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The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s8: J

The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s8

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English

J

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Jahnavī—Same as Gaṅgā (Harivaṃśa, I, ch. 27). See Jahnu-āśrama.

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Jahnu-āśrama—The hermitage of Jahnu Muni is at Sultangunj (E. I. Railway) on the west of Bhagalpur. The temple of Gaibinātha Mahādeva, which is on the site of the hermitage of Jahnu Muni, is situated on a rock which comes out from the bed of the Ganges in front of Sultanganj. The river Ganges (Gaṅgā) on her way to the ocean, was quaffed down in a draught by the Muni when interrupted in his meditation by the rush of the water, and was let out by an incision on his thigh at the intercession of Bhagiratha, hence the Ganges is called Jāhnavī or the daughter of Jahnu Ṛishi. It is the Zanghera of Martin (Indian Empire, vol. III, p. 37 and Eastern India, vol. II, p. 37), or Jahngira which is a contraction of Jahnu-giri according to Dr. R. L. Mitra (JASB., vol. XXXIII, p. 360), and of Jahnu-gṛiha according to General Cunningham (Arch. S. Rep., vol. XV, p. 21). The Paṇḍās of Gaibinātha Mahādeva live in the village of Jahngira which is at a short distance from the temple. The hermitage of Jahnu Muni is also pointed out at Bhairavaghâṭî below Gaṅgotri in Garwal at the junction of the Bhagirathî and the Jâhnavî, where the Ganges is said to have been quaffed by the rishi (Fraser's Himala Mountains, p. 476). For other places which are pointed out as the hermitage of Jahnu [see Gaṅgâ and my Notes on Ancient Aṅga in JASB., vol. X (1914), p. 310]. There was a Buddhist Monastery at Sultanganj itself which contained a colossal copper statue of Buddha constructed in the 5th century A.D.

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Jajâhuti—Same as Jejabhukti. Its capital was Kajurâha at the time of Alberuni in the eleventh century (Alberuni's India, vol. I, p. 202).

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Jajâtipura—Jajpur (see Yajñapura and Yayâtipura).

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Jalandhara—Jalandhar, a town near the western bank of the Sutlej in the Punjab; same as Trigartta. (Hemakosha). The name is derived from its founder, the Asura Jalandhara, the son of the Ganges by the Ocean (Padma P., Uttara, ch. 51). It is the head-quarters of the district called Jalandhara Doab or Jalandharapîṭha lying between the Bias and the Sutlej. It is the Kulindrina of Ptolemy; but see Kulinda-deśa.

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Jalpiṭa—See Japyeśvara. It is situated on the west of the river Tista in the district of Jalpaiguri in Bengal (Kâlikâ P., 77). The name of Jalpaiguri is evidently derived from this Tîrtha.

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Jamadagni-âśrama—1. Zamânia, in the district of Ghazipur, the hermitage of Rishi Jamadagni. Zamânia is a corruption of Jamadagnîya. 2. The hermitage of the Rishi is also pointed out at Khaira Dih in the Ghazipur district opposite to Bhagalpur. 3. At Mahâsthânagaḍ, seven miles north of Bogra in Bengal (Kathâ-sarit-sâgara, II, 1; Skanda P., Brahma Kh., ch. 5, vs. 147, 150). It is also called Paraśurâma-âśrama.

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Jambudvîpa—India. The ancient name of India as known to the Chinese was Shin-tup or Sindhu (Legge's Fa Hian, p. 26). See Sindhu and Bhâratavarsha.

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Jambukeśvara.—Tiruvanaikâval between Trichinopoly and Śrîraṅgam (Devî P., ch. 102) see Śrîraṅgam.

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Jambumârga—Kalinjar (Prof. H. Wilson's Vishnu P., Bk. II, ch. XIII note). But this identification does not appear to be correct (see Mbh., Vana, chs. 87 and 89). The Agni P., (ch. 109) places Jambumârga between Pushkara and Mount Abu, and mentions Kâlañjara separately as a place of pilgrimage in the same chapter. Jambu is placed in Mount Abu (Skanda P., Arbuda Kh., ch. 60).

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Japyesvara—Japyesvara of the Linga P (pt I ch 43) and Japyesvara of the Siva P, (pt IV, ch 47) are the Jalpisa (q v) of the Kalika P, (ch 77) Nandi, the principal attendant of Siva performed asceticism at this place In the Kalika P (ch. 77), it has been placed to the north west of Kamarupa in Assam with the five rivers called Paficha-nada (q v) in the Linga P (pt I, ch 43) But the Kurma P (Uttara, ch. 42) places it near the Ocean (sagara) See, however, Sadaranya and Nandigiri. The Varaha P, ch 214 appears to place Japyesvara near Slesmitaka or Gokarna

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Jasnaul—Bara-Banki in Oudh Jas, a Raja of the Bhar tribe is said to have founded it in the tenth century (Fuhrer's MAI)

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Jata parvata—The Jataphata mountain in Dandakaranya, in which the Godavari has its source See Godavari (Devi P, ch 43)

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Jatodbhava—The river Jatoda, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, which flows through the district of Jalpaiguri and Kuch Bihar (Kalika P, ch 77)

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Jaugada—The fort of Jaugada, eighteen miles to the north west of Ganjam, contains an edict of Asoka inscribed upon a rock (Arch S Rep, vol XIII Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, vol I) The rock which bears the edict of Asoka (dating about 250 B C), is four miles to the west of Purushottamapur in the district of Ganjam, Madras Presidency, on the north bank of the Rishikulya (Ind Ant, I, 219)

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Javali-pura—Jabalpur (Bhagavanlal Indraji's Early History of Gujarat, p 203, Prabandha chintamani, Tawney's Trans, p 161)

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Jayanti—1 Jyntia in Assam (Tantrachudamani) 2 Same as Baijayanti (JRAS, 1911, p 810) See Banavasi

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Jejabhukti—The ancient name of Bundelkhand, the kingdom of the Chandratreyas or the Chandels Its capitals were Mahoba and Kharjuraha (Ep Ind, vol I, p 218) Kalinjara was the capital of the Chandels after it had been conquered by Yasovarman The name was corrupted into Jajahuti (Alberuni's India, vol I, p 202) and Jajhoti (Cunningham's Anc Geo, p 481)

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Jetavana-vihara—Joginbhariya mound, one mile to the south of Sravasti Buddha resided and preached here for some time The Vihara was erected in a garden by Sudatta, a rich merchant of Sravasti, who for his charity was called Anathapindika. He gave it to Buddha and his disciples for their residence It was a favourite residence of Buddha (Chullavagga, pt VI, chs 4 and 9) The garden formerly belonged to Jeta, son of king Prasenajit, who sold it to Anathapindika for gold masurans sufficient to cover the whole area (amounting to 18 kotis of masurans) It contained two temples called Gandhakuti and Kosamba kuti and a sacred mango tree planted by Ananda at the request of Buddha (Cunningham's Stupa of Bharahut, p 86) See Sravasti.

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Jetuttara—Nagari, 11 miles north of Chitore It was the capital of Sivi or Mewar (Jatakas, vi, 246, Arch S Rep, vi, 196) Jetuttara is evidently the Jattaraur of Alberuni, the capital of Mewar (Alberuni's India, I, p 202) See Sivi

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Jharakhanda—Chota or Chutia Nagpur, Kokra of the Muhammadan historians Madhu Sing, Raja of Chutia Nagpur, was conquered, and the country was annexed to the Mughal dominion by Akbar in A D 1585 According to Dr Buchanan, all the hilly region between Birbhum (anciently called Vira-desa the capital of which was Nagara) and Benares was called Jharakhanda (Martin's Eastern India, I, p 32) It also included the Santal Pargana (*Mahā-Lingeśvara Tantra*). Chutia, now an insignificant village two miles to the east of Ranchi, was, according to tradition, the earliest capital of the Nāgavaṃśi Rājās of Chota Nagpur, the descendants of the Nāga (snake) Puṇḍarika (Bradley-Birt’s *Chota Nagpur*, chs. I, III).

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Jirṇaṇagāra—Juner in the district of Poona. According to Dr. Bhandarkar (*Hist. of the Dekkan*, sec. viii), it was the capital of the Kshatrapa king Nahapāna whose dynasty was subverted by Puḷamāyī, king of Paiṭhān.

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Jushkapura—Zukur in Kāśmīra.

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Jvālāmukhī—A celebrated place of pilgrimage (*Devī-Bhāgavata*, vii, 38), 22 miles south of Kangra and 10 miles north-west of Nadaun in the Kohistan of the Jalandhara Doab in the Dehra sub-division of the Kangra district, being one of the Pīṭhas where Satī’s tongue is said to have fallen *Tantra-chuḍāmaṇi*. The town is thus described by W. H. Parish in *JASB.*, vol. XVIII: “The town of Jvālāmukhī is large and straggling, and is built at the base of the western slope of the Jvālāmukhī or Chungar-ki-dhar. The town with the wooded slopes of Chungar forming the background, and the valley spread out before it, has a very picturesque appearance from a distance.” The celebrated temple has been cut out of the volcanic rock. It possesses no architectural beauty, nor anything worthy of notice except natural jets of gas which are ten in number, five being within the temple and five on its walls. The temple contains the image of Ambikā or Maṭeśvarī, but General Cunningham says that there is no idol of any kind, the flaming fissure being considered as the fiery mouth of the goddess whose headless body is in the temple of Bhawan (*Arch. S. Rep.*, vol. V, p. 171). According to an ancient tradition, the flame issued from the mouth of the Daitya Jālandhara. It is evidently the Bāḍavā of the *Mahābhārata* (Vana. ch. 82). The Jvālāmukhī mountain is 3,284 feet high, the temple being at a height of 1,882 feet.

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Jyotirathā—A tributary of the river Sona (*Mbh.*, Vana P., ch. 85). It has been identified with the Johila, the southern of the two sources of the Sona. (Pargiter’s *Markandeya P.*, p. 296)

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Jyotirliṅgas—For the twelve Jyotir-liṅgas of Mahādeva, see Amareśvara.

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Jyotirmaṭha—One of the four Maṭhas established by Śaṅkarāchārya, at Badrināth (see Śṛṅgagiri). It is now called Joshimaṭh on the Alakānandā in Kumaun.

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Jyotiṣā—Same as Jyotirathā (*Viṣṇu Saṃhitā*, ch. 85).

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