Historical Geography of Ancient India c5.s3.9

c5.s3.9

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.