The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s2.185

c5.s2.185

Birata—The country of Jaipur. The town of Birâṭa or Bairâṭ, 105 miles to the south of Delhi and 40 miles to the north of Jaipur (Cunningham, Arch. S. Rep., II, p. 244) was the ancient capital of Jaipur or Matsyadeśa. It was the capital of Virâṭa Râjâ, king of the Matsya-deśa, where the five Pâṇḍavas lived in secrecy for one year. It is a mistake to identify Birâṭa with Dinajpur whereat Kântanagara, Virâṭa's Uttara-gogṛiha (northern cowshed) is shown, the Dakshiṇa-gogṛiha (southern cowshed) being shown at Midnapur. This identification is not countenanced by the Mahâbhârata, which relates that Yudhishṭhira selected a kingdom in the neighbourhood of Hastinâpura as his place of concealment, from which he could watch the movements of his enemy Duryodhana, (Mbh., Virâṭa, ch. 1, and Sabhâ, ch. 30). See Matsyadeśa. The Paṇḍu hill at Bairâṭa, which has a cave called Bhîmaguphâ, contains an inscription of Aśoka (Corpus Inscrip-tionum Indicarum, vol. 1, p. 22).