Historical Geography of Ancient India c5.s5.183

c5.s5.183

Asaṅga's Aśmaka seems therefore to be identical with the kingdom Assakenus of the Greek writers, which lay to the east of the Sarasvatī at a distance of about 25 miles from the sea on the Swat Valley. The Aśmakas are placed in the north-west by the authors of the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa and Bṛhat Saṃhitā. In early Pali texts Assaka has always been associated with Avanti. Bhaṭṭasvāmī, the commentator of the Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra, identifies Aśmaka with Mahārāṣṭra. Really speaking the Assaka country of the Buddhists, whether it be identical with Mahārāṣṭra or located on the Godāvarī, lay outside the pale of the Madhyadeśa.