Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c12.19

c12.19

The Pandurangapalli charter⁶ appears to describe Mānāṅka, who probably flourished in the latter half of the fifth century, as the conqueror of Vidarbha and Aśmaka and also as the chastiser (*praśāsitā*) of the Kuntalas. The Kuntala people under reference were no doubt the Kadambas of Vanavāsī (Banavāsī), whose territories comprised the North Karnara District and parts of Mysore, Belgaum and Dharwar. In the inscriptions of the Later Kadambas, the progenitor of the Kadamba family (sometimes called Mayūravarman, but in some cases Mukkana or Trilocana Kadamba) is represented as the ruler of the Kuntala country which is described as the land round the capital city of Banavāsī in the North Kanara District. The country of Vidarbha lay on both sides of the river Varadā (modern Wardha, a tributary of the Godāvarī) according to the *Mālavikāgnimitra*, and roughly corresponded to the major part of Berar and the western part of M. P. Its ancient capital was at the city of Kuṇḍina which has been identified with modern Kauṇḍinyapura on the Wardha in the Chandur Taluk of the Amraoti District of Berar. The city of Padmapura which was the birth-place of the poet Bhavabhūti and was situated in the Vidarbha country in Dakṣiṇāpatha, has been rightly identified with modern Padampur near the Amgaon railway station in the Bhandara District of M. P. Vidarbha therefore included at least the Amraoti region in the west and the Bhandara area in the east. Epigraphic evidence shows that, about the time of Mānāṅka, the above land was entirely in the possession of kings belonging to the main branch of the Vākāṭaka family that had its headquarters near modern Nāgpur. Thus it will be seen that the Pandurangapalli grant seems to represent Mānāṅka of the south Marāṭhā country as having fought successfully with the Kadambas of Kuntala and the Vākāṭakas of Vidarbha.