Tribes in Ancient India c55.19

c55.19

The Gauḍas at one time or another must have inhabited other countries and localities than the region with which they were primarily associated. The late A. M. T. Jackson pointed out that Thāneśwar was called Guḍa (a corruption of Gauḍa) in Alberuni’s day (*J.R.A.S.*, 1905, pp. 163-4). He was supported by B. C. Majumdar (*J.R.A.S.*, 1906, p. 442), who cites a verse from the *Matsyapurāṇa* to the effect that Rājā Śrāvasta founded Śrāvastī in *Gauḍadeśa*—the evident conclusion being that ‘Gauḍa must have been lying to the north of Kośala and to the north-west of Mithilā’. The reference is supported by similar references in the *Kūrma* and *Liṅga Purāṇas*³; and R. C. Majumdar⁴ was led to conclude that there was more than one Gauḍa. It is more likely, however, that Śrāvastī which is referred to in the Purāṇas is the same Śrāvastī which is mentioned in the Silimpur Inscription of Prahās (*Ep. Ind.*, Vol. XII, pp. 283-95), and which is to be located somewhere in North Bengal, i.e. in the Varendra country of Gauḍa.