The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s9.150

c5.s9.150

Kosala (Dakshina)—Gondwana, including the eastern portion of the Central Provinces (Brahma P, ch 27) Same as Maha-Kosala. At times, its boundaries extended much to the south and west Its capital was Ratanapura in the eleventh or twelfth century Its former capital was Chirayu [see Katha'saritsagara (Tawney's trans, vol I, p 370) in which the story of Nagarjuna and king Sadvaha, called also Chirayu, is given, cf Beal's R W C, II, p 210] Nagarjuna's Suhrillekha (letter to a friend) was dedicated to his old friend Danapati named Jin in ta ka (Jetaka), a king in a great country in southern India, who was styled Sadvahana or Satavahana (I tsing's Record of the Buddhist Religion, p 159, translated by Takakusu) As the Satavahanas were the Andhrabhritya kings of Dhanakataka, and as there was no particular person by the name of Satavahana the king referred to must be a king of Dhanakataka (Jin in ta ka), the name of the capital was perhaps mistaken for the name of the king, and the king must have been either Gotamiputra Satakarni or his son Pulamayi, most probably the former, who reigned in the second century of the Christian era when Nagarjuna is said to have flourished (see Dhanakataka) It is, however, possible that Yajua Satakarni, was meant, as he made a gift of the Srisaila mountain to Nagarjuna containing a Buddhist library Nagarjuna was the founder of the Mahayana school and editor of the original Susruta According to Prof Wilson, Satavahana is a synonym of Salivahana The Saka era, which begins in 78 A.D. is also called the Śâlivâhana era, but this is a mistake (see Pañchanada). Bidarbha or Berar was called, in the Buddhist period, Dakshiṇa Kosala (Cunningham's Arch. S. Rep., XVII, p. 68). Dakshiṇa Kosala is mentioned in the Ratnâvalî (Act IV) as having been conquered by Udayana, king of Vatsa. Gondwana is the Gaḍ Kaṭaṅga of the Muhammadan historians; it was governed by Durgâvatî, the queen of Dalpat Shah, and heroine of Central India. Dakshiṇa-Kosala is the Tosalî of Asoka's Inscription at Dhauli (see Tosali). The ancient name of Lahnji was Champanattu, that of Ratanpur Manipur, that of Maṇḍala Mahikamati. These towns were the capitals of the Haihayas of Gaḍa-Maṇḍala. For the history of Gaḍa-Maṇḍala, see the History of the Garha-Maṇḍala Râjâs in JASB., 1837, p. 621.