Historical Geography of Ancient India c10.270

c10.270

Niṣadha.—This country to which Pāṇini refers in his Aṣṭādhyāyī as Naiṣadha (4. 1. 172) seems to have been situated not very far from Vidarbha, the country of Nala’s queen Damayantī. Wilson¹ thinks that it was near the Vindhyas and Payoṣṇī river and that it was near the roads leading from it across the Ṛkṣa mountain to Avantī and the south as well as to Vidarbha and Kośala. Lassen places it along the Satpura hills to the north-west of Berar. Burgess also places it to the south of Malwa (Antiquities of Kathiawar and Kacch, p. 131). The Mahābhārata mentions Giriprastha as the capital of the Niṣadhas (III, 324, 12). The Viṣṇu Purāṇa (IV, Ch. 24, 17) refers to the nine kings of the Niṣadhas, while the Vāyu Purāṇa mentions the kings of the Niṣadha country who held sway till the end of the days of Manu. They were all the descendants of king Nala and they lived in the Niṣadha country.² Nala, the king of the Niṣadhas, was a skilful charioteer and knew much about the nature of horses (Naiṣadhiyacarita, sarga 5, śl. 60).