Historical Geography of Ancient India c6.387

c6.387

*Kāmpilya* (Vedic Kāmpila; Pali Kampilla).—It was the capital of southern Pañcāla. The *Rāmāyaṇa* (Ādikāṇḍa, Sarga 33, v. 19) describes it as beautiful as the abode of Indra. The *Mahābhārata* (138, 73-74) definitely mentions Kāmpilya as the capital of southern Pañcāla. But the Jātakas erroneously locate it in Uttarapañcāla.¹ It was an ancient city of India to which Pāṇini refers.² It was a sacred place of the Jainas. The epithet Kāmpilavāsinī which is applied to a woman, occurs in the *Taittirīya Saṃhitā* (VII, 4, 19, 1), *Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā* (III, 12, 20), *Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa* (III. 9, 6), and *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (XIII, 2, 8, 3). Weber and Zimmer take Kāmpila as the name of a town known as Kāmpilya in later literature, which was the the capital of Pañcāla.³ The Jaina *Ovavāiya sūya* (39) mentions it. The *Āvassaka Nirjjuti* (383) also mentions it as the birthplace of the thirteenth Tīrthaṅkara. The *Yogiṇītantra* (2/4, pp. 128-129) mentions it.