Tribes in Ancient India c73.29

c73.29

Bhojakaṭa is interpreted by Vincent Smith as ‘Castle of the Bhojas’. He says that the name ‘implies that the province was named after a castle formerly held by the Bhojas . . .’² It is alluded to in the Chammak grant of the Vākāṭaka King Pravarasena II, which ‘makes it clear that the Bhojakaṭa territory included the Ilichpur district in Berar or Vidarbha’.³ Bhojakaṭa has been identified with Bhat-kuli in the Amraoti district of Berar. It is not improbable that the Bhojas had some relation with Bhojanagara, the capital of king Uśīnara of the Uśīnara country⁴ near the Kankhal region where the Ganges issues from the hills. In any case we may conclude that the Bhojas and the Vidarbhas were closely related. Kālidāsa also calls the king of Vidarbha a Bhoja (*Raghuvamśa*, V, 39, 40).