Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahabharata: Upayana Parva c2.1

c2.1

In the early days of my return from abroad I was singularly fortunate to come in direct contact of the ennobling and inspiring personality of the late Dr. K. P. Jayaswal. In his inspiring talks to us he always made it a point to enthuse us about ancient Indian geography without a knowledge of which Indian history in his opinion looked like an open-air drama in which members of the audience are required to do their own guessing about the scenic arrangements. I listened to him with rapt attention, but with my limited knowledge of Indian history and literature I could do little to solve the tangles of Indian historical geography. But there were others who took the cue, and among them foremost stands the name of Prof. Jaya Chandra Vidyalankar. His researches are embodied in an interesting book in Hindi entitled *Bhārat bhumi aur uske Nivāsi* (India and her peoples), in which he has focussed brilliantly the problems of Indian historical geography. It will not be an exaggeration to say that we have yet to see a book of this type in other Indian languages or as a matter of fact even in European languages. But I stayed where I was, my attention being riveted to problems of art and archaeology, and my professional duties as the curator of a museum left me little time to devote to other subjects.