Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c19.14

c19.14

In the Aland (ancient Alande) inscription of Yuvarāja Mallikārjuna, published in the Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 31 ff., Alande itself is mentioned as the modala-vāḍa or ‘foremost village’ of Alande-sāsira or ‘Alande one thousand.’ This makes it clear that the geographical and administrative unit of Alande consisted of one thousand vāḍas or villages, of which the village of Alande was the foremost; that is to say, it was the headquarters of the district in question. It has been reported to us that the people of Kuknūr even now quote an old list, traditionally handed down, of the thirty villages which formed the ancient administrative unit called ‘Kuknūr thirty’ and that all these villages can be traced in the area around Kuknūr even to-day. It is also interesting to note that an inscription mentions Kuknūr as the foremost (i.e. headquaters) of thirty grāmas.¹