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The Geography of the Puranas c11.s1: I. The Janapadas of Madhyadesa

The Geography of the Purāṇas c11.s1

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I. The Janapadas of Madhyadesa

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The old name of the Upper Gangetic Basin, 'The United Provinces of Agra and Oudh' was not too ugly for use as a label, for it suggested some of the significant disunities typical of this area, though there is enough fundamental unity for it all to be included in a single region, even if we extend its eastern limits down to the Bihar valley—to include at least Patna and the confluences of the Sone and the Gaṇḍak; and its north-western limits to the valley of the Ghaggar which lies beween the Yamunā and the Sutlej.

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This was the 'Middle Country' of the Epics, the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, as well as of the Purāṇas. ‘The Great Battle’ was fought on its north-western margins, the land of Kṛṣṇa’s early exploits was its western border, the home of Rāma was in Ayodhyā and the centre of Brāhmaṇism was at Vārāṇasī. The Buddha and his creed were born here, and it was the appropriate centre of the empire of Aśoka, traces of his Pāṭaliputra still surviving in the subsoil of Patna. It was the Hindustān of the Muslim historians and Delhi, Agra, Allahabad, Jaunpur and Lucknow were medieval capitals. It has always been the heart of India, typically Indian and securely Indian. Central India was almost as safe a bulwark as the Himālayas; both the north-western highlands (beyond Panjāb) and the south-eastern ocean were remote, and the lands of approach from both were difficult and unattractive. Its security helped to make it, in a ‘land of sanctuaries’, the richest in shrines; its nodality helped to make it the home of Hindi, the nearest approach amongst the Indian languages—to a *lingua franca*; and it has much fundamental unity—in structure and relief, in climate and its vegetational controls, in the density and occupation of its people.²

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It is to be remembered that the whole Upper Gangetic Basin, as defined above, was once mostly covered with woodlands and forests. The earliest Āryan settlements were on the rivers amidst cleared or open lands. It was from these nuclei that the territories of various tribes or communities who had settled there grew into compact units and led to the foundation of the respective janapadas and kingdoms. Naturally, within a uniform plain the boundary lines or frontier zones between the different territories were either the broad flood plains of the great rivers or the thick forests which remained uncleared for a long time. Some of these forests (Suyaṃjatavana) remained the normal feature of the land. For instance, the Kuru-jāṅgala was a wild region in the Kuru realm (discussed below), which extended as far as the Kamyaka forest. The kingdom of Uttara-Pañcāla was founded in this jungle tract. The Añjanavana at Sāketa, the Mahāvana at Vaisāli and the Mahāvana at Kapilavāstu were natural forests, which extended up to the slopes of the Himālayas. The Parileyyakavana was an elephant-forest at some distance from Kauśāmbī on the way to Saravasti. The Lumbinivana on the Rohiṇī, the Nāgavana of the Vajji kingdom, the Salavana of the Mallas at Kusinārā, the Bhesakalavana in the Bharga kingdom, the Siṃsapavana at Kauśāmbī, the forest to the north of Setavya in Kośala and the one near Alvi and the Pippalivana of the Moriyas may be cited as typical examples of natural forests which covered a substantial area of the Basin.

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The Purāṇic janapadas of the ‘Middle Country’ can therefore be defined in terms of two natural features, the rivers and the forests. They are detailed below:

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*The Janapadas of the Gangetic Doabs*

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Kuru. The land of the Kurus was originally the hinterland of Delhi west of the Yamunā where they first settled. Later they pushed their boundary towards the east across the Yamunā and the Doab to the Gaṅgā. The Purāṇic janapada of Kuru may be identified with the region bounded by the Ghaggar in the west, the Gaṅgā on the east and the forest belts in the north and south. Their two capitals, Indraprastha on the Yamunā and Hastināpur on the Gaṅgā are well known.

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Jāṅgala. This janapada is usually associated with the Kurus and is sometimes called Kuru Jāṅgala. It may therefore be inferred that Kuru Jāṅgala was the wasteland of the Kurus and that it occupied the wooded north-eastern part of their territory, which extended up to the Kamyaka forest in the north.

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Pāñcāla. The janapada of Pāñcāla may be considered as coterminous with Rohilkhaṇḍ of modern times, with the central portion of the Yamunā-Gaṅgā doab added to it. It extended from the Gaṅgā in the west to the Sarju on the east and occupied only the northern half of their doab and the middle portion of the Yamunā and Gaṅgā doabs. It had two divisions, the northern with its capital at Ahicchatra and the southern, with its capital at Kampila. They have been identified as Rāmnagar (in the Bareilly district) and Kāmpilya (in the Furrukhabad district) respectively. The dividing line between the Northern and Southern Pāñcāla was the river Gaṅgā. The southern boundary of the Pāñcāla territory again coincided with the forest belts already mentioned above.

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Kośala. The Kośala janapada approximately coincided with the Sarju-Rapti doab. It also had two capital cities, Sravasti and Sāketa. According to the Epics and some Buddhist works, Ayodhyā seems to have been the earliest capital and Sāketa the later. In Buddha's time Ayodhyā became an unimportant town, but Sāketa and Sravastī were two of the six great cities of India. Sravastī has been identified with Sahet-Mahet which lies on the boundary of the Gonda and Bahraich districts, 19 miles from Balrampur. At times Kośala extended further south beyond the Sarju and included not only the Gomatī-Gaṅgā-Sarju triangle but also absorbed the janapada of Kāśī.

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Kāśī. It was one of the ancient janapadas with its capital at Vārāṇasī and was counted among the sixteen Mahājanapadas of India. It extended to and included the southern portion of the Gaṅgā-Gomatī doab and also the Trans-Gaṅgā tract bounded in the north and south by forest belts.

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*The Janapadas South of the Yamunā-Gaṅgā Axis*

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Magadha. Further east of the Kāśi-Kosala janapadas beyond the Son and south of the Gaṅgā was the janapada of Magadha. It was bounded by the Son on the west, the Gaṅgā on the north and the spurs of the Vindhyan plateau which touch the Gaṅgā near Monghyr on the east, and Vindhyan forests on the south. This janapada should normally be included in the eastern lands but since it lies on the borders of the 'Eastern' and 'Middle Countries' and also because the territory of Magadha annexed lands to the west of the Son, the Purāṇas thought it fit to include Magadha too in the 'Middle Country'.

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Kuntala. This janapada has been located by Cunningham to the south of the Gaṅgā near Chunar. If this is correct the Kuntala janapada could correspond to the Mirazapur District of U.P. between the Gaṅgā and Son rivers. A major part of the Gaṅgā-Son doab was covered with forests and woodlands.

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*The Janapadas of the Trans-Yamunā Region (Western)*

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Before we attempt the identification of those janapadas which were located in this region, i.e., approximately in the present east Rajasthan and which were included in the 'Middle Country' of the Purāṇas, it would be helpful to take note of its physical framework.

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The dominating features of Rajasthan are the Aravallis and the desert of Thar. The main Aravalli range runs from Gujarat in the south-west to Delhi in the north-east. Its steep front to the desert plains of Thar is formed of discontinuous and sometimes echeloned ridges, the highest point, the great granitic mass of Mt. Abu (5,646 feet) lies off the main axis in the extreme south-west. Around Udaipur, the Aravallis reach their culmination in a great node of spurs and curving ridges; thence another series of low ridges strike off east-north-east. These ridges run parallel to and south of the Banas river, which cuts across them towards the south, near Tonk, to join the Chambal. They then run further towards the Gambhīra river to the Bharatpur region, from where they turn towards the north parallel to the Yamunā and pass through Deeg to Alwar. In Alwar, the eastern and the main western ridges meet to form a complex of low hilly country from where a spur of the same system meets the Yamunā at Delhi.

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Another series of hills, low and sometimes detached, belonging to the Vindhyan system runs from Chitor to Fatehpur Sikri (in Agra district) north of the Chambal. The most pronounced ridge of this system is the Bundi Range which effectively cuts off the Kotah basin from the northern regions.

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Thus the whole of Rajasthan may be divided into the following physical divisions:

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i. The Alwar-Jaipur region.

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ii. The Bharatpur-Dholpur-Karauli region.

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iii. The Bundi-Tonk region.

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iv. The Mewar or Udaipur region.

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v. The Trans-Aravalli region occupying the western slopes of the main Aravalli range.

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vi. The Kotah-Jhalawar basin.

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In Hiuen Tsang's time No. (i) above was called Vairāta; No. (ii) was part of Sūrasena, later called Braja; No. (iii) and (iv) were known as Vadari and No. (v) as Gūrjara. Nos. (i) to (v) are included by the Purāṇas in the Madhyadeśa and No. (vi) in the Vindhyan lands.

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*Matsya.* The Matsya janapada was obviously the Vairāta region of Hiuen Tsang's time. It corresponded to physical division (i) above. It was bounded in the north by the broad tangled mass of the Aravalli hills which cover north Alwar and Gurgaon districts, in the east and west by the two ranges of the Aravalli system mentioned above and in the south approximately by the axis of the middle Banas. Its capital, Vairāta (or Bairāta) was located in the Alwar hills at a strategic point where the headwaters of the Sabi and Banganga nearly meet.

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*Sūrasena.* This janapada coincided with region (ii) above. It was separated from Matsya by the eastern spurs of the Aravallis which run from Lalsot to Deeg in Bharatpur. Its southern boundary ran along the Vindhyan spurs parallel to the left bank of the Chambal. On the base of this funnel-shaped janapada was located their capital Mathurā on the Yamunā. The apex of this funnel pointed the route of Gujarat and western India which for long served as a marchland from the Yamunā basin to the western coast.

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*Sālva and Associated Janapadas: Bhuliṅga, Bhadrakāra and Bodha*

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The Sālvas were an important people of ancient India. According to the Mahābhārata, the Sālva country was situated near Kurukṣetra. The Sālvas are nearly always mentioned with Matsyas in ancient literature. Commenting on Salvayayava, the Kasika on Panini's Aṣṭādhyāyī named Udumbara, Tilakhala, Madrakāra (the Bhadrakāra of the Purāṇas), Yugandhara, Bhuliṅga and Śaradanda as the six Avayavas or parts of Śālva janapada. The Vāyu and Matsya Purāṇas locate the Śālvas amongst the people of Madhyadeśa, but the Viṣṇu and Brahma place them in the west. The obvious conclusion is that the Śālva janapada was located somewhere on the boundary of the 'Middle' and 'Western' regions of India.

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Again, the Śālvas and associated tribes are mentioned with those of the Panjāb, e.g. the Trigartas, the Kekayas, the Madras, etc. Thus the approximate location of the Śālva group of janapadas should be to the west of the Matsya country (which was an integral part of Madhyadeśa), somewhere near the Kuru land and in proximity of the Panjāb janapadas.

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In addition to this there is another pointer to this group; one of its constituents, the Bhuliṅga has been mentioned by Ptolemy as Bholingai which has been located on the western slopes of the Aravallis.

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If we refer back to the physical division of Rajasthan mentioned earlier, we will observe that the Śālva group of janapadas pertained to region (v) above. The southernmost janapada, the Bhadrakāra corresponded with the Godwar region west of the Aravallis round about Bhadrajan while the Bhuliṅga corresponded with the upper basin of river Luni which was no doubt a precarious tract on the western slopes of the Aravallis coinciding with eastern Jodhpur.

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The Śālva (proper) janapada occupied the Sheikhawati-Loharu-Bhiwani region and Bodha corresponded with the Hansi-Hissar-Sirsa tract bounded by the desert on the west, the Śālva on the south and the old bed of the Sutlej in the north. Thus in other words, the Bhuliṅga, Śālva, Bhadrakāra and Bodha janapadas occupied the borderland of the Middle Country so that some of the Purāṇas include them in Middle Country while others count them among the janapadas of the 'Western Lands'. It is to be noted that the precarious tract of Bhuliṅga has been omitted altogether by many Purāṇas.

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Physical divisions (iii) and (iv) remain unrepresented in the above scheme of Purāṇic janapadas for the obvious reason that they have been included by the Purāṇas in the Vindhyan janapadas detailed below.

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