Historical Geography of Ancient India c10.146

c10.146

Daśārṇa.—It is generally identified with Vedisa or Bhilsa region in the Central Provinces. It is mentioned in the Mahābhārata (II, 5-10), as well as in the Meghadūta of Kālidāsa (24-25). The Purāṇas associate the people of the Daśārṇa country with the Mālavas, Kārūṣas, Mekalas, Utkalas and Niṣadhas. In the Rāmāyaṇa (Kiṣkindhyākāṇḍa, 41, 8-10), their country is connected with those of the Mekalas and Utkalas where Sugrīva sent my monkey-army in quest of Sītā. The Daśārṇas occupied a site on the Daśārṇa river, which can still be traced in the modern Dhasan river near Saugor, that flows through Bundelkhand, rising in Bhopal and emptying into the Betwa (Vetravatī). It should be noted that the Daśārṇa country of the Rāmāyaṇa and the Purāṇas seems to be different from the Daśārṇa country of the Meghadūta (Pūrvamegha, 24 śl.). According to Wilson (Viṣṇu Purāṇa, II, 160, f.n. 3) the eastern or south-eastern Daśārṇa formed a part of the Chattisgarh district in the Central Provinces (cf. J.A.S.B., 1905, pp. 7, 14). The Dosaron is the river of the region inhabited by the Daśārṇas (McCrindle's Ancient India as described by Ptolemy, Majumdar ed., p. 71). A Daśārṇa king named Kṣatradeva, who was a mighty hero, fought valiantly on the elephant back for the Pāṇḍavas in the great Kurukṣetra war (Karṇaparva, Chs. 22, 3; Droṇaparva, Chs. 25, 35). It is interesting to note that the warriors of the Daśārṇa king Kṣatradeva were all mighty heroes and could fight best on elephants. Pargiter thinks (A.I.H.T., p. 280) that Daśārṇa was a Yādava kingdom during the period of the Kurukṣetra war. Erakaccha was a town in the Dasaṇṇa (Daśārṇa) country, as mentioned in the Petavatthu and its commentary (Petavatthu, 20; Petavatthu Commentary, 99-105). Daśārṇa (Dasanna) was noted for the art of making swords (Jāt., III, 338; Dasaṇṇakam tikhiṇadhāraṃ asiṃ). It is mentioned in the Mahāvastu (I, 34) and Lalitavistara as one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas. The people of the Dasaṇṇa country built a monastery for the Buddha who is said to have distributed knowledge among them (Law, A Study of the Mahāvastu, p. 9). There was a hill called Nica in the country of the Daśārṇas (Meghadūta, Pūrvamegha, śl. 26).