History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c8.s2.1

c8.s2.1

The *Rāmāyaṇa* of Vālmīki and other works contain an amusing story, describing its foundation and how it got the name Kānyakubja, from which Kanauj is said to be a modern derivation.¹ We are told that in early times there was a king named Kuśa, who married the daughter of the king of Vidarbha or Berar. He was blessed with four sons : (*a*) Kuśanābha, (*b*) Kuśāmbha, (*c*) Asūtaraja and (*d*) Vasu. Each of them, on being requested by the reigning monarch to protect the kingdom, founded a town after his own name. Of these, Kuśanābha founded a town called Mahodaya, meaning “of high prosperity.”² King Kuśanābha begot a hundred beautiful daughters by the celestial damsel Ghṛtācī,³ and one day, when they were sporting together in the royal gardens, Vāyu (the wind god)¹ became enamoured of their surpassing charms. He made a proposal to marry all the hundred sisters, but was met with a scornful refusal. Their rebukes further enraged the wind god to such an extent that he instantly changed them all into hunchbacks by his curses. From this circumstance (kanyānāṁ kubjatvaṁ) the city got its name Kānyakubja or Kanyā-kubja, meaning “the city of hunchbacked maidens.”² Historically the story is no doubt worthless except that it proves the high antiquity of both the town and its name.