The Geography of the Puranas c7.s2.5

c7.s2.5

The geographical matter contained in the Mahābhārata is immense. It is perhaps the only great work which deals directly with geographical details, and not incidentally as other works. In the ninth chapter of the Bhīṣma Parva, Sañjaya gives a general description of India consisting of long lists of countries, ‘nations’, mountains and rivers. Again there are descriptions of certain routes which are valuable; for though the distance is hardly ever mentioned, the direction and reference to known places enable one to locate approximately the unknown. Besides, the Mahābhārata mentions in the Ādiparva the twelve years’ sojourn of Arjuna, in the Sabhāparva the conquest of the ‘four quarters’ by the four brothers of Yudhiṣṭira; in the Vanaparva, an account of the Tīrthas and Pāṇḍava’s pilgrimage and in the Aśvamedhaparva, Arjuna's expedition through various countries. The Udyogaparva and the parvas describing the war, mention almost all the Indian people siding with the one party or the other. Another important section forms part of the Sabhāparva which deals with the presents made by different kings and peoples to Yudhiṣṭira and describes the natural and commercial products of different regions of India and some of the adjacent lands.