Geography of Early Buddhism c7.1

c7.1

The boundaries of Majjhimadesa (Madhyadeśa) or the Middle country have been referred to and explained in both Brahmanical and Buddhist literature of an early date. Thus as early as the age of the Sūtras, we find, in the Dharmasūtra of Baudhāyana, Āryāvarta or the country of the Aryans (which is practically identical with the country later on known as Madhyadeśa) described as lying to the east of the region where the river Saraswatī disappears, to the west of the Kālakavana or Black Forest (identified with a tract somewhere near Prayāga)¹, to the north of Pāripātra and to the south of the Himalayas.² The eastern boundary thus excluded not only the country now known as Bengal but also Bihar which in ancient days included the entire Magadha country, the land par excellence of the Buddha and Buddhism. The Dharmaśāstra of Manu, however, calls the Āryāvarta of the Sūtras to be the Madhyadeśa or Middle country. Thus, he defines it as extending from the Himalayas in the north to the Vindhyas in the South, and from Vinasana (the place where the Saraswatī disappears) in the west to Prayāga in the east (Himavad-Vindhyayor-madhyam yat prāk vinasanād api pratyag-eva Prayāgāścha Madhyadeśaḥ......). The Kāvyamīmānsā, as we have already seen, however, designates the Āryāvarta of the Sūtras and Madhyadeśa of Manu as Antarvedi (Vinasana Prayāgayoh Gaṅgā-Yamunayośca antaram Antarvedi)³ which extends upto Benares in the east. The Kurma-bhivāga section of the Purāṇas, however, follows Manu in its description of the middle country. It is thus obvious that the eastern boundary of the Madhyadeśa gradually expanded itself with the progress of time so as to include places that had lately acquired a sacredness within the Brahmanical fold.