Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c9.2

c9.2

[3] IT is now a recognised fact that the Âryas who came to India were at first confined to eastern Afghanistan and the Panjâb Thence they emigrated to the east and for a time the easternmost province occupied by them was Bramhâvarta or their holy land, lying between the rivers Sarasvatî the modern Sarasuti, and Dṛishadvatî,¹ a stream in the vicinity, that is, the country about Thanesar There the system of castes and orders and the sacrificial religion seem to have been fully developed Thence they spread to the east and the south, and gradually occupied the whole country between the Himâlaya and the Vindhya This last mountain range must for a long time have formed the southern boundary of their settlements For the name Âryâvarta or the region occupied by the Âryas, as explained by Manu² and even by Patañjali,³ the author of the Mahâbhâshya on Pâṇini's grammar, signified exclusively the part of the country situated between those mountain ranges The Vindhya, which by its height seemed to obstruct the passage of the sun, was impassable to them The name Pâriyâtra was given to the more northern and western portion of the range from which the rivers Chambal and Betvâ take their rise, probably because it was situated on the boundary of their Yâtrâ or range of communication After a while, however, the sage Agastya, in poetical language, bade the mountain not to grow high, that is, crossed it and established an Âsrama or hermitage to the south and thus led the way to other settlements