The Geography of the Puranas c11.s1.9

c11.s1.9

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.