Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c9.10

c9.10

That this Daṇḍakâraṇya was the modern Mahârâshṭra is shown by the fact stated above, that it was watered by the river Godâvarî, and by several others According to the Hindu ritual it is necessary when beginning any religious ceremony to pronounce the name of the country in which it is performed The Brâhmans in Mahârâshṭra do not utter the name Mahârâshṭra but Daṇḍakâraṇya with the word *desa* or "country" attached to it In the introduction to Hemâdri's Vratakhaṇḍa, a work written more than six hundred years ago, Devagiri, the modern Daulatâbâd, is spoken of as situated in a district on the confines of Daṇḍakâraṇya Nâsik claims to be the Pañchavaṭî where Râma lived But the poet could hardly be expected to have brought his hero from the Vindhya to such a remote westerly place as Nâsik The river Godâvarî must, from the description occurring in the Râmâyaṇa as well as in Bhavabhûti's Uttara Râmacharita, have been wide at Râma's Pañchavaṭî It could hardly have been so at Nâsik, which is very near its source On the other hand, "the region about the northern part of the Sahyâdri through which flowed the river Godâvarî and in which Govardhana was situated" is in the Purâṇas represented as "the most charming on earth, and there, to please Râma, the sage Bhâradvâja caused heavenly trees and herbs to spring up for his wife's enjoyment, and thus a lovely garden came into existence"⁷ In the Mârkaṇḍeya, Govardhana is spoken of as a town, but the Vâyu and the Mâtsya seem to mean it to be a mountain This Govardhana must, from the given position, be the same as the village of that name near Nâsik, and thus the three Purâṇas must be understood as supporting the identification of Pañchavaṭî with Nâsik