History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v2.c28.s1.42

v2.c28.s1.42

The Mahābhārata list of countries or rather peoples in India is important for Indian history preceding the Christian era. Varāha Mihira’s list is similarly important for the fifth century A.D., while Hiuen Tsang’s travels supply us with accurate and detailed information about the peoples of India in the beginning of the 7th century A. D. There is a list of countries in India (not peoples) in the Skanda Purāṇa, Kumāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 39 which is equally important for Indian history and gives us pretty accurate information about the 9th century A. D. This Purāṇa can clearly be assigned to the 9th or 10th century from this very list; as therein the old names of countries or rather peoples find no place and new names occur denoting countries or rather provinces which generally well fit in with the 9th century and which mostly subsist to this day, though there are many names which are unidentifiable. Below are specially marked those names which can be identified and also their extent and importance. The numbers assigned to each country are mentioned as numbers of villages and there is no vagueness about them though in many cases the numbers are palpably unbelievable. But some numbers are corroborated from inscriptions of the time and we must recognise the fact that countries or provinces had at this time been assigned a fixed number of villages by tradition.