[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Historical geography](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography) › [Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.sircar-1960) › c19.10 # Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c19.10 Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c19.10 - **Language:** English ### [c19.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.sircar-1960.c19.10) Considering the abnormally high numbers mentioned with some of the names and the fact that it is palpably impossible to believe that the small district of Gaṅgavāḍi could actually claim more than only a fraction of 96000 'villages' if a village is understood in its modern sense, we were formerly reluctant to take the word grāma, even when specifically mentioned in such cases, in the sense of ‘a village’; cf. the passage trayāṇāṁ Mahārāṣṭrakāṇaṁ navanavati-sahasra-grāma-bhājāṁ occurring in the celebrated Aihole inscription¹ of Pulakeśin II and referring to the three Mahārāṣṭras as having no less than 99000 grāmas. Thus in the name Veṅgīpura-viṣaya-grāma-sahasra, sometimes called Veṅgī-sahasra, we were inclined to interpret the word grāma as ‘what is the subject of an assessment’.² This appeared to be justified by the fact that the Malkapuram inscription³ of Śaka 1183 (1261 A.D.) refers to a grant of no less than three lakhs of grāmas in Ḍahala-maṇḍala (the modern Jubbulpur area) lying between the Ganges and the Narmadā by the Kalachuri king Yuvarāja (I or II, probably the latter) in favour of a Śaiva saint named Sadbhāvaśambhu,⁵ as it is impossible to believe that even the whole kingdom of the Kalachuri king had nearly 50000 villages in the modern sense of the term. There is, however, some evidence to show that the word grāma was used in such cases in the sense of a village whatever its size and nature may have been. - [Previous: c19.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.sircar-1960.c19.9) - [Next: c19.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.sircar-1960.c19.11) - [Up: c19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.sircar-1960.c19) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.sircar-1960.c19.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.sircar-1960.c19.10) · Pramāṇa