The Geography of the Puranas c11.s5: V. The Southern Janapadas

The Geography of the Purāṇas c11.s5

Language: English

V. The Southern Janapadas

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The list of the Puranic janapadas of the South shows that the Daksinapatha or Southern India was normally conceived as that part of the Indian Peninsula which lies south of the crests of Satpura-Mahadeo-Maikal Ranges and the western and southern limits of the Mahanadi Basin. North of this line were the Vindhyan lands while to its north-west lay the western lands of the Puranas. By virtue of their position, the janapadas located on the border lands of these major regions could be assigned to either side. Some Puranas, for instance, the Matsya and the Vayu, rightly consider the Narmada and Mahanadi axis as the dividing line between Northern and Southern India and include the Tapti basin within the southern region.

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Some included the basin in the western, others in the Vidhyan region. But these assignments do not in general affect the location of the various janapadas with reference to the natural features of the country.

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Southern India, defined as above, can be divided into the following well-defined regions:

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(a) The Western Coastal Plain, between the crest of the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea;

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(b) The Deccan Plateau;

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(a) *Janapadas of the Western Coastal Plain—the Western Littoral*

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*Kerala and Setuka.* South of Kanara the structure and climate of the coastal plain between the scarp of the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea give it a distinctive personality. The region is known as Malabar—a land of great heat, high humidity, lagoons, sand dunes and greater width of the lowland. It had for centuries the world monopoly of pepper and cardamom. The Malabar coast down to the southernmost tip of the peninsula had always remained an independent territory isolated from the rest of India by virtue of its position between the Ghats and the sea. An Aśoka edict mentions two independent kingdoms of the southern peninsula, viz. that of Keralaputra or the Malabar Coast, and that of Satiyaputra, probably equivalent to the Satyamangalam province of the later kingdom of Madura. Kerala of the Purāṇas, therefore, corresponds to the present Kerala State while Setuka corresponds to its eastern hinterland near the cardamom hills.

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*Vanavāsaka.* A clan or family called Kadamba enjoyed independent power in the districts now called north and south Kanara and in western Mysore from the third to the sixth century. Their capital Banawāsi, also known as Jayanti or Vaijayanti, was so ancient that it is mentioned in the edicts of Aśoka and in the inscriptions of the Sātavāhana. The Purāṇic janapada Vanavāsaka most probably corresponds to this region. Ptolemy refers to it as Banaunsei located on the western coast.

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(b) *Janapadas of the Deccan Plateau or the Peninsular Interior*

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*Māhiṣaka, Kuntala and Kupatha (Kumāra)* janapadas belonged to the region commonly known as Karṇāṭaka, i.e. the real Karṇāṭak or the modern Mysore and not the Madras littoral. This region extends from the Deccan Lavas on the north to the Moyar in the south; the western limit is, of course, the crest of the Ghats and to the south-east the border hills and scarps of the Mysore plateaus provide a fairly sharp boundary between the Moyar and the Palār. But in the north-east, the high plateaus break down into isolated basins south of the Pennar and the Cuddapah ranges. In the north the Raichur Doāb, between the Kṛṣṇa and Tungabhadrā, was the marchland between the Deccani Sultanates and Vijayanagar, which city occupied a forward position on the Tungabhadrā, near Hampi village. This doāb is still a marchland between Karnātaka, Telengāna and to a lesser extent, Mahārāṣṭra.

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Kuntala janapada mainly occupied the territory drained by the upper Tungabhadrā and its tributaries, the Hagari and the Hindri and coincided with the Dharwar, Bellary districts of the modern State of Mysore, and parts of Anantapur and Raichur districts of the modern State of Andhra Pradesh. Its core was the region round Hampi or Vijayanagar.

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*Mahārāṣṭra*. Although modern Mahārāṣṭra, the Marhātha country *par excellence*, is usually taken as coterminous with the main mass of the Deccan lavas above the Ghats from the Tāpti to the Malaprabha, the Purānic janapada called the Mahārāṣṭra appears to indicate only that region which is covered by the basin of the river Bhīma, since the other regions included in the present Mahārāṣṭra are mentioned as separate janapadas or territories.

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*Māhiṣaka*. This janapada covered the southern region of Karnātaka. It occupied the basin of the upper Kāverī and Shimsha river. The Kupatha janapada occupied a position at the foot of the plateau near the south-east ern corner of Karnātaka, west of the Chola and Pāndya janapadas. It corresponded to the modern Coimbatore and part of Salem district.

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*Asmaka and Maulika, Paurika (Paunika), Vidarbha*. The basin of the river Godāvarī forms an important unit in the historical geography of Southern India. The river drains a large area mainly composed of Deccan lavas and flows through a wide fertile valley towards the east. Its catchment area is bounded in the north by the Sahyadri Parvata or Ajanta range, the Nirmal and Satmala ranges and the hills of Bastar and Orissa known to the Purāṇics as the Mahendra Parvata. Through the gaps between these hills the affluents of the Godāvarī, the most important of which is the Waingangā, collect the drainage of the regions beyond these hills, virtually up to the Satpura, Mahadeo and Maikal hills. The ranges to the south of the basin are less pronounced except the Balaghat range which separates it from the valley of the river Bhīma.

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The upper Godāvarī basin above its confluence with the Mañjra is an open land on the Deccan plateau dotted with hills of moderate height. Its volume is also limited but the river is deeply entrenched in lava beds so that its banks are high and steep on both sides. The river in this part of its course has served as a zone of assimilation in which were located the capital cities of kingdoms occupying territories on both of its banks. Below Nander it receives its major tributaries from the north and gains considerable volume, developing an extensive flood-plain as it rolls down the plateau. By the time it crosses the spurs of the Nirmal and Satmala ranges and is joined by the Prānhitā it becomes a voluminous river, meandering through a wild terrain covered by thick forests which stretch right across the peninsula from the Sahyadri hills to Bastar and Mahendragiri.

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The Purāṇas mention many janapadas of the Godāvarī basin, each janapada being associated either with parts of the Godāvarī basin or the basins of its tributaries. For instance:

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Maulika janapada was coterminous with the upper Godāvarī valley with its capital at Paithan which lies on the northern bank of the Godāvarī. It probably covered parts of the Aurangabad, Ahmadnagar, Bhir and Prabhani districts which lie within the basin of the Godāvarī proper.

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Paurika or Paunika janapada was, it appears, a small territory occupying the valley of the river Pūrana, a tributary of the Godāvarī which joins it near Nander.

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Further down the Godāvarī where it joins the Mañjra river, the well-known janapada of Asmaka was located with its capital at Bodhan.

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The Vidarbha janapada was also a part of the Godāvarī basin. It corresponded to the basin of rivers Wardhā and Pengangā which together join the Godāvarī through river Prānhitā near Chinnur. In fact the river Pengangā formed the southern boundary of this janapada.

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Bhogavarddhana appears to correspond to the valley of the upper Purnā river below the Sahyadri parvat. The pointer appears to be the town of Bhokardon, about 20 miles south of Ajanta.

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Pāṇḍya. The Pāṇḍya kingdom, as defined by tradition, extended from the southern Vallaru river (Pudukottai) on the north to Cape Comorin and from the Coromandal (Cholamandala) coast on the east to the 'great highway', the Achchankovil Pass leading into southern Kerala or Travancore. It comprised the existing districts of Madurai and Tirunelveli with parts of the old Travancore State. The janapada of Pāṇḍya was thus centred around the basin of river Vaigai on which the city of Madurai is situated.

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*Cola*. The Cola country extended along the Coromandal coastal plain from Tirupathi to Puddukottai, where it abutted on the Pandya territory. Its core was the middle Kāverī basin with Karūr and Tiruchirapalli as its main centres.

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*Andhra* covered the extensive deltaic plains of the Kṛṣṇā and Godāvari rivers, although at times it extended up their valleys to the foot of the plateau. The Āndhras were a famous and well-known people who founded a kingdom in the third century A.D.

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The Kaliṅga janapada occupied the narrower eastern coastal plain from the delta of the Godāvari to that of the Mahānadi. It was probably one of the best-known regions of the south in ancient Indian literature. The Jatakas refer to the capital city of Kaliṅga which was Dantaparanagara which is probably identical with Dantapura mentioned in the Mahābhārata and with Dantapura of inscriptions. Other cities of the Kaliṅga country are also known, e.g. Rajapura, Simhapura (or Singupuram near Chicacole), Kancanapura and Kaliṅganagara which has been identified with Mukhalingam on the river Vamsadharā.

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*Savara, Pulinda, Mūsika, Daṇḍaka*. The littoral between the Cola janapada in the south, the Āndhra in the north and the plateau on the west the basins of the lower Godāvari, the lower Kṛṣṇā (excluding their deltas and the Pennar) formed a vast region almost entirely covered by forests. Within this forest which extended towards the west along the latitudinal hills of the plateau, the river valleys not only coincided with possible lines of communication but also supported isolated tribes or groups of population. The term 'janapada' could be loosely applied to the territories occupied by these groups, some of which were recognised as such even in more ancient literature. For instance, we find in Aitareya Brāhmaṇa (VII. 18) that the elder sons of Viśvāmitra were under a curse to become the progenitors of servile races, such as the Āndhras, the Puṇḍras, the Savaras, the Pulindas and the Mutipas, meaning thereby that they were non-Āryan tribes. The Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas locate them in the south. The probable location of this group of janapadas may be indicated with the help of the natural features of this region.

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Savara may be associated with the valley of the river Sabari, a left-bank tributary of the Godāvari. Its position very much coincides with that of Sabarai mentioned by Ptolemy. It may be the same as the Suari of Pliny. If this is correct, then the Pulinda janapada should be identical with the region between the Prāṇhitā and Bandia rivers, the two left-bank tributaries of the Godāvari which join it from the north. This location is based on the following association of tribes found in many works:

Linked texts (7)

Aitareyabrāhmaṇa — Mahidāsa Aitareya, Sanskrit
Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Jātaka — Pāli
Vāyupurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Aśoka