Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c12.4

c12.4

The suggestion that the Vākāṭaka territory was known as Daśārṇa which is identified with the Chattisgarh division of M.P. as well as the reference to *Vijaya-Daśanapura* in the Andhra country mentioned in some inscriptions as the capital of a Vākāṭaka principality’ in Jayaswal’s *History of India*, p. 136, is also untenable. Here is a clear case of the *andha-paramparā-nyāya*, as Daśanapura, mentioned as a seat of government of the Early Pallavas (who, it should be noted, ruled contemporaneously with the Vākāṭakas) and identified by scholars with modern Darsi in the Nellore District, had absolutely nothing to do with the Vākāṭakas. As a matter of fact, there is not the slightest evidence of Vākāṭaka rule in the Chattisgarh region of M. P., the ancient name of which was, moreover, Kosala (South Kosala) and never Daśārṇa. From numerous references to Daśārṇa in Indian literature,² it is clear that it was one of the old names of East Malwa and the adjoining region, with its capiat Vidiśā (modern Besnagar near Bhilsa, Madhya Pradesh) and with the rivers Daśārṇā (modern Dhasan) and Vetravatī (modern Betwa) running through it.