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The Geography of the Puranas c7.s1: The Vedas

The Geography of the Purāṇas c7.s1

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The Vedas

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The Ṛgveda Saṃhitā mentions tribes, rivers and a few mountains and deals particularly with the natural phenomena which appealed to the aesthetic sense of their authors. It contains accounts of (1) the fight of Indra and the gods against Vṛtra and his herds; (2) the fight of Indra and Divodāsa against Sambara and his army; (3) the fight of Kutsa against Suṣṇa and his army; (4) the fight of Indra against various Asura chiefs; (5) the recovery of cows by the Angirasas from the Pāṇis; (6) the war carried on by Ten Kings against Sudāsa; (7) the wars that were waged between different countries; (8) the activities of the various priestly clans which were the authors of the Ṛgvedic hymns; (9) the exploits of Indra, Aśvins and other gods; (10) the tribes which belonged to the Āryan stock and also of those tribes which came under the Āryan influences.

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The variation of the above mentioned events naturally introduces facts pertaining to descriptive geography—i.e., the various lands, their physical content, their boundaries, their people as well as ideas regarding physical geography, i.e., atmosphere, land and water. The main contribution, however, of the Ṛgveda to the Purāṇic geography is its cosmology and cosmogony which are repeated in the original or modified form in all the Purāṇas.

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Ideas regarding the causes of the winds, clouds and rainfall, the movement of the sun, the moon and the planets, the phenomena of the seasons, of day and night, of eclipses and the cardinal points, all of which are linked with problems of cosmology and cosmogony, are reflected in subsequent literature, particularly the Purāṇas. The topography of the Ṛgveda is limited to the description of 21 rivers¹ in all (5, 53, 9), (10, 64, 6) and (75, 5, 6). In verse (10, 64, 9) the Saraswatī, Sarayū and Sindhu are mentioned as the ‘leaders’ of these rivers—the Saraswatī as that of the first group (10, 75, 5), the Sindhu of the second group (10, 75, 6) and the Sarayū of the third (5, 53, 9). Of the mountains only the Himavanta (10, 121, 4) and Muñjavān (10, 34, 1) find a place in the Ṛgvedic hymns. All these rivers, their names and the order in which they are mentioned figure in the Purāṇas.

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In the Ṛgveda most of all the importance appears to have been attached to natural vegetation, fauna and human groups (tribes), settlements and occupations. A classification of natural vegetation into vṛkṣa (trees), oṣadhi or virudha (shrubs) and tṛṇa (grass) and characteristics of different plants² in each group are provided in the Ṛgveda (10, 97). Natural vegetation played an important part in the religion of the Āryans. Ritual performances were made by using numerous products derived from plants, and certain plants acquired the status of gods. As such, all these plants have an important place in later literature, especially in the Purāṇas. The same applies to animals which were classified by Vedic Āryans as wild beasts (mṛga), amphibious animals (śiṃśumāra), aquatic animals (purīkāyas), insects and worms (kīṭa), birds (pakṣī) and domestic animals.

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Facts of human geography, i.e., those pertaining to man’s adjustment to nature and their ideas and actions have been elaborately and precisely dealt with in the Ṛgveda and are intimately associated with religious ritual. Every human activity related to the earth and its resources, i.e., agriculture, animal husbandry, irrigation, industries, means of transport, houses and settlements, diet, clothing and social relations, finds a suitable place in the sacred book and provides a key to corresponding accounts in the Purāṇas and other ancient works. The Ṛgveda is the ultimate source of all the knowledge which was embodied in subsequent literature including the Purāṇas.

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The three Vedas (the Yajurveda, the Sāmaveda and the Atharvaveda), the Brāhmaṇas, the Āraṇyakas, the Upaniṣads and the Kalpa Sūtras belong to a later period and were composed during several centuries which followed the compilation of the Ṛgvedic hymns. Like the Ṛgveda they too are not geographical treatises, but some of them like the Atharvaveda, the Brāhmaṇas and the Sūtras contain geographical material (mentioned below) which in one form or the other found its way into the Purāṇas.

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The astronomical notions of the Purāṇas are not only based on, but also in many cases borrowed from the later Vedas, the Brāhmaṇas and the Sūtras. They contribute most of the ideas regarding the shape of the earth, the movement of the sun, the moon and the planets, the solstices, lunar mansions, the phases of the moon, directions and associated gods, computation of time, day and night, year and its components to all the Purāṇas which either repeat or modify them to suit the exigencies of narration.

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The description of topographical features in the later Vedic literature is slightly better developed than in the Ṛgveda. This is natural, since with the ‘Aryanisation’ of the far-flung areas, the need for a detailed knowledge of those areas was felt and provided for in the later works. As mentioned earlier, only a few mountains are referred to in the Ṛgveda. To the Ṛgvedic Himavanta and Mūñjavān, the Taittirīya Āraṇyaka and the Sūtra texts add an important feature—the Mahāmeru, which is the core of the Purāṇic mountain system. The Atharvaveda (19, 39, 8) and the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (1, 8, 1-10) add Navaprabhraṃśana in connection with the Great Deluge. The Yajurveda (Mait. Saṃh. and Kāthaka Saṃh.) for the first time mentions the three-peaked Trikakubha (or Trikakud of Atharvaveda and Śatp. Brāh.). Taitt. Āraṇyaka refers to two other mountains, the Maināka and the Krauñca. The southern Mountain (most probably the Vindhyas) appears for the first time in the Kauśitakī Up. (11, 13), while the name Vindhya occurs expressly in the Vasiṣṭha Dharma Sūtra (1, 9) and the Manusmṛti (11, 21). To this the Sūtras add the Pāripātra as the southern boundary of the Āryan land.

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The Saṃhitās and Upaniṣads enlarge and systematise the drainage pattern of the Ṛgveda. The Śat. Brāh. and Ait. Brāh. refer to a set of seven rivers flowing to the west while Bṛhadā. Up. adds another set of seven rivers flowing to the east. To the Ṛgvedic list is added Sadānīrā (probably Gaṇḍaka, Śat. Brāh. I, 4, 1, 14), Vāraṇāvatī (Atharvaveda, IV, 7, 1) and a few minor rivers. The list, however, swells and becomes comprehensive in the epics and is later transferred to the Purāṇas.

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The Purāṇic references to climatic elements are meagre as compared with those occurring in the Vedic literature. They no doubt draw upon the latter but nowhere do they improve upon or excel the older accounts. It may be argued that perhaps the Purāṇas did not attach so much importance to climate as the Vedic Āryans did, or they considered it irrelevant to their subject matter, and were content with the knowledge of its elements as conveyed by the ancients. The division of the atmosphere (rajas) into divya and pārthivya (Ṛgveda, IV, 53, 3), or into Uttama, Parama and Tṛtīya (Ṛgveda, X, 45, 3) which anticipated the modern atmospheric layers, is quite old, so are the types of winds, Vāyu, Maruts and Rudra referred to in the Rgveda, Taitt. Saṁh. and Ait. Brāh. The phenomena of rainfall and its causes, types of clouds and climatic regions are directly or indirectly mentioned in the Rgveda and other Saṁhitās. The Purāṇas very often repeat, sometimes neglect, and only very rarely add to these ideas.

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The Ait. and other Brāhmaṇas and Sūtras add the names of more trees, animals, shrubs and grasses typical of the Gangetic valley to those mentioned in the Rgveda. The Atharvaveda adds and describes an important class of shrubs with medicinal properties and used as cures, such as kuṣṭha, jaṅgira, apāmārga, arundhati, paṭa, etc. (Atharvaveda, XII, 1, 2). It also gives some of the trees a higher status among plants, for instance, the pipala or aśvattha was supposed to 'protect its worshipper from superhuman foes and help him in overcoming his rivals' (Atharvaveda, III, 6). The udumbara (gūlar), though mentioned in the Rgveda gained paramount importance as a sacred tree in the post-Rgvedic period. Nyagrodha (the banyan tree, meaning literally, 'growing downwards') was also considered sacred and its divine properties are for the first time mentioned in the Ait. Brāh. (VII, 30), Taitt. Saṁh. and Sūtras. Bilva or vilva (bela), karkandhu or badarī (bera), plakṣa (pākhar), karsmaria, khajūra, varaṇa, vikarkaṭa, rajjudata (lesora), rohitaka, talasa, pitūdaru, vibhīdaka (whose nuts were used as dice) and arka are some of the important trees added by the Atharvaveda, Taitt. Saṁh. and the Brāhmaṇas. Gobhila gives a long list of trees, most of which are not identifiable, e.g., tilvaka, bādhaka, the nimba tree, rajavnika, aralu, dadhititha, kovidāra and śleṣamalka. Occasionally veṇu (bamboo), amba (mango) and śiṁśapa (shisham) are also mentioned in the Brāhmaṇas and Upaniṣads. The Purāṇas attach equal importance to sacred trees, shrubs and grasses and add a few more to each class while presenting geographical or non-geographical material. It is to be noted that practically all the plants mentioned above belong to Northern India.

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The cult of sacrifice and hunting economy attached great importance to certain animals—both wild and domestic. 'Paśu' in the Vedic language included man among the five or seven animals fit for sacrifice. Taitt. Saṁh. (IV, 2, 10, 1-4), Vāj. Saṁh. (XIII, 47, 51) and the Atharvaveda (XI, 2, 9) mention five: man, cow, sheep, goat and horse. Atharvaveda (III, 10, 6) adds the ass and the camel to this list and in general provides categories of birds and animals in four verses (Atharvaveda, XI, 2, 24 and 25; XII, 1, 49 and 51) which lay down the pattern of classification of animals including birds, reptiles, insects and worms in later works. The Purāṇas follow this classification and add members to each category, but such additions are incidental and not deliberate. These additions are the direct result of their observation or experience of them in other regions of India.

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The human geography, which finds its roots in the Ṛgveda is carried over and reoriented in subsequent Vedic literature. The reorientation and revision of the facts of human geography (including economic, social and cultural) has been a progressive and continuous process, since it is linked with the progress of man and the crystallisation of human activities. The specialisation of occupations and its corollary, the caste system, the status of different human groups, development of civic sense and growing mental and physical needs, naturally resulted in the changing pattern of physical and cultural landscape. The simple Ṛgveda pattern gradually developed into the complicated but picturesque pattern of the Purāṇas.

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The population pattern, i.e., its distribution and agglomeration is frequently referred to in the Vedic literature. The ‘grāmas’ and ‘puras’ (strongholds or forts) of the Ṛgveda and the ‘nagaras’ of the post-Ṛgvedic period clearly point out the nucleation of population as well-defined settlements in the land of the Āryans, although but few names of cities or towns appear in their discussions. For instance, in the vast Vedic literature mentioned above, only a few cities like Āsandivat (Ait. Brāh., VIII, 21), Kampila (Vāj. Saṃh., XXIII, 18; Śat. Brāh. XIII, 2, 8, 3), Paricakrā (Śat. Brāh., XIII, 5, 4, 7) and Kauśāmbeya or Kuśāmba (Śat. Brāh., XII, 2, 2, 13) receive some attention. n the Epic and the Purāṇic periods when the impact of politics on religion became more pronounced, references to political divisions, capital cities and administrative and strategic centres increased along with those to religious centres. But the genesis of human settlements, irrespective of their size, that is, their division into segregated quarters of different castes, persisted throughout.

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Perhaps the most important contribution of the Vedic literature to the Purāṇas (next to its cosmogony and cosmology) is its system of regional division. The Vedic regions are in fact ‘human’ or ‘cultural’ regions, i.e., the division of land into the ‘countries’ of different tribes or communities. This system became so popular and deep-rooted that none of the later works, religious or secular, could break away from it. The pattern was laid down by the Vedas for all time to come.

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The Ṛgveda refers repeatedly to the ‘five tribes’ collectively known as ‘pañcajanāḥ’ or ‘pañcakṣiti’—i.e., Anus, Druhyus, Purus, Turvasas and Yadus. But it may be noted that the frequency of such references ceases after the Brāhmaṇas. The Alinas, Bhalanas, Pakthas, Viṣāṇis and Śivis were the other five tribes that took part in the Battle of Ten Kings against Sudāsa (Ṛgveda, VII, 18, 7). The Kṛvis (Pañcālas of later period) are also mentioned many times in the Ṛgveda. In Satapatha Brāhmaṇa the name of a Pañcāla king is given as Kraivya Pañcāla. Other tribes, e.g., the Mūjavantas or Muñjavantas, the Ārjikas, the Gandhāris, Bharatas, Tritsus (one of whose kings, Sudāsa, fought a decisive battle against the Ten Kings referred to above and against three non-Aryan tribes, Ajas, Sigrus and Yakṣas) and the Uśinara tribe also figure in the Ṛgveda. In addition to these, the Ṛgveda refers to the non-Aryan tribes of the Kikaṭas, Pārāvatas, Simyus and Paṇis, the latter being the most prominent.

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The later Vedic literature adds to this list the Kurus and the Pañcālas (Kāṭh. Saṁh. and Kauśīt Up. and Bṛhad. Up.) who reached their zenith in the Brāhmaṇa period, Vashas (associated with Uśinaras and living somewhere near Kurus and Pañcālas) (Ait. Br., VIII, 14), Kāśī, Kosala and Videha (Brāhmaṇas), Magadhas (Śat. Brāh., I, 4, 1, 10 and Atharvaveda, V, 22, 14), Aṅgas (Atharvaveda, V, 22, 14), Puṇḍras (Ait. Br., VII, 8), Vaṅgas (Ait. Āraṇ., II, 1, 1), Matsyas (Śat. Brāh., XIII, 5, 4, 9) Sātvanas (Ait. Br., VIII, 14), Pulindas (Ait., Br., VII, 18), Vidarbhas (Ait. Br., VII, 34), Andhras (Ait. Br., VII, 18, where they, along with the Puṇḍras, Sabaras, Pulindas and Mūtibas are described as inhabitants beyond the boundaries of the Āryan territory). Kaliṅgas, Avantis and Saurāṣṭras appear in Baudhāyana (Dh. Sūt. I, 1, 2, 13-15), the first two being considered unholy. Each of these tribes or people was so much associated with a particular region that land and people became synonymous. In many cases where these people formed kingdoms or republics, the name persisted for a long time. Thus Kāśī region, Kāśīs and Kāśī kingdom; Vidarbha region, Vidarbhas and Vidarbha kingdom; Aṅga reign, Aṅgas and Aṅga kingdom, etc., became standard names which were carried over in the works of the post-Vedic period including the Purāṇas.

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If we reconstruct a map of Vedic India, it will show that the Āryan land included the Indo-Gangetic Plain up to the Brahmaputra on the East, Hindūkush on the North-West, Indus on the West, Himālayas on the North and the Vindhyan hills on the South. It will be interesting to compare this map with that of the Purāṇas which is given elsewhere in this work.

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It may be mentioned that the Vedic texts contain reminiscences of the land which the Āryans occupied before they entered India. Two such areas are desribed thus:

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Then in the northern quarter the All-gods anointed him six days with the Pañcaviṁsa, and with this triplet and his yajus and these exclamations for sovereignty. Therefore, in this northern quarter, the lands of Uttara Kurus and the Uttara-Madras, beyond the Himavanta their (kings) are anointed in accordance with the action of gods (Ait. Br., VIII, 14).

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The Uttara Kuru is not mentioned in the Ṛgveda but became important in later times till we find in the Purāṇas that it becomes the northernmost region of Jambū Dvīpa, stretching out to the Arctic (Northern) ocean.

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The Epics

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The subject matter of the Epics, i.e., the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata, in some cases goes back to the remotest antiquity, but both of them in their existing forms are far later than any of the Vedic hymns, and probably posterior to all the Brāhmaṇas. The two Epics, are intimately related and include a large number of substantially identical verses (for instance, the present edition of the Rāmāyaṇa has copied from the Mahābhārata a whole chapter word for word: Canto 100 of the Ayodhyākāṇḍa is the same as Chapter 5 of the Sabhāparva). However, the original works of Vālmīki, that is to say, Books II-VI of the Rāmāyaṇa are believed to have been completed before the Epic kernel of the Mahābhārata had assumed a definite shape. We shall therefore consider the geographical ideas contained in the Rāmāyaṇa first.

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The Rāmāyaṇa assumes that the entire earth belonged to the kings of the Solar race. In his reply to Vāli, Rāma says: 'The earth inclusive of even the hills and the forests belongs to the Ikṣvākus', but their sovereignty was evidently only a hegemony and not a unitary government. Very possibly it was hegemony only over some parts of India and adjacent lands, since Daśaratha explains this to Kaikeyī (in Ayodhyā, X, 381) and then proceeds to specify various kingdoms in India such as Sindhu, Sauvīra, Saurāṣṭra, Dakṣiṇāpatha, Vaṅga, Aṅga, Magadha, Matsya, Kāśī and Kosala. During the Aśwamedha sacrifice performed by Daśaratha, Vasiṣṭha asks Sumantra to bring all the righteous potentates in India (Bala, XIII, 18). He refers not only to the northern Indian kings of Mithilā, Kāśī, Kekaya and Aṅga, Sindhu, Sauvīra and Saurāṣṭra but also to some of the kings in South India. When Daśaratha calls an assembly of kings and commoners to consider the appointment of a yuvarāja (heir-apparent) he invites the kings of the east, north, west and south (Ayodhyā, III, 24). When Sugrīva sends four parties to search the four quarters for Sītā, we find in those descriptions a detailed delineation of the rivers of India from the Gaṅgā to the Tāmraparṇī and of various kingdoms in Northern as well as Southern India (Canto XLI of Kiṣkindha Kāṇḍa). There is a reference even to Kāvata which was the capital of the Pāṇḍya kingdom. In it we have also references to the lands beyond the Indian sub-continent, for instance, to Ceylon (Laṅkā), Jāvā (Yavadwīpa), Borneo (Suvarṇarūpyaka) as well as to China and Tibet (China and Padma China) and Bālhika, etc. (Uttarakāṇḍa). These seem to be interpolations of a later period. More valuable details are found in the description of journeys to different parts of the country when Viśwāmitra took Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa from Ayodhyā (Oudh) to Siddhāśrama and then to Mithilā (North Bihar and Tirhut); the Epic gives a vivid account of the country traversed by them. The description of journey made by Vasiṣṭha's messengers who were sent to fetch Bharata and Satrughna and that of the journey made by the latter from Girivraja in the Kekaya country (Punjab) to Ayodhyā reveal many interesting geographical features of the north-western regions of India. The narrative of Rāma's journey in exile from Ayodhyā to Citrakūṭa (60 miles south-west of Allahabad) and through the Daṇḍaka forest to Pampā, Kiṣkindhā and Laṅkā and finally the account of various countries of the four quarters of India where the 'vānara' chiefs were sent in sarch of Sītā (in Kiṣkindhā Khāṇḍa) bring out the geography of practically the whole of India and adjacent lands. Again, more facts about the South Indian kingdoms are revealed by the account of Rāvaṇa's car flying from Laṅkā to Mārica's Āśrama. Thus a complete picture of a major part of South-Eastern Asia is presented by the Epic as conceived by Vālmīki.⁴

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Although the major topographical features of North India as given in the Rāmāyaṇa are fairly accurately described, those which pertain to peninsular India are rather confused. It is stated that Rāma went into the Daṇḍaka forest and reached the Mahendra Mountain 'opposite Laṅkā', but the Mahendra Mountain is far away from the present Ceylon. The only possible explanation of these discrepancies appears to be that Vālmīki considered peninsular India to be bounded by the Vindhyas in the North, Sahya and Malaya (known as Western Ghats today) in the West and the Mahendra and Vindhyan ranges were supposed to be so interconnected that they could be considered as one range enclosing the Deccan Plateau on the North and East.

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If we try to visualise the world of the Rāmāyaṇa with the help of the descriptions of mountains and rivers and their relative positions with reference to fixed or known points on the map of India and adjacent lands such as Kāśī, Ayodhyā, Himālaya, Gaṅgā, Citrakūṭa, etc. we come to the conclusion that the world of the Rāmāyaṇa covered the whole of South-Eastern Asia or at least a major part of it. An attempt has been made on the accompanying diagram (Fig. 1) to depict the major topographical features which are described or referred to directly or indirectly, in the Epic. The following points are to be noted because they have a direct bearing on the Purāṇic account of the seven dvīpas or continents.

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1. The northern ocean is placed north of Uttarakuru, the 'Salt Ocean' is identified with the Bay of Bengal. The 'Milk Sea', the 'Sea of Blood' and the 'Fresh-Water Ocean' are located to the east of Bhārata.

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2. Meru is placed to the West of Bhārata.

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3. The Pāriyātra Mountain is linked with the Himālayas and as many as five mountains are located south of Jambū Dvīpa, and an equal number

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