Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c9.6

c9.6

The first or oldest Âryan province in the southern country must have been the Vidarbhas or the Berârs For in the Râmâyana when Sugrîva the monkey-king sends his followers to the different quarters in search of Râma's wife Sîtâ and Râvaṇa her ravisher, he directs them to go among other southern countries to Vidarbhas, Ṛichîkas, and Mahishakas, and also to Daṇḍakâraṇya (the forest of Daṇḍakâ) and the river Godâvarî ⁴ This shows that while the country about the Godâvarî, that is, the Dekkan or Mahârâshṭra in the narrowest sense of the terms, was a forest, Vidarbha was an inhabited country In the Mahâbhârata also Agastya is represented to have given a girl that he produced by his miraculous powers to the king of Vidarbha, and after she had grown to be a woman demanded her of the king in marriage ⁵ In the Râmâyana, Râma is represented to have lived for a long time in Daṇḍakâraṇya, at a place called Pañchavaṭî situated on the banks [4] of the Godâvarî about two yojanas from the hermitage of Agastya ⁶