Historical Geography of Ancient India c7.654

c7.654

*Vanavāsī country.*—The *Brihat-saṃhitā* (XIV, 12) refers to it as the country included in the southern division. Vanavāsī is in the North Kanara district of the Bombay Presidency (S.I.I., I, p. 96). It is the name of a village in the Shimoga district of Mysore State (E.I., XX). Formerly it was a seat of splendid royalty. It is a decayed village in the Sirsi taluk of the North Kanara district where the two inscriptions of the Kadamba Kirttivarma were discovered (E.I., XVI, 353ff.). It contains the temple of Madhukeśvara, the ancient tutelary deity of the Kadamba princes. It is identical with Vanavāsī mentioned in the Nāgārjunikoṇḍa Inscriptions of Virapuruṣadatta. The elder Rakkhita was sent as a missionary to this country for the spread of Buddhism (*Mahāvamsa*, Ch. XII, v. 4). During the Buddhist period and later North Kanara was known as Vanavāsī. According to Bühler, it was situated between the Ghats, Tuṅgabhadrā and Baroda. This country was known to the author of the *Harivamśa* (XCV, 5213, 5231–33). The *Vāyupurāṇa* (XLV, 125) refers to the Vanavāsikas, and the *Bhīṣmaparva* of the *Mahābhārata* (IX, 366) mentions Vanavāsakas. According to the *Daśakumāracaritam* (pp. 192-193) Vasantabhānu instigated Bhānuvarmā, the lord of Vanavāsī, to make war on Anantavarmā who mobilized his forces as soon as his boundary was violated. Of all his vassals the first to help him was the lord of Aśmaka. When the others gathered they made a short march encamping on the bank of the Narmadā. The kingdom of Vanavāsī is ancient Vaijayantīpura, also known as Jayantīpura, capital of the Kadambas, and Vejayantī of the epigraphic records, situated on the river Varadā on the western frontier of the Sorale taluk (Rice, *Mysore and Coorg*, I, pp. 289 and 295). It is held to be the same as the Busantion of the *Periplus*. It is known as Banaouasei by Ptolemy. According to Saint Martin, this city was visited by Hiuen Tsang, which was called by him as Kon-Kin-na-pu-lo, i.e., Koṅkanapura. (McCrindle, *Ancient India as described by Ptolemy*, Ed. S. N. Majumdar, p. 179).