History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v2.c28.s1.43

v2.c28.s1.43

The list begins from the north and correctly reflects the political condition of India in the 9th century A. D. We first have Nepāl with one lakh of villages and immediately next naturally comes Kānyakubja with 36 lakhs. This shows that the Kanauj empire was at its height, an extensive empire covering Oudh, the Gangetic valley, part of the Panjab and Gwalior territory and the valley of the Jumna. Now this number of villages of Kanauj is also mentioned in the Prabandha Chintāmaṇi. What Gājaṇaka is, which next follows with 72 lakhs cannot be surmised. Probably in the usual fashion of the Purāṇas facts and fictions are jumbled together in order to make up the total of 96 crores and 72 lakhs of villages, an exaggeration befitting the Purāṇas, for the whole of India. Then comes the Gauda country or Bengal with 18 lakhs which means a territory half of the Kanauj empire which is not impossible. Next we have Kāmarūpa and Oddiyāna or Orissa with the same extent as Kāmarūpa or Assam i. e. 9 lakhs or half of Bengal or Gauda. The same extent is assigned to Dāhala or Bundelkhand which is described as Vedasamjna meaning probably that it consisted of four parts. Next we have Jālandhara and Lohapura or Lahore each with the same number of 9 lakhs. Next we recognise Raṭarajya or the kingdom of the Rāshtrakūtas with 7 lakhs of villages and we are reminded of the 7½ lakhs Rattapāḍi mentioned in inscriptions of this and the preceding period. We, hereafter, come across names which we do not recognise but we come next to countries to which the number assigned is 1¼ or Sapādalaksha. We have already explained how Dr. Bhandarkar has committed a mistake in interpreting the name and how he identified it with the hilly range at the foot of the Himālayas called Śiwalik hills. This list in the Skanda Purāṇa clearly establishes the fact that about 7 countries were then known as Supādalaksha countries viz., Varendu, Atilāngala, Sayambhara, Meḍapāta, (these two unquestionably are Sambhar and Mewad), Tomara, Karṇāta and Puṅgala, followed closely by Mālava which is assigned the exact figure 1 lakh 15 thousand and 180. One of these may be the Siwalik region though we are not certain about it but at any rate the word Śiwalik need not be derived from 1¼ lakhs of hills in that region.