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Historical Geography of Ancient India c5.s3: III. Shape and Divisions of India

Historical Geography of Ancient India c5.s3

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III. Shape and Divisions of India

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The ancient Indians had a very accurate knowledge of the true shape and size of their country. Alexander's informants gathered their knowledge from the people of the country and described India as a rhomboid or unequal quadrilateral in shape with the Indus on the west, the mountains on the north and the sea on the east and south.² In the *Mahābhārata*, the shape of India has been described as an equilateral triangle divided into four smaller equal triangles.³ Cunningham observes, ‘The shape corresponds very well with the general form of the country, if we extend the limits of India to Ghazni on the north-west, and fix the other two points of the triangle at Cape Comorin, and Sadiya in Assam’. (*C.A.G.I.*, p. 6.) That India was divided into nine portions was first pointed out by Parāśara and Varāhamihira. It was afterwards adopted by the authors of some of the *Purāṇas*.⁴ In the *Kūrmaniveśa* section the surface of India is made to conform to the convex shape of the upper shell of a tortoise ‘lying outspread and facing eastwards’. Some Pauranic passages suggest that the ancient Indians were acquainted with the four-fold conformation of India. This is also borne out by the early Greek accounts of the country. We learn from Strabo that Alexander caused the whole of the country to be described by men well acquainted with it. They were undoubtedly of Indian origin. Not long afterwards the Hellenistic ambassadors who were accredited to the court of the great Maurya kings at Pāṭaliputra also wrote accounts of India based partly on their own observations and partly on the information derived from the Indian sources. In the *Geography* of Ptolemy we find that the acute angle formed by the meeting of the two coasts of the Peninsula at the Cape Comorin, is changed to a single coast line running almost straight from the mouth of the Indus to the mouth of the Ganges.⁵ According to the early Buddhists, India is broad on the north whereas in the south it has the form of the front portion of a cart and is divided into seven equal parts.⁶ This shape of India corresponds to a great extent to the actual shape of the country which is broad on the north having the Himalayas extending from east to west and triangular towards the south. It agrees wonderfully with the description of the shape given by the Chinese author Fah-kai-lih-to. According to him the country is broad towards the north and narrow towards the south. The Chinese traveller, Hiuen Tsang, who visited India in the 7th century A.D., describes the shape of the country as a half-moon with the diameter or broadside to the north and the narrow end to the south. His travels were mainly confined to the north of India which may be said to resemble a half-moon with the Vindhyas as its base and the Himalayas spreading its two arms on two sides as the diameter. About the size of India Megasthenes and Deimachos consider the distance from the southern sea to the Caucasus to be over 20,000 stadia.⁷ According to Megasthenes the breadth of India at the shortest is 16,000 stadia and its length is at the narrowest 22,300 stadia.¹ The Sanskrit Buddhist texts give us no glimpse as to the size and shape of India.

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² *C.A.G.I.*, p. 2.

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³ *Ibid.*, p. 5.

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⁴ *Ibid.*, pp. 6-7.

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⁵ *Ibid.*, p. 9.

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⁶ *Dīgha*, II, p. 235.

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⁷ McCrindle, *Ancient India as described by Megasthenes and Arrian*, p. 49.

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¹ McCrindle, *Ancient India as described by Megasthenes and Arrian*, p. 50.

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We have five traditional divisions of India according to the early Indian texts. The *Kāvyamīmāṃsā* (p. 93) clearly states that the eastern country lies to the east of Benaras; to the south of Māhiṣmatī (identified with Māndhātā on the Narmadā) is the Deccan or the Dakṣiṇāpatha; to the west of Devasabhā is the western country; to the north of Pṛthudaka, (modern Pehoa, about 14 miles west of Thaneswar) is the northern country (Uttarāpatha), and the tract lying between the confluence of the Jumna and the Ganges is called the Antarvedī. By the time when the *Kāvya-mīmāṃsā* came to be written the Aryans had already outstripped the older limits of the Madhyadeśa, and Aryandom had extended up to Benaras.

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As with the Brahmanical Aryans, so with the Buddhists, Āryāvarta to which Patañjali refers in his *Mahābhāṣya* (12. 4. 1, p. 244) is described in the Dharmasūtras and the Dharmaśāstras to have extended from the region where the river Sarasvatī disappears in the west, to the Black Forest in the east and from the Himalayas in the north to the Pāripātra in the south. Almost all the Brahmanical sources give a description of Madhyadeśa or Āryāvarta, the most important division of India. The Middle country was the cradle on which the Brahmanical Aryans or the Buddhists staged the entire drama of their career. The five divisions, as indicated in the Bhuvanakoṣa section of the Purāṇas, are identical with those given in the *Kāvyamīmāṃsā*. They are as follows:—
(a) Madhyadeśa (Middle Country),
(b) Udicya or Uttarāpatha (Northern India),
(c) Prācya (Eastern India),
(d) Dakṣiṇāpatha (Deccan), and
(e) Aparānta (Western India).

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Pāṇini in his *Aṣṭādhyāyī* mentions Prācya-Bhāratadeśa (8. 3. 75). The boundaries of Madhyadeśa or Majjhimadesa have been referred to and explained in early Brahmanical and Buddhist texts. As early as the age of the Sūtras the country of the Aryans, which is practically identical with the country later on known as Madhyadeśa, is described in the *Dharmasūtra* of Baudhāyana as lying to the east of the region where the river Sarasvatī vanishes, to the west of the Kālakavana which is identified with a tract somewhere near Prayāga,² to the north of Pāripātra and to the south of the Himalayas³ as already pointed out. The eastern boundary thus excluded not only the country now known as Bengal but also Behar which in ancient times included the entire Magadha country. The *Dharmaśāstra* of Manu calls the Āryāvarta of the Sūtras to be the Madhyadeśa. He defines it as extending from the Himalayas in the north to the Vindhyas in the south and from Vinaśana in the west to Prayāga in the east.⁴ The Āryāvarta of the Sūtras and the Madhyadeśa of Manu are, according to the *Kāvyamīmāṃsā* (p. 93), known as Antarvedī which extends up to Benaras in the east. The eastern boundary of the Madhyadeśa gradually expanded itself with the progress of time so as to include places which acquired sanctity within the Brahmanical fold. The boundaries of the Buddhist Majjhimadesa as given in the *Mahāvagga* (Vol. V, pp.

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12-13), may be described as having extended in the east to the town of Kajaṅgala (identified with Ka-chu-wen-ki-lo of Yuan Chwang) beyond which was the city of Mahāsāla; in the south-east to the river Salalavatī (Śarāvatī); in the south to the town of Śatakarṇika; in the west to the Brāhmaṇa district of Thūna (identified with Sthānīśvara); in the north to the Usīradhaja mountain (identified with Usīragiri, a mountain to the north of Kaṅkhal, Hardwar). The Divyāvadāna (pp. 21-22), however, extends the eastern boundary of the Majjhimadesa still further to the east so as to include Puṇḍravardhana which in ancient times included Varendra, roughly identical with north Bengal. The other boundaries as given in the Divyāvadāna are identical with those as in the Mahāvagga. Madhya-deśa, which is mentioned in the Belāva copper-plate of Bhojavarman and the Barrackpore copper-plate of Vijayasena (N. G. Majumdar, Inscriptions of Bengal, III, 16ff.), is, according to Aśvaghoṣa, said to have been situated between the Himalayas and the Pāripātra mountain which formed the southern boundary line of the Madhyadeśa (Saundaranandakāvya, II, v. 62). The four boundaries of the Uttarāpatha are nowhere mentioned in the Brahmanical or Buddhist texts. According to the Brahmanical tradition recorded in the Kāvyamīmāṃsā the Uttarāpatha or northern India lay to the western side of Pṛthudaka (Pṛthudakātparataḥ Uttarāpathaḥ).

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The Brahmanical definition of Āryāvarta excludes the greater portion of the land of the Ṛgvedic Aryans, which, however, is included in the Uttarāpatha. The entire Indus Valley, which was the cradle of the Ṛgvedic culture and civilization, is included in the Uttarāpatha according to the Kāvyamīmāṃsā. The Dharmasūtras of Vasiṣṭha and Baudhāyana and the Dharmaśāstra of Manu point out that the Uttarāpatha lies to the west of the place where the river Sarasvatī disappears. The Buddhist northern division is also to be located to the west of the Brāhmaṇa district of Thūna or Thāneśwar. The Uttarāpatha mentioned in the Hāthigumphā Inscription of Khāravela probably signifies the region including Mathurā in its south-eastern extension up to Magadha. The Uttarāpatha may be supposed to have been originally a great trade-route—the northern high road, so to say, which extended from Sāvatthī to Takkasilā in Gandhāra. It is not at all improbable that the Uttarāpatha in Pali literature might have also signified the entire northern India from Aṅga in the east to Gandhāra in the north-west and from the Himalaya in the north to the Vindhyas in the south. Bāṇabhaṭṭa, the author of the Harṣacarita, seems to include within Uttarāpatha the western part of the Uttara Pradeśa, the Punjab and the North-Western Frontier Provinces of India and Pakistan.

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² C.A.G.I., Intro., pp. xli and xli, f.n. 1.

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³ Baudhāyana, I. 1, 2. 9; Vasiṣṭha, 1. 8.

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⁴ *Himavad-Vindhyayor-madhyam yat prāk Vinaśanādapi pratyageva Prayāgāśca Madhyadeśaḥ.*

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According to the Kāvyamīmāṃsā (93) the country lying to the west of Devasabhā was called the Paścāddeśa¹ or the western country. According to the Pali Sāsanavaṃsa (p. 11) Aparāntaka or western India lies to the west of the upper Irawady. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar points out that Aparānta was the northern Konkan whose capital was Surpāraka, modern Sopara. The western sea-board of India was called Aparāntaka or Aparāntika according to Bhagavanlal Indraji. Aparānta is often mentioned in the Mahābhārata (Bhīṣmaparva, IX. 335; Vanaparva, CCXVII. 7885-6; Śāntiparva, XLIX, 1780-82). According to the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (Ch. 58) Aparānta seems to have been located north of the Sindhu-Sauvīra country. According to D. R. Bhandarkar Ariake is Aparāntika. Aparānta is referred to in Aśoka’s Rock Edict V. It is also mentioned in Luders’ List No. 965. From the Nasik record of Gautamī Balaśrī we learn that her son extended his sway over Aparānta which was reconquered later by Śaka satrap Rudradāman of Western India as evidenced by the Junāgaḍh Rock Inscription of 150 A.D. For further details vide Law, *Tribes in Ancient India*, p. 392; Law, *Indological Studies*, I, 53.

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¹ Devasabhāyaḥ parataḥ Paścāddeśaḥ, tatra Devasabhā-Surāṣṭra Daseraka-Travana-Bhrigukaccha Kacchīya-Anarta brāhmaṇavāha Yavana-prabhṛtayo janapadāḥ.

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Dakṣiṇāpatha is the region lying to the south of Māhiṣmatī identified with Māndhātā according to the *Kāvyamīmāṃsā*, as already pointed out. Some hold that it is situated between the Bridge of Rāma and the river Narmadā (Hultzsch, *S.I.I.*, I, p. 58; cf. Fleet, *I.A.*, VII, 245). The *Dharmasūtras* testify to the fact that Dakṣiṇāpatha lay to the south of Pāripātra, generally identified with a portion of the Vindhyas. The *Mahāvagga* of the *Vinaya Piṭaka* and the *Divyāvadāna* seem to record that the Dakṣiṇajanapada lay to the south of the town of Śatakarṇika. Buddhaghosa, the celebrated Buddhist commentator, defines Dakṣiṇāpatha or the Deccan as the tract of land lying to the south of the Ganges (*Sumaṅgalavilāsinī*, I, 265). The whole tract of land lying to the south of the Ganges and to the north of the Godāvarī is known as Dakṣiṇāpatha according to the *Suttanipāta* (Prologue of Bk. V; *Vinaya-Mahāvagga*, V, 13; *Vinaya-Cullavagga*, XII, 1). The Sanskrit Buddhist texts refer to Dakṣiṇāpatha as having extended southwards beyond the Śarāvatī river and the Pāripātra mountain.

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The Damiḷas who had two settlements on both sides of the Ganges are identified with the Tamils. They were warlike, and the island of Laṅkā was very much troubled by them from time to time. They are described as uncultured (*anariyā*). ‘Might is right’ was their policy which they rigidly followed, with the result that they were defeated and mercilessly massacred in almost all the battles with the Ceylonese (*Mahāvaṃsaṭīkā*, 482; Law, *Tribes in Ancient India*, 168ff.; Law, *Geographical Essays*, Ch. IV). They were disrespectful to the Buddhist Stūpas (*Mahāvaṃsa-Ṭīkā*, 447).

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The Prācya or the eastern country lay to the east of the Madhyadeśa, but as the eastern boundary of the Madhyadeśa changed from time to time, the western boundary of the Prācya country consequently diminished. According to the *Dharmasūtras* the eastern country lay to the east of Prayāga. The *Kāvyamīmāṃsā* points out that it was to the east of Benaras, while according to the commentary on the Vātsyāyana *sūtra* it lay to the east of Aṅga. The western boundary of the Pūrvadeśa shrinked still more and extended to Kajaṅgala according to the *Vinaya Mahāvagga*, or to Puṇḍravardhana according to the *Divyāvadāna*.

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The Sanskrit Buddhist texts refer to the three divisions of India, namely, Madhyadeśa, Uttarāpatha and Dakṣiṇāpatha. Pāṇini refers to Uttarāpatha in his *Aṣṭādhyāyī* (5. 1. 77). Patañjali also mentions it in his *Mahābhāṣya*. Daṇḍin in his *Kāvyādarśa* (I. 60; I. 80) refers to the people of Dākṣiṇātya and Adākṣiṇātya. The last two divisions are mentioned in name only; there is no defining of their boundaries nor is there any description of the countries or regions that constitute the divisions. Two other divisions, namely, the Aparānta or western and the Prācya or eastern are not referred to even in name, but are suggested by the boundary of the Madhyadeśa as given in the *Divyāvadāna*.

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The division of India into five provinces was also adopted by the Chinese. India is described in the official records of the Thang dynasty of the 7th century A.D. as consisting of five divisions called the East, West, North, South and Central, which are generally styled as the Five Indies. (*C.A.G.I.*, p. 11). The Chinese system of the five divisions was directly borrowed from the Hindu Brahmanical system as described in the Purāṇas with slight modifications. Modern India and adjacent countries may thus be divided for our purpose into: (1) Northern India, comprising the Punjab proper including Kashmir and the adjoining hill states with the whole of Eastern Afghanistan beyond the Indus and the present Cis-Sutlej states to the West of the Sarasvatī river. The entire Indus Valley is included in Northern India.

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(2) Western India comprising Sind and Western Rajputana with Cutch and Gujarat and a portion of the adjoining coast on the lower course of the Narmadā river.

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(3) Mid-India or Central India comprising the whole of the Gangetic provinces from Thanesvar to the head of the Delta and from the Himalayan mountain to the banks of the Narmadā.

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(4) Eastern India comprising Assam and Bengal proper including the whole of the Gangetic Delta together with Sambalpur, Orissa and Ganjam.

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(5) Southern India comprising the whole of the Peninsula from Nasik on the west and Ganjam on the east of Cape Comorin (Kumārī) on the south including the modern districts of Berar and Telengana, Mahārāṣṭra and Konkan with the separate states of Hyderabad, Mysore and Travancore-Cochin or very nearly the whole of the Peninsula to the south of the Narmadā and the Mahānadī rivers. (C.A.G.I., pp. 13-14.)

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South India is an inverted triangle in shape with its apex in the south at Cape Comorin, 8 degrees north of the equator. The two sides of the Peninsula are bounded by the Arabian Sea on the west and the Bay of Bengal on the east. The base of the triangle, i.e., the northern boundary consists of the Vindhya mountains. Along with the Vindhyas and the Satpuras mention may be made of the Ajantas and Aravallis. South of the Ajantas lies the country of Hyderabad. South of the Satpura and other hills there was once a belt of impenetrable jungle called the Daṇḍakāraṇya. In the extreme south there are the Tamil land, the Andhra territory and the Malayalam region. North of the Malayalam region is the Kannada country proper and beyond that is the Mahārāṣṭra country.

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These traditional regions of India will be most helpful in working out any new scheme for dividing the country into various regions.

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