The Geography of the Puranas c11.s3.8

c11.s3.8

(b) A few more janapadas have been included by other Purāṇas (except Matsya) in the western region of Bhāratavarṣa, but Matsya locates them in the south and includes them in its list of southern janapadas. The conclusion is that Matsya prefers Narmadā as the natural and cultural boundary between southern India and the rest of the country. Other Purāṇas carry this boundary further south to include the Tāptī valley and, as we will see presently, their boundary followed the crest of the hills (Sahyadri, Gawilgarh, Ajanta, Mahadeo and Maikal) which extend in a general east-west direction south of the Tāptī.