain at the mouth of the Kaghan glen by Sher Singh, son of Ranjit Singh. Most of his adherents, chiefly foreigners to the Panjab, dispersed, and the remainder settled at Sitana. One of the rulers of Swat was elected to his position. They intrigued with the Wallabees in various parts of India, and more than once correspondence relating to them was intercepted.
The Bezoti and other Afghan tribes gathered and fought against the British from 1860 to 1868. Theories as to the locality of Acmes have been held by General Court, the missionary Loewen thal, General James Abbott, and General Cun t ningliam. The 3faliaban most nearly corresponds in height and in its position on the Indus with r the ancient description. Tho height was from 11 i to 16 stadia, or from 7000 to 10,000 feet ; Strabo . represents its base as washed by the Indus near , the spot whence that river issues from the Him alayas. The Mahaban, too, supplies best the very object—shelter with wood and water—sought by a comparatively large population, such as Rani ; gat would have failed to accommodate, fleeing from a resistless invader. The Chinese pilgrim Hiwen Thsang, who visited it, describes the Mahaban as a great mountain which derived its name from the Mahavana monastery in which Buddha, under the name of Sarvvada raja, had dwelt in a former life. Thence the pilgrim descended to the Masura monastery, now the large village of Sura in the Cliamba valley, 10 miles to the north-west of the Muchaie peak.— MacGregor's N. TV. Fr. p. 296.