Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.332

c8.332

Mithilā had at each of its four gates a market-town (*Jātaka*, VI, p. 330). It had plenty of elephants, horses, chariots, oxen, sheep and all kinds of wealth of this nature together with gold, silver, gems, pearls and other precious things (*Beal, Romantic Legend of Śākya Buddha*, p. 30). This city was splendid, spacious, and well-designed by architects with walls, gates and battlements, traversed by streets on every side and adorned with beautiful tanks and gardens. It was a gay city. The Brahmins inhabiting the city dressed themselves in Kāśī cloths, perfumed with sandal and decorated with gems. Its palaces and all their queens were decorated with stately robes and diadems (*Jātaka*, VI, 46ff.; cf. *Mahābhārata*, III, 206, 6-9). It was a fertile city on the northern bank of the Ganges (*Rāmāyaṇa*, Griffith’s Tr., XXXIII, p. 51). It was a peaceful city surrounded by long walls (*Ibid.*, Canto LXVI, p. 89). According to the *Rāmāyaṇa*, Mithilā was a lovely and fair city; nearby there was a wood which was old and deserted (*Ibid.*, Canto XLVIII, p. 68). The city was well-guarded and had well-laid roads. Its inhabitants were healthy who used to take part in frequent festivities (*Mahābhārata*, Vanaparva, 206, 6-9). It was one of the nineteen cities ruled severally in succession by the various dynasties of princes of the Solar race (*Vamsatthapakāsinī*, I, p. 130). There was a shrine at Mithilā where the Mahāgiri teachers lived (*Law, Pañcālas and their Capital Ahichchhatra*, M.A.S.I., No. 67, p. 11).