Historical Geography of Ancient India c10.29

c10.29

As regards the location of Avantī, the *Mahābhārata* places it in western India (Avantiṣu praticyāṃ vai—Vanaparva, III, 89, 8354) and speaks of the sacred river Narmadā on which Avantī is situated. It states in the Virāṭaparva (IV, 1, 12) that Arjuna mentions Avantī along with other kingdoms in western India, namely, Surāṣṭra and Kunti. Mrs. Rhys Davids notes that Avantī lay to the north of the Vindhya mountains, north-east of Bombay (*Psalms of the Brethren*, p. 107, note 1). T. W. Rhys Davids observes that it was called Avantī as late as the 2nd century A.D., but from the 7th or 8th century onwards it was called Mālava (*Buddhist India*, p. 28). Ujjayinī, which was the capital of Avantī or western Mālava and which was situated on the river Siprā, a tributary of the Carmanvatī (Chambal), is the modern Ujjain in Gwalior, Central India (Rapson, *Ancient India*, p. 175). Avantī roughly corresponds to modern Malwa, Nimar, and adjoining parts of the Central Provinces. It was divided into two parts: the northern having its capital at Ujjayinī, and the southern having its capital at Māhissati or Māhiṣmatī.