Historical Geography of Ancient India c6.335

c6.335

Indrasthāna.—The *Bhāgavatapurāṇa* mentions it as a city (X. 58, 1; X. 73, 33; XI. 30, 48; XI. 31, 25). According to the *Padmapurāṇa* (200. 17-18) Indra performed many religious sacrifices in this city, worshipped Ramāpati several times and offered many treasures to the Brahmins in the presence of Nārāyaṇa. Since then this place became famous as Indraprastha. It is mentioned in the Kamauli plate of Govindachandra (V.S., 1,184). It has been identified with Indraprastha (*E.I.*, XXVI, Pt. II, p. 71; *I.A.*, XV, p. 8, f.n. 46), built on the bank of the Jumna about two miles south of modern Delhi. It extended over seven leagues (*Sattayojanike Indapattanagare*—*Jātaka*, No. 537; B. C. Law, *Geography of Early Buddhism*, p. 18). It is also called Bṛhatsthala in the *Mahābhārata*. It was the capital of Yudhiṣṭhira, the first Pāṇḍava brother. Indraprastha (the modern Indrapat near Delhi) was the second capital of the Kurus, the first being Hastināpura, situated on the Ganges, identified with the present Meerut district of the United Provinces. The blind king Dhṛtarāṣṭra ruled the old capital Hastināpura, while he assigned to his nephews, the five Pāṇḍus, a district on the Jumna, where they founded Indraprastha. The ancient capital of the Kurus became insignificant in course of time, and the new city erected by the Pāṇḍavas has now become the seat of the government of India. (For further details, vide N. L. Dey, *Geographical Dictionary*, pp. 77-78).