Trade and Trade Routes in Ancient India c2.26.3

c2.26.3

This is as well supported by grammatical literature where Mahishaka and the Ṛishika Janapadas are shown as related (*Kāsikā Sūtra* IV. 1. 132; *Ṛishikeshu jātaḥ ārshikaḥ; Mahishakeshu jātaḥ Māhishikaḥ*). Prof. Mirashi had identified Mahishaka with South Hyderabad and Ṛishika with Khandesh. Prof. D.C. Sircar, however, disagrees with this view (*Epig. Ind.* XXXV, pp. 69 ff). As a matter of fact in this region there were located a group of five *janapadas*. The Ṛishikas were in Khandesh; Akola and Amaravati included Vidarbha; in the Aurangabad district the spur of the Sahyādri extending from Ajanta to the Godavari was the Mūlaka land, and to the south of the Godavari the region of Ahmednagar represented Aśmaka and to its south-east was situated Mahishaka. In the Nasik inscription of Gautamīputra Sātakarṇi the mention of Ṛishika, Aśmaka, Mūlaka and Vidarbha is an additional link in supporting the existence of the Ṛishikas in the Deccan. In the *Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa* of the *Rāmāyaṇa* as well Sugrīva describes the settlements in the Deccan—Vidarbha, Ṛishika and Mahishaka together (*Vidarbhānṛishikānchaiva ramayān-māhishakānapi* 41.10). The geographical references of the *Rāmāyaṇa* mention Suvarṇadvīpa and the seven states of Java probably in the Śaka-Sātavāhana period.