Historical Geography of Ancient India c7.156

c7.156

and Kiṣkindhyātīrtha (Ibid., 157). It is mentioned in the Suttanipāta (p. 190). It is the largest and the longest river in South India, the source of which can be traced to the Western Ghats. It flows in a south-easterly direction below the Vindhya range cutting a valley through the Eastern Ghat. It falls in three distributaries into the Bay of Bengal in the district of Godāvarī forming a large delta at its mouth. In its course through Hyderabad and Madras State it is joined by many tributaries. It issued from the Sahya mountains along with the Tuṅgabhadrā, Kāverī, Bhīmaratha (or Bhīmarathī), Kṛṣṇaveṇhā, etc. This river which is considered to be one of the holiest in South India had really its source in Brahmagiri situated on the side of a village called Trayamvaka which is 20 miles from Nasik. It is near the Kaviṭṭha forest (Jātaka, V, 132). This river is known in the Jain Literature as Goyāvarī (Brihatkalpa-Bhāṣya, 6. 6244ff.). The Mahābhārata has a reference to Sapta-Godāvarī (Ch. 85. 44).