Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahabharata: Upayana Parva c3: Foreword

Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahābhārata: Upāyana Parva c3

Language: English

Foreword

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The geographical material relating to ancient India is extremely vast and varied. Its principal sources are the following:—

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(2) Epic literature, viz., Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata,

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(5) Foreign writers (Classical and Chinese),

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(7) Early and mediaeval inscriptions and

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(8) Classical Sanskrit & Prakrit literature.

This material requires to be studied systematically with the same scientific outlook and precision as have been applied to other kinds of historical material. Geography has been the bed-rock of history in a very real sense and an understanding of the geographical background supplies the clue to the historical expansion of the Indian people and their inter-relations with other races in each period. The investigation of geographical problems in respect of almost all the major sources outlined above is still a gap in our historical studies. It is therefore essential that this line of study be developed in the same intensive manner as other branches of ancient Indian history have been.

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Geographical studies apart from their vital relationship to a true estimate of the historical evolution, are of distinct value for chronological considerations also. Geographical references like so many of the social, political and economic institutions are likely to be of great value in deciding questions of relative chronology. The critical apparatus from this source has yet to be formulated. For example, a minute study of the application of the name Mālava to different regions in the Panjab, Rajputana and ultimately to present Malawa in Central India from epigraphic and literary sources would reveal the course and the time of migration of the Mālava tribe and be helpful in checking the time of the works in which Mālava is applied to present Malwa. Besides, a critical estimate of the different geographical concepts of the ancient Indians, e.g. the determining of the exact significance of the term Bhārata, Airāvata and other Varshas with their Janapada divisions and river names is sure to prove a study of the utmost value. The time now seems to be ripe for laying the foundations of a full and comprehensive expository scheme of the science of ancient Indian geography supported by numerous detailed maps of various descriptions.

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The geographical material from the Mahābhārata is of more than ordinary importance for providing a critical and archaic standard of reference, in respect of place-names in the successive stages of Indian history. This material consists mainly of (1) the Bhuvanakosha chapters (Bhīshma-parva, ch. 9), Digvijaya parvans (Sabhā-parva chs. 25 32), the so-called Upāyanaparva (Sabhā-parva, chs. 47-48 of the critical edition) and the Tirthayatra parva (Āranyaka-parva, chs. 80—153 of the critical edition). It is important that this material should be critically examined in the light of comparative sources. Important results must follow such research. For example, Prof. Shejwalkar while subjecting the material of the Tīrthayātrā-parva to critical analysis has shown not only that the material of the Dhaumya set of narration of holy places (chs. 85—88, containing only 92 verses) is considerably earlier than the Pulastya-Tīrthayātrā material (chs. 80—83, containing 598 verses), but also arrived at certain broad deductions, viz. that the Aryans had before going to the east, crossed over into the Deccan, that the southern land route lay along the east coast and through the centre of the Peninsula, that the sand tracts of Rajputana were early colonised and that a great Trans- Himalayan route was in constant use from these early times.*

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The material from the Digvijaya-parva was partially examined by Prof. Jayachandra in the course of his Hindi article भारतीय अनुशीलन, G. H. Ojha Comm. Vol., (नकुल का पश्चिम—दिग्विजय pp.3—9.)

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The Bhuvanakosha chapter in the Mahābhārata seems to represent an archaic textual tradition as its material is also found incorporated in several of the Purāṇas, viz., Vāyu, Matsya and Mārkaṇḍeya. Some valuable work on it had been done by Dr. Pargiter in his edition of the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa and by Dr. B.C. Law in his *Geographical Essays*, but there is yet scope for much intensive work and the need for producing a collated critical text of the Bhuvanakosha chapters on the basis of as many good manuscripts of the Purāṇas and the Mahabharata (Bhīshma-parva) as available, similar to the text of the Parvasangraha-parva prepared by Dr. Sukthankar, is very great. It is expected that the critical edition of the Bhīshmaparva now under preparation by Dr. S. K. Belvalkar will clarify and settle the readings of a good many names of the Janapadas and rivers in this chapter. Indeed, the presentation of the entire geographical material from the Mahābhārata in the form of a single dissertation would be very handy and useful to advance the cause of historical research in this direction.

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I had suggested to my friend Dr. Moti Chandra the material of the Upāyana-parva for a paper to be published in the Radha Kumud Mookerji Presentation Volume. He took up the subject with his characteristic zeal and thoroughness. Fortunately the critical text of the chapters relating to the Upāyana-parva were made available to Dr. Moti Chandra through the courtesy of the editor of the critical edition of the Mahābhārata being published from the Bhandarkar Institute, Poona. After several months of intensive work he produced the present study of the geographical and economic data in the Upāpana-parva. But in its present extended form it could no longer be accomodated in the Radha Kumud Mookerji Presentation Volume for which it was intended by the author as his tribute for Dr. Mookerji. I therefore suggested its publication through the Journal of the U.P. Historical Society and subsequently as an independent memoir.

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∗ The Mahabharta Data for Aryan Expansion in India by T. S. Shejwalkar, Bull. *Deccan College Research Institute*, Vol. V, pp. 201—219.

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A number of brilliant geographical identifications are suggested or established for the first time in these pages. Perhaps the most important of all is the location of Kamboja in the region of the Upper Oxus, i.e., the land of the great Pamirs directly north of the Darad country and north-east of ancient Kapiśa. Pt. Jaya Chandra Vidyālaṅkāra had first of all made this suggestion, but convincing proof was still lacking. Dr. Rhys Davids had long ago pointed out on the basis of a reference in Buddhist literature the intimate connection between Kamboja and Dvārakā (Buddhist India, p. 184). Following this clue Dr. Moti Chandra looked for Dvarkā in the Ghalcha-speaking regions of the Upper Oxus and finally hit upon the identification of Dvārkā with modern Darwāz which establishes the identity of Kamboja on a solid basis and beyond the possibility of any doubt. Further attention may be invited to the identification of Dvyakṣa with Badakshan and of Lalāṭākṣa with Ladākh. Pāṇini also juxtaposes Dvyākṣāyaṇa and Tryākṣāyaṇa in the Gaṇapatha of sutra IV, 2.54, and these appear but other forms of Dvyaksha and Tryaksha mentioned together in the Epic. Pāṇini's Dvyākṣāyaṇa is from the phonetical point of view much closer to Badakshan.

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Similarly plausible are the suggestions to identify Vaiyāmaka with the Aimakas of Central Afghanistan; Vasati (Ossadioi of the Greeks) with the region north of the Mūlā pass in the Sibi district in Baluchistan; Mauleya with the people on the banks of the Mūlā river and the Mūlā Pass; Hamskayanas with Humza Chitrakas with Chitrak; *Vārisha* with Barisal on the sea coast and the *Pāmsurāshtra* with the kingdom of the Pāns tribe who exist to this day in considerable numbers in several of the tributary Orissa States (Imperial Gazetteer, Vol. XIX. p. 257). The suggested identification of *Sālva* with Subhūta or Sophytes of the Salt range and of the *Vastrapas* with Vastrāpatha in Western India may not be beyond doubt. The location of the Sālvas especially still remains a puzzle.

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Dr. Moti Chandra's discussions on the economic data throw a flood of light on the true nature and significance of the various names of economic products brought as presents from each region. They help us to visualise the whole country as forming part of a well-knit system of commercial exchanges and intercourse. The picture embraces even the distant regions of the whole of Afghanistan and the Pamir region in Central Asia. Politically such unity became possible to conceive after the Mauryan emperor's conquests of Arachosia, Aria and Paropanisdi, but it appears that economically these regions were linked to the heart of India from much earlier times. The Jātakas and Pāṇini give evidence of the economic unity envisaged in the Upāyana-parva. The two maps have been prepared by Mr. Ram Subedar, who deserves our thanks. A word of explanation is necessary for the title Upāyana-parva which does not occur in the colophons of Mahābhārata text. On the basis of their subject matter, viz., bringing of presents (बलि-आहरण) to king Yudhishṭhira by kings of different regions, Chapters 47 and 48 are designated for the sake of convenience by the title ‘Upāyana-parva.’

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V. S. AGRAWALA.

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The *fraternities* of the Middle Ages, which were so numerous and so varied in their objects, were not all of the same origin. Some were religious, some social, some charitable, and some industrial. The religious guilds, or *gilds*, as they were often called, were associations of laymen for the purpose of performing religious duties, such as the maintenance of a chaplain, the celebration of masses, or the support of a hospital. The social guilds were formed for the purpose of mutual aid and good fellowship, and often included in their objects the relief of the poor, the sick, and the aged. The charitable guilds were established for the purpose of supporting hospitals, almshouses, and other institutions of mercy. The industrial guilds, or *craft guilds*, were associations of men engaged in the same trade or industry, and were formed for the purpose of regulating the trade, protecting the interests of the members, and maintaining the quality of their work.

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The craft guilds, which became so powerful in the later Middle Ages, were the successors of the earlier *collegia* of the Roman Empire. The *collegia* were associations of artisans and tradesmen, which were recognized by the state and had a legal existence. When the Roman Empire fell, these associations were largely destroyed, but the idea of association for mutual protection and the regulation of trade survived. In the early Middle Ages, the *gilds* began to reappear, and by the twelfth century they were firmly established in many of the cities of Europe.

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The craft guilds were organized on a democratic basis, and every member had a voice in the management of the guild's affairs. The officers were elected by the members, and the rules and regulations were made by the guild as a whole. The guilds had the power to fix prices, to regulate the hours of labor, and to determine the conditions of apprenticeship. They also had the power to punish members who violated the rules, and to expel those who were guilty of serious offenses. The guilds were thus a powerful force in the economic life of the Middle Ages, and they played an important part in the development of the modern industrial system.

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The decline of the craft guilds began in the sixteenth century, when the rise of the factory system and the growth of international trade made it difficult for the small, local guilds to compete with the larger and more efficient industrial organizations. The guilds were also weakened by the growth of the power of the state, which began to regulate trade and industry directly, and by the rise of the capitalist class, which sought to break the power of the guilds and to establish a system of free competition. By the end of the eighteenth century, the craft guilds had largely disappeared, but their influence lived on in the trade unions and other labor organizations of the modern world.

Linked texts (7)

Aṣṭādhyāyī — Pāṇini, Sanskrit
Jātaka — Pāli
Vāyupurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa — Vālmīki, Sanskrit