Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c25.6

c25.6

It has been pointed out that, according to the *Padma Purāṇa*,³ Rāma built a temple for the god Vāmana at Mahodaya, *i.e.* Kanauj. The author of the notes, referred to above, conjectures that the temple of Vāmana was probably situated at the western end of the city. He admits that Rājaśekhara’s own *Bāla-Rāmāyaṇa* (X, 88) applies the name Gādhipura to Kanauj itself, and indeed this identification is supported by a number of authorities including Hemacandra.¹ Still, however, he concludes that Gādhipura was a locality in the northern suburbs of Kanauj, while Kālapriya was at its southern end. It has been rightly pointed out that the dramas of Bhavabhūti, who lived at the court of king Yaśovarman of Kanauj (c. 725-52 A. D.), were staged before the audience assembled in connection with the festivities held in honour of the god Kālapriyanātha, the presiding deity of the locality called Kālapriya. The views of the commentators on Bhavabhūti's works identifying Kālapriyanātha with the god Mahākāleśvara of Ujjain or with the presiding deity of Padmapura, Bhavabhūti's birth place, have, again, been rightly rejected. It has then been suggested that Kālapriyanātha was probably the presiding deity of the city of Kanauj which was the capital of Bhavabhūti's patron and that possibly the god's temple was situated in the southern suburbs of the city. The position of Brahmaśilā at the eastern end of Kanauj has been conjecturally determined on the strength of the identification of the other three localities.