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The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c6.s1: Nomenclature and Extent

The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c6.s1

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Nomenclature and Extent

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THE name Deccan as used in the following pages designates the historic land in peninsular India that stretches from the Sahyādriparvat, also called the Sātmāla, Chāndor, Ajanta, or Indhyādri range, and the expanse of hill and plateau that connects it with Mahendragiri, and forms the watershed between the Mahānadi and the Godāvarī in the north, to the Kṛṣṇā and the Tuṅgabhadrā in the south, and from the Arabian Sea in the west to the Bay of Bengal in the east. The area described above lies roughly between 13° 59' and 20° 33' north latitude and 72° 54' and 84° 26' east longitude. The territory included within it embraces the Marāṭhā- and Kanarese-speaking districts of the Bombay Presidency, the state of Hyderabad with the southern part of Berār, some adjoining tracts of the Central Provinces, and portions of Orissa and the Madras Presidency lying between Mahendragiri and the Kṛṣṇā. The total area may be put at nearly 200,000 square miles with a population of about 40 millions.

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The expression Deccan is a corruption of the Sanskrit word *Dakṣiṇa* which means ‘right hand’ or ‘the south’. The name is familiar to Indian literature and inscriptions, and is also found in the *Periplus of the Erythraean Sea*, written by a Greek mariner of the first century A.D. Fa Hien in the fifth century refers to it as ‘Ta-Thsin’. Other variants of the name are Dākṣiṇātya and Dakṣiṇāśā. But the most popular designation of the region in classical Sanskrit literature and inscriptions is Dakṣiṇāpatha.

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From early times the name has been used in different senses. In its broadest application it comprises the whole of India between the southern sea and the Vindhyas—*dakṣiṇasya samudrasya tathā Vindhyasya chāntare*. This connotation is known to the *Bharata Nāṭya Śāstra*¹ and the *Bhuvanakosha* of the *Purāṇas*. The *Matsya Purāṇa*² carried the northern limit to Kāruṣa which occupied the hill country enclosing the Kaimur spur of the eastern Vindhyas. The Pāli *Jatakas* stretch it to Avanti close to the western Vindhyas, while the *Petavatthu* commentary includes within the Deccan the Damiḷa-viṣaya or Tamil country in the far south.³ Harishena, the panegyrist of Samudra Gupta, includes within Dakṣiṇāpatha all the territory from the Mahānadi valley to Kāñchi. The uncertainty regarding the location of Mahākāntāra which he enumerates among territories in the south makes it difficult to determine the exact northern limit of the Deccan as understood by him. The *Kāvya-mīmāṃsā* of Rājaśekhara places Dakṣiṇāpatha beyond Māhishmati and the Narmadā. The definition of the term in the later Chālukya records—setu Narmadā madhyam... Dakshiṇāpatham, ‘from Adam’s Bridge to the Nerbudda stretches the Deccan’—is not fundamentally different.

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¹ xiv, 39.

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² 114, 46-8.

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³ Malalasekera, *Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names*, i, 1050-1.

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In a much earlier age, namely, the first century A.D., the Periplus uses the term ‘Dachinabades’, that is, Dakshiṇāpatha, to signify the region beyond ‘Barygaza’, that is, Broach on the Narmadā. From this area ‘Damirica’, that is, the Tamil country, seems, however, to be excluded. We are told that ‘beyond Barygaza the adjoining coast extends in a straight line from north to south and so this region is called Dachinabades, for dachanos in the language of the natives means south’. Among market-towns of the region mention is made of Paiṭhaṇ and Tagara (Ter, Thair), now included within the State of Hyderabad. The markets of ‘Damirica’ find separate mention.

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The far south seems also to be excluded by both the famous epics of ancient India. The Rāmāyaṇa distinguishes the Drāviḍas from the Dakshiṇāpatha.¹ In the Mahābhārata Sahadeva, one of the heroes, is said to have proceeded to Dakshiṇāpatha after vanquishing the king of the Pāṇḍyas in the extreme south of the peninsula. Kishkindhā-guhā (close to the Tuṅgabhadrā) seems at that time to have been on the outskirts of Dakshiṇāpatha² which stretched northwards as far as the borders of the Vidarbha country or Berār.

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¹ ii, 10, 37.

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² ii, 31, 16 ff.

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esha panthā Vidarbhāṇām asau gachchhati Kosalān
ataḥ parañcha deśo’yam dakshiṇe Dakshiṇāpathaḥ

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‘This road leads to Vidarbha (Berār), that one proceeds towards the land of the Kosalas (the Upper Mahānadī valley); beyond them in the southern direction lies Dakshiṇāpatha.’³

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³ iii, 61, 23. The restricted meaning of the term ‘Dākshiṇātya’ is known also to the Bharata nāṭya śāstra, xxiii, 102, where it is distinguished from Andhra, Pulinda, and Dramiḷa.

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The connotation suggested in these passages of the epic is the one we have adopted in the following pages.

Cites (7)