The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c6.s8.2

v1.c6.s8.2

W E have no clear reference to any city south of the Vindhya in the Vedic texts. But the cognomen Kauṇḍinya applied to Vidarbhī in the *Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad* may point to the existence of the city of Kuṇḍina in Vidarbha or Berār in the age of the *Upaniṣad*. The city was certainly known to the *Mahābhārata* and is possibly represented by the modern Kauṇḍinyapura on the banks of the Wardhā in the Chāndūr *tāluk* of Amraoti. If this identification be correct the city lay to the north of the Sahyādriparvat, and hence stood outside the limits of the Deccan as defined in these pages. The same remark applies to Bhojakaṭa, Nandivardhana, and several other cities which had the distinction of being graced by the presence of monarchs of Vidarbha in the heroic age or in historical times. The only city of Berār which lies to the south of the Sahyādriparvat is Vatsagulma or Bāsim whose antiquity can be traced back to the fourth century A.D.