Manasara Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Shilpashastra; III. Manasara on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Manasara: Translation; V. Architecture of Manasara: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v2.c16.256

v2.c16.256

Magadha² is the country of South Bihar, where the Pāli language was spoken. Janaka or the country of some twenty one generations of Janaka kings, otherwise called Videha with capital city Mithilā, is North Bihar, which corresponds to the modern Tirhut and Purniyā divisions between the Gaṇḍakī and Kośī rivers. Madhya-kānta stands for the Madhya-deśa, the middle country or the tract situated between the Himālayas and the Vindhya range to the east of Vināśana and to the west of Prayāga or Allahabad.³ Some authorities make it the Doab. Vaṁśaka is the country of the Vatsa kings, of which Kauśāmbī was the capital city. It apparently bordered on Madhya-deśa. Virāṭa⁴ is the country in the vicinity of the modern Jaipur wherefrom the Pāñchāla country begins. The present town of Bairat is one hundred and fifty miles south of Delhi. Pāñchāla is the Punjab, "with a little territory in the more immediate neighbourhood of Hastināpura," extending north and west from Delhi from the foot of the Himalayas to the Chambal, Ahi-chhatra being the capital city of north Pāñchāla or Rohilkhand, and Kāmpilya of south Pāñchāla or the Gangetic Doab.¹ The reading of the name of the country mentioned next is uncertain. I would read it Gūrjaka for Gūrjaraka instead of Sphūrjaka² and identify it with the country of Gujarat. Kerala is the country of Malabar proper on the western coast extending farther down from Gujarat. Then comes Drāviḍa³ or the country, where the Tamil language is spoken, extending from Madras to Cape Comorin. This tract is roughly bounded by the Vindhya range on the north where Madhyadeśa ends, Kerala or Malabar coast on the west, and Kaliṅga or Coromandal coast on the east. Kaliṅga implies the twelve-storeyed buildings of Kaliṅga⁴, the country along the Coromandal coast, north of Madras, wherefrom the Drāviḍa country begins. It is clear, therefore, that India comprising these ten countries extends from the Himalayas on the north to the Cape Comorin on the south, from Bihar including perhaps north Bengal on the east to the Punjab and Gujarat on the west.