The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s5.23

c5.s5.23

Gauda—1. The whole of Bengal was denominated Eastern Gauda from its capital of the same name, the ruins of which lie near Malda at a distance of about ten miles (*see* Lakshmaṇavatī). It was situated on the left bank of the Ganges which has now receded from it four and half miles, and in some places twelve miles. It was the capital of Deva Pāla, Mahendra Pāla, Ādisura, Ballāla Sena, and the Muhammadan rulers from 1204 up to about the close of the sixteenth century. It is said to have been founded in A. D. 648 when Bengal became independent of the Magadha kingdom, the former capital of Bengal being Puṇḍravarddhana. James Prinsep supposes that Gauḍa was founded in 1066 (*JASB.*, vol. V), but it is mentioned by Bāṇa in the *Harshacharita*. For further particulars, see Gour in Pt. II. All the country south of Aṅga to the sea was called Gauḍa (*The Literary Remains of Dr. Bhau Daji*). 2. Uttara Kosala the capital of which was Śrāvasti, was also called Gauḍa or Northern Gauḍa (*Kūrma P.*, Pt. I, ch. 20; *Liṅga P.*, Pt. I, ch. 65). Gonda, a sub-division of Uttara Kosala, forty-two miles south of Śrāvasti, is a corruption of Gauḍa (according to General Cunningham, *Anc. Geo.*, p. 408). The tradition respecting the famous tooth-brush trees (danta-dhāvana) of Buddha still exists at Gonda (Führer *MAI.*). Gauḍa may also be a corruption of Gonardda. See Gonardda. 3. Goṇḍwana was the Western Gauḍa. 4. The Southern Gauḍa was the bank of the Kāverī (*Padma P.*, Pātāla, ch. 28).