Historical Geography of Ancient India c7.311

c7.311

Kṛṣṇaveṇā.—This is modern Kṛṣṇā river (S.I.I., I, p. 28). The Kṛṣṇaveṇā in the Purāṇas, Kaṇhapennā in the Jātakas and Kaṇhapemṇā in the Hāthigumphā Inscription of Khāravela, is a famous river in South India. It occurs in the Rāmāyaṇa (Kiṣkindhyākāṇḍa, XLI, 9) as Kṛṣṇaveṇī or Kṛṣṇaveṇā (cf. Indische Alterthumskunde, Vol. I, p. 576). It has its source in the Western Ghats. It flows east through the Deccan plateau and breaking through the Eastern Ghats in a gorge, it falls into the Bay of Bengal. (For further details, vide B. C. Law, Rivers of India, p. 48). Its variant readings are Veṇa (Varāha-Purāṇa, LXXXV), Veṇā or Varṇā (Kūrma Purāṇa, XLVII, 34), Vaiṇi (Vāyu Purāṇa, XLV, 104), Viṇā (Mahābhārata, Bhīṣmaparva, IX, 328), and Veṇṇā (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, XIX, 17). Pargiter suggests its identification with the river Penner between the Kṛṣṇā and the Kāverī (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, p. 303, notes).