[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922) › v1.c19.s9.79 # The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c19.s9.79 The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c19.s9.79 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c19.s9.79](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9.79) When, in the Jātaka legend, a king of Videha abandons the world as anchorite, he is described as renouncing both his capital, the city (\*nagara\*) of Mithilā, seven \*yojanas\* (in circumference), and his realm of sixteen thousand \*gāmas\*⁸. It may sound incredible that a country owning such a wealth of ‘villages’ should contain but one town, and that so vast in extent, as to suggest inclusion not only of parks but of suburban \*gāmas\*⁹. There was not, however, any such hard and fast line between \*gāma\* and \*nigama\* (small town) to warrant the exclusion, in this description, of some \*gāmas\* which may have amounted to \*nigamas\*. A similar vagueness holds between our ‘town’ and ‘village.’ - [Previous: v1.c19.s9.78](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9.78) - [Next: v1.c19.s9.80](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9.80) - [Up: v1.c19.s9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9.79](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.rapson-1922.v1.c19.s9.79) · Pramāṇa