History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c11.31.2

v1.c11.31.2

Similarly the Mālavas are mentioned with the Kirātas and the Trigartas towards the end of this chapter as people living in the hill (Parvat-āśrayiṇaḥ)¹. The mention of the Tosalas and Kosalas along with the people of Tripurī and Vidiśā show that Central Orissa or Tosala and Chattisgadh or Kośala was situated in North Central India. Tripurī is modern Tewar in the Jubbulpore district and Vidiśā is most probably modern Bhilsa in the Gwalior State. The Tumuras, Tumburas, and Niṣādas are not easy to identify; but the Niṣādas are also people of the North Central Belt around Āryāvartta or Northern India. The verdict of these two Purāṇas, which supply the Hindu idea of the world, in chapters entitled Bhuvana-vinyāsa or Bhuvana-kośa-varṇanam, shows that of the three different divisions of Orissa the people of Kaliṅga were regarded as inhabitants of Southern India. But the people of Northern Orissa (Oḍra) and the hilly tracts (Utkala) were regarded as people inhabiting the Vindhyan ranges (Vindhya-vāsinaḥ) along with the Bhojas of Berar and the Mekalas of South Central Provinces. The people of Tosala or Central Orissa and Kośala or Chattisgadh were not classed with the people of Southern India or the Hill tribes of the Vindhyan range but with the more civilised inhabitants of the celebrated Dānava or Daitya capital of Tripurī and of that ancient stronghold of Indian civilization, Mālava. The Padma-Purāṇa the Kaliṅgas are mentioned twice.