Ancient History of the Deccan c2.1

c2.1

India may be divided into two parts, the North and the South. From the remotest times, this division has been adopted by the Indians who have given the name of Dakshiṇa (Dakshiṇāpatha) or ‘The South’ to all the Country that extends from the Narbadā to the extremity of the peninsula. In this work, we shall use the word Deccan to designate the ancient Dakshiṇa, but with this little restriction, that the three Southernmost kingdoms of Chôḷa, Chêra and Pāṇḍya, which have always remained a little isolated, shall be excluded. We shall therefore call “The Deccan” the large tract of country which is bounded on the north by the Narbadā and the Mahānadī, on the east by the Bay of Bengal, on the west by the Arabian Sea, on the south by the Nilgiri Hills and the Southern Peṇṇār (which reaches the sea near Cuddalore and which is the northern boundary of the Chôḷa country according to the poetess Auvaiyār).