The Geography of the Puranas c8.184

c8.184

First of all, statement (e) describes in paras 1-3 the Ramaṇaka Varṣa which according to the Purāṇas was a land bounded by the Nila in the south and Śveta in the north, i.e. by the Nura-Tau, Turkestan ranges and the Zarafshan, Hissar ranges respectively, according to our identification. It is a known fact that the first states of remote antiquity that arose in this part of Central Asia were Bactria (Oxus basin), south of the Zarafshan-Hissar (Nila) ranges, and Sogdiana in the basins of the River Zarafshan and Kashka Darya, i.e., between Nila and the Nura Tau-Turkestan (Śveta) ranges. 'About 2,500 or 2,000 years before the present era, Sogdiana and Bactria were already densely populated states; their inhabitants carried on agriculture of a high level, were able to build extensive irrigation systems and were engaged in trade and handicrafts.'¹⁴ It is said that Samarkaṇḍ¹⁵ was founded in about 3000 B.C. 'Sogdiana can, therefore, be reckoned among the most ancient sites of human settlement. The spatial relationship of Sogdiana with the two major ranges Nila and Śveta and with the adjoining region Bactria (or Ketumāla) which we will discuss presently, leads us to the conclusion that the Ramaṇaka Varṣa of the Purāṇas is the Sogdiana of the ancient times. It may be that the name Rometan (a district of Bokhara) is a reminder of the Purāṇic name of Sogdiana, i.e., Ramaṇaka or Romaṇaka or Ramyaka. The fact that, 'people work there in all seasons' (para 2) indicates an irrigated land where storage of water and a highly developed technique of irrigation made agricultural activity possible all the year round. The average annual rainfall of Ramaṇaka (Sogdiana) is about 8-14 inches.