History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c16.s4.48

c16.s4.48

149 A. Further India was recognized as part of India in the Bhārasiva-Vākāṭaka Period. In the Matsya Purāṇa for the first time we find that recognition.¹ Between the Himavat and the Sea, Bhāratavarṣa stands, but it covers a larger area on account of Indians [Bhāratī prajā] living in eight more islands or sea-girt lands (dvīpas), ‘which are mutually inaccessible on account of the sea intervening’. India is the ninth in that sea-girt system. This clearly means that the eight dvīpas or islands and peninsulas, inhabited by Indians, were in one direction from the Indian peninsula. The direction