Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c9.s6: Section IV. The Deccan in the Age of the Later Vaidehas

Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c9.s6

Language: English

Section IV. The Deccan in the Age of the Later Vaidehas

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The expression "*Dakshiṇāpadā*" occurs in the *Rig-Veda*¹ and refers to the region where the exile goes on being turned out. In the opinion of several scholars this simply means "the south" beyond the limits of the recognised Aryan world. *Dākshiṇātya* is found in Pāṇini,² *Dakshiṇāpatha* is mentioned by Baudhāyana coupled with Surāshṭra.³ It is difficult to say what Pāṇini or Baudhāyana exactly meant by *Dākshiṇātya* or *Dakshiṇāpatha*. In early Pāli literature the name *Dakshiṇāpatha* is sometimes coupled with Avanti (Malwa), and in one text it is placed on the banks of the upper Godāvarī. In the *Nalopākhyāna* of the *Mahābhārata*, *Dakshiṇāpatha* is placed beyond Avanti and the Vindhyas, and to the south of the Vidarbhas and the (Southern) Kosalas. The last-mentioned peoples lived on the banks of the Wardhā and the Mahānadī. In the *Digvijaya-parva*, *Dakshiṇāpatha* is distinguished from the Pāṇḍyan realm in the southernmost part of the Madras Presidency. In the Gupta Age it certainly stretched from the land of the Kosalas to the kingdom of Kāñchī. In *later* times it embraced the whole of Trans-Vindhyan India from the *Setu* (Adam's Bridge) to the Narmadā.⁴

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¹ X. 61. 8. *Vedic Index*, I. 337.

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² IV. 2. 98.

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³ *Baudh. Sūtra*, I. 1. 29.

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⁴ *DPPN*, 1, 1050; Mbh. II. 31. 16-17; III. 61. 21-23. Allahabad Pillar Inscription of Samudra Gupta; Fleet, *Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts*, 341 n. The *Periplus* distinguishes Dachinabades (Dakshiṇāpatha) from Damirica (Tamil land).

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Whatever may have been the exact denotation of the terms discussed above in the earliest times it is certain that already in the age of the later Vaidehas, Nimi and Karāla, the Aryans had crossed the Vindhyas and established several kingdoms in the territory that stretched from the Revā or the Narmadā to the Godāvarī. One of these realms was **Vidarbha.** It comprised modern Berar, the Varadātaṭa of the *Āīn-i-Akbarī*, and a considerable portion of the Central Provinces lying between the Wardhā (Varadā) and the Waingaṅgā. In the north it reached the Payoshṇī, a tributary of the Tāptī.¹ Vidarbha was certainly a famous kingdom in the time of Nimi. We have already seen that the *Kumbhakāra Jātaka* and the *Uttar-ādhyayana* make him a contemporary of Nagnajit, king of Gandhāra, who is known from the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*² to have flourished about the same time as Bhīma , king of Vidarbha :

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¹ Mbh. III. 61. 22-23; 120. 31.

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² VII. 34.

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“*Etamu haiva prochatuh Parvata-Nāradau Somakāya Sāhadevyāya Sahadevāya Sārñjayāya Babhrave Daivāvṛidhāya Bhīmāya Vaidarbhāya Nagnajite Gāndhārāya.*”

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“This Parvata and Nārada proclaimed to Somaka Sāhadevya, Sahadeva Sārñjaya, Babhru Daivāvṛidha, Bhīma Vaidarbha (*i.e.* of Vidarbha ) and Nagnajit of Gandhāra.”

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Vidarbha, therefore, existed as an independent kingdom in the time of Nimi. From the Purāṇic account of the Yadu family it appears that the eponymous hero of the Vidarbhas, was of Yadu lineage.³ The country is mentioned in the *Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa*.⁴ It was famous for its *Māchalas*, perhaps a species of dog, which killed tigers⁵—“*Vidarbheṣu mācalās sārameyā apīha śārdulān mārayanti.*” The *Praśna Upanishad*⁶ mentions a sage of Vidarbha named Bhārgava as a contemporary of Āśvalāyana. Another sage called Vidarbhī Kauṇḍinya is mentioned in the *Bṛihadāraṇyaka Upanishad*.¹ The name Kauṇḍinya is apparently derived from the city of Kuṇḍina, the capital of Vidarbha,² represented by the modern Kauṇḍinya-pura on the banks of Wardhā in the Chāṇḍur tāluk of Amraoti.³ The association of Vidarbha with Kuṇḍina clearly suggests that Vidarbha of the Vedic texts lay in the Deccan, and not in some hitherto unknown region outside its boundaries as contended by a wellknown writer.⁴

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³ *Matsya Purāṇa*, 44. 36; *Vāyu Purāṇa*, 95, 35-36.

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⁴ II, 440; *Ved. Ind.*, II. 297.

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⁵ *JAOS*, 19, 100.

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⁶ I. 1; II. 1.

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¹ *Vedic Index*, II. 297.

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² Mbh., III. 73. 1-2; V. 157. 14; *Harivaṁśa, Vishṇuparva*, 59-60.

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³ *Gaz., Amraoti.* Vol. A, p. 406.

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⁴ *Indian Culture*, July, 1936, p. 12. Curiously enough, the same writer, who characterises the provisional acceptance of the uncontradicted testimony of the Purāṇas and lexicons in locating tribes mentioned in Vedic literature as unhistorical, has no hesitation in identifying the Satvats of the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* with the Yādavas and in placing them in the Mathurā region and adjoining districts (ibid., 15). He has not referred to any Vedic text which supports his conjecture regarding the identity of the Satvats and their association with the particular city named by him.

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If the evidence of the *Kumbhakāra Jātaka* has any value, then Nimi, king of Videha, mentioned in the work, Nagnajit, king of Gandhāra, and Bhīma, king of Vidarbha, must be considered to have been contemporaries of Karaṇḍu of Kaliṅga. It follows from this that the kingdom of Kaliṅga, too, was in existence in the time of Nimi and his contemporaries of the *Brāhmaṇa* period. The evidence of the *Jātaka* is confirmed by that of the *Uttar-ādhyayana Sūtra*. The *Mahāgovinda Suttanta*,⁵ makes Sattabhu, king of Kaliṅga, a contemporary of Reṇu, king of Mithilā and of Dhataraṭṭha or Dhṛitarāshṭra, king of Kāsi, mentioned in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa*.⁶ There can thus be no doubt that Kaliṅga existed as an independent kingdom in the time of which the Brāhmaṇas speak. It is mentioned both by Pāṇini¹ and Baudhāyana.² The latter regards it as an impure country but evidently not unfrequented by Aryans.³ According to epic tradition it comprised the whole coast from the river Vaitaraṇī⁴ in Orissa to the borders of the Andhra territory. The southern boundary of the *Janapada* was not well-defined. It reached Yellamanchili and Chipurupalle in the Vizagapatam district and at times even Pishṭapura or Pithapuram, north-east of the Godāvarī, but not the river itself which flowed through the Andhra country. Pargiter says that Kaliṅga as a settled kingdom appears to have consisted properly of the plain between the Eastern Ghats (*Mahendra range*) and the sea. But its kings seem to have exercised suzerainty over the Jungle tribes which inhabited the hills far inland, for the Amarakaṇṭaka range, in which the Narmadā rises, is said to be in the western part of Kaliṅga. That large tracts of the country were covered with forests appears from references to *Kaliṅgāraṇya* in Pāli texts. The windows of the capital city in the days of Kālidāsa looked out on the sea, and the deep roar of the waves drowned the sound of trumpets.⁵ In the days of Yuan Chwang Kaliṅga occupied a much smaller area. It is distinguished from Wu-t'u (Orissa) and Kung-yü-t'o (Koṅgoda in the Ganjam district) in the north, and An-to-lo (Andhra or Veṅgī) in the south, and seems to have embraced parts of the Ganjam and Vizagapatam districts. We learn from the Jātakas that an ancient capital of Kaliṅga was Dantapura-nagara.¹ The *Mahābhārata* mentions Rājapura as the metropolis.² The *Mahāvastu*³ refers to another city named Siṁhapura. The Jaina writers mention a fourth town called Kaṁchaṇapura⁴ .

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⁵ *Dialogues of the Buddha*, II. 270.

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⁶ XIII. 5. 4. 22.

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¹ IV. I. 170.

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² I, i. 30-31.

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³ There was a considerable Brāhmaṇa population in Kaliṅga in the days of Aśoka (*cf.* Edict XIII).

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⁴ Mbh., III. 114. 4.

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⁵ *Ind. Ant.*, 1923, 67; *Ep. Ind.* XII. 2; *JASB*, 1897, 98 ff; *Kūrma*, P. II, 39. 9; *Pādma, Svarga-Khaṇḍa*, VI. 22; *Vāyu*, 77, 4-13; Malalasekera, *DPPN*, 584; *Raghuvamśa*, vi, 56.

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¹ *Cf. Ep. Ind.*, XIV, p. 361, *Danta-pura-vāsakāt*; Dantakūra, Mbh. V. 48 76. Dandagula (Pliny, M'Crindle, *Megasthenes and Arrian*, 1926, p. 144). The name of the city probably survives in that of the fort of Dantavaktra near Chicacole in the Gañjām district. Many other Kaliṅga capitals stood in the same district, *e. g.*, Siṁhapura (Singupuram) near Chicacole, Dubreuil, *A. H. D.*, p. 94, Kaliṅga-nagara (Mukhaliṅgam on the Vaṁśadharā, *Ep. Ind.*, IV, 187; Kaliṅgapātam is preferred in *Ind. Ant.*, 1887, 132; *JBORS*, 1929, pp. 623 f. But the arguments adduced are not all plausible).

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² XII. 4. 3.

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³ Senart's edition, p. 432.

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⁴ *Ind. Ant.*, 1891, p. 375. The *Bhūmikhaṇḍa* of the *Padmapurāṇa* (47.9) mentions Srīpura as a city in Kaliṅga.

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The *Mahāgovinda Suttanta* refers to another southern realm, namely, **Assaka** or Aśmaka on the God(h)āvarī,⁵ which existed in the time of the monarchs Reṇu and Dhata-raṭṭha (Dhṛita-rāshṭra). It was ruled by king Brahmadatta who held his Court at Potana.

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⁵ *Sutta Nipāta*, 977, *SBE*, X, pt. ii, 184 *Cf.* Asmagi (Bomb. *Gaz.* I. 1. p. 532; *Megasthenes and Arrian*, 1926, 145) of classical writers. Aśmaka is also mentioned by Pāṇini, IV. 1. 173. As the name signifies "the stony region", it can hardly refer to Aśvaka, the land of the Assakenoi in the north-west, which the *Cambridge History of India*, Vol. I, connects with the Sanskrit *aśva*, and Iranian *aspa*, horse. The Commentator Bhaṭṭasvāmin identifies Aśmaka with Mahārāshṭra. The capital was Potali or Potana (*Chullakāliṅga Jātaka* No. 301; *Assaka J.* (207); D. 2. 235; *Pariśishṭa parvan*, I, 92, nagare Potanābhidhe. Bomb. *Gaz.* I. 1. 535; Law, *Heaven and Hell in Buddhist Perspective*, 74; Mbh. 1. 177. 47; *cf* Pāḍana of Lüders' List, 616, and N. G. Majumder's List, 658 (*Monuments*, p. 365—Visākhasa Pāḍā(ṁ)yasa). Dr. Sukthankar points out that the Paudanya of the printed editions of the *Mahābhārata* is a late corruption. The older Mss. give the name as Potana or Podana This name reminds one of Bodhan in the Nizam's dominions which lies to the south of the confluence of the Mañjīrā and the Godāvarī. The city of Podana is said to have been founded by a prince of the Ikshvāku family, who is the eponymous hero of the land of Aśmaka. The neighbouring people of Mūlaka also claimed Ikshvāku descent (*Vāyu*, 88, 177-178).

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The *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* alludes⁶ to princes of the South who are called **Bhojas** and whose subjects are called Satvats: "*dakshiṇasyāṁ diśi ye ke cha Satvatāṁ rājāno Bhaujyāyaiva te'bhishichyante Bhoj-etye-nān-abhishiktān-āchakshata*—" "in the southern region whatever kings there are of the Satvats, they are anointed for *Bhaujya*; 'O Bhoja' they style them when consecrated (in accordance with the action of the deities)." In the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa*¹ the defeat by Bharata of the Satvats, and his taking away the horse which they had prepared for an Aśvamedha or horse-sacrifice are referred to. These Satvats must have been living near Bharata's realm, *i.e.*, near the Ganges and the Yamunā.² But in the time of the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* they probably moved farther to the south. They are placed in the southern region (*dakshiṇā diś*) beyond the "fixed middle region"—the land of the Kurus, Pañchālas and some neighbouring tribes. The Pañchāla realm, according to epic testimony, extended as far south as the Chambal.³ The Satvat people of the "southern region" mentioned in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*, therefore, in all probability, lived beyond that river. Their kings were called Bhojas. This account of the Satvats and the Bhojas, deduced from the Brāhmaṇic statements, accords with Purāṇic evidence. It is stated in the Purāṇas that the Sātvat(a)s and the Bhojas were offshoots of the Yadu family which dwelt at Mathurā on the banks of the Yamunā.⁴ We are further told by the same authorities that they were the kindreds of the southern realm of Vidarbha.⁵ We have evidence of a closer connection between the Bhojas and the last-mentioned territory. A place called Bhojakaṭa, is included within Vidarbha both by the *Mahābhārata*¹ and the *Harivaṁśa*.² The Chammak grant of the Vākāṭaka king Pravarasena II makes it clear that the Bhojakaṭa territory included the Ilichpur district in Berar, a part of ancient Vidarbha.³ As pointed out by Dr. Smith, the name of Bhojakaṭa, ‘castle of the Bhojas,’ implies that the province was named after a stronghold formerly held by the Bhojas, an ancient ruling race mentioned in the edicts of Aśoka.⁴ Kālidāsa in his *Raghuvamśa*⁵ calls the king of Vidarbha a Bhoja.⁶

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⁶ VIII. 14

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¹ XIII. 5. 4. 21.

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² *ibid*, XIII. 5.4. 11.

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³ Mbh., I. 138, 74; *Dakshiṇāṁśchāpi Pāñchālān yāvach Charmaṇvatī nadī*.

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⁴ *Matsya*, 43, 48; 44, 46-48; *Vāyu*, 94. 52; 95, 18; 96. 1-2; *Vishṇu* IV 13. 1-6.

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⁵ *Mat.*, 44. 36; *Vāyu*, 95. 35-36.

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¹ V. 157. 15-16.

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² *Vishṇu parva*, 60. 32.

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³ *JRAS.*, 1914, p. 329.

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⁴ In *Ind. Ant.*, 1923, 262-63, Bhojakaṭa is identified with Bhat-kuli in the Amraoti district.

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⁵ V. 39-40.

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⁶ *Cf.* also Mbh., V. 48. 74; 157. 17; *Harivaṁśa*, *Vishṇu parva*, 47, 5.

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But Vidarbha was not the only Bhoja state. The *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* refers to several Bhoja kings of the south. A line of Bhojas must have ruled **Daṇḍaka.** A passage in the *Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra*⁷ runs thus:—

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⁷ Ed. 1919, p. 11.

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“*Dāṇḍakyo nāma Bhojaḥ kāmāt Brāhmaṇa-kanyām abhimanyamānas sabandhu-rāshṭro vinanāśa*”—a Bhoja known as Dāṇḍakya, or king of Daṇḍaka, making a lascivious attempt on a Brāhmaṇa girl, perished along with his relations and kingdom. We learn from the *Sarabhaṅga Jātaka*⁸ that the kingdom of Daṇḍaki (Daṇḍaka) had its capital at Kumbhavatī. According to the *Rāmāyaṇa*⁹ the name of the metropolis was Madhumanta, while the *Mahāvastu*¹⁰ places it at Govardhana (Nāsik).

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⁸ No. 522.

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⁹ VII. 92. 18.

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¹⁰ Senart's Edition, p. 363.

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It is clear, from what has been stated above, that there were in the age of the later Vaidehas, and the treatises called Brāhmaṇas, many kingdoms in the south, both Aryan and non-Aryan, namely, the Bhoja kingdoms, one of which was Vidarbha, and another, probably, Daṇḍaka, as well as Aśmaka and Kaliṅga. With the exception of these organised states the whole of Trans-Vindhyan India was occupied by non-Aryan (*dasyu*) tribes such as the Andhras, Śavaras, Pulindas and probably also the Mūtibas.¹

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¹ *Ait. Br.*, VII. 18.

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In the opinion of Dr. Smith the **Andhras** were a Dravidian people, now represented by the large population speaking the Telugu language, who occupied the deltas of the Godāvarī and the Kṛishṇā. Mr. P. T. Śrīnivās Iyengar argues that the Andhras were originally a Vindhyan tribe and that the extension of Andhra power was from the west to the east down the Godāvarī and Kṛishṇā valleys.² Dr. Bhandarkar points out that the Serivāṇij Jātaka places Andhapura, *i.e.*, the *pura* or capital of the Andhras, on the river Telavāha which he identifies with the modern Tel or Telingiri.³ But if ‘Seri’ or *Śrī-rājya*⁴ refers to the Gaṅga kingdom of Mysore, Telavāha may have been another name of the Tuṅgabhadrā-Kṛishṇā, and Andhapura identical with Bezvāḍa or some neighbouring city.⁵ The Mayidavolu plates of the early Pallava ruler Śivaskanda-varman prove that the Andhra country (*Andhrāpatha*) embraced the lower valley of the Kṛishṇā and had its centre at Dhaññakaḍa *i.e.*, Bezvāḍa, or some neighbouring city on the south bank of the Kṛishṇā.¹ Yuan Chwang applies the name An-to-lo (Andhra) to the district round Ping-ki-lo (Veṅgīpura) near Ellore. In later times the Andhra-*Khaṇḍa* extended from the Godāvarī to the borders of Kaliṅga (*ārabhya Gautamanadītaṭam ākaliṅgam*) and included Piṭhāpurī (Pithapuram)².

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² *Ind. Ant.*, 1913, pp. 276-78.

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³ *Ind. Ant.*, 1918, p. 71. There is also a river called ‘Ter’ in South India, *Ep. Ind.*, XXII, 29.

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⁴ *Mysore and Coorg from Inscriptions*, 38. ‘Seri’ may also refer to Śrī Vijaya or Śrī Vishaya (Sumatra?).

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⁵ The name Telavāha, oil-carrier, reminds one of the passages “*Vikhyāta Kṛishṇā-veṇṇā* (=*Kṛishṇā*) *taila-sneha-palabdha saralatva*” (*IA*, VIII. 17, *cf.* *Ep.* XII. 153.)—“with a smoothness caused by sesame oil of the famous (river) Kṛishṇā.”

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¹ Hultzsch (Ep. Ind. VI. 85) identified the city with Amarāvatī. Burgess suggested Dharaṇikoṭa which lies about 18 miles to the westward from Bezvāḍa, on the right bank of the Kṛishṇā. Fergusson, Sewell and Watters prefer Bezvāḍa itself (Yuan Chwang, II. 216). In the days of the great Chinese pilgrim *An-to-lo* (Andhra) had its capital at *Ping-ki-lo* or Veṅgīpura in the Kṛishṇā district.

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² Watters: II. 209; *IA*, xx, 93; *Ep. Ind.*, IV, 357.

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The **Śavaras** and the Pulindas are described in the *Matsya* and the *Vāyu Purāṇas* as *Dakshiṇā-patha-vāsināḥ*, inhabitants of the Deccan, together with the Vaidarbhas and the Daṇḍakas:

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*Teshāṁ pare janapadā Dakshiṇā-patha-vāsināḥ*
\* \* \* \*
*Kārūshāścha saha-Ishīkā Āṭavyāḥ Śavarās tathā*
*Pulindā Vindhya-Pushikā* (?) *Vaidarbhā Daṇḍakaiḥ saha.*³
*Ābhīrāḥ saha cha-Ishīkāḥ Āṭavyāḥ Śavarāścha ye*
*Pulindā Vindhya-Mūlikā Vaidarbhā Daṇḍakaiḥ saha.*⁴

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³ *Matsya*, 114. 46-48.

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⁴ *Vāyu*, 45. 126.

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The *Mahābhārata* also places the Andhras, Pulindas and Śavaras in the Deccan:

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*Dakshiṇā-patha-janmānaḥ sarve naravar-Āndhrakāḥ*
*Guhāḥ Pulindāḥ Śavarāś Chuchukā Madrakaiḥ* (?) *saha*⁵

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⁵ *Mbh.*, XII. 207. 42.

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The precise position and extent of the country of the Śavaras in the Brāhmaṇa period cannot be shown. They are usually identified with the Suari of Pliny and the Sabarae of Ptolemy, and are probably represented by the Savaralu, or Sauras of the Vizagapatam Hills, and the Savaris of the Gwalior territory.¹

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¹ *Ind. Ant.*, 1879, p. 282; Cunn. *AGI*, new ed., pp. 583, 586; *The Imp. Gaz.* *The Indian Empire*. I, 384. Śavaras are also found in the south-east portion of the district of Raipur (JASB, 1890, 289), in Sambalpur and Ganjam (*ibid.* 1891, 33), the western part of the Cuttack district as well as the north-western portion of Vizagapatam (*ibid.*, 1897, 321).

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The capital of the **Pulindas** (Pulinda-nagara) probably lay to the south-east of the Daśārṇas² who dwelt on the river Dasān (Dhasan) in Bundelkhand.³

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² *Mbh.*, II. 5-10.

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³ JASB. 1895, 253; Kālidāsa places them in the Vidiśā or Bhilsa region (*Meghadūta*, 24-25).

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The location of the territory of the **Mūtibas**, another *Dasyu* tribe mentioned in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* along with the Andhras, Pulindas, and Śavaras, is not so certain. Pliny refers to a tribe called "Modubae," and places them along with other peoples between the "Modogalingae," who inhabited a very large island in the Ganges and the *Andaræ* (Andhras).⁴ The Modubae are associated with the Molindae and the Uberae, perhaps corresponding to the Pulindas and the Śavaras of the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*. In the *Śāṅkhāyana Śrauta Sūtra*⁵ the Mūtibas are called Mūvīpa or Mūchīpa. It is not altogether improbable that the last name is connected with that of the river Musi in the Deccan on which Hyderabad now stands.⁶