Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c26.8

c26.8

It was about four feet long and two and a half broad, of pasteboard, and the mountains raised about an inch above the surface, with trees painted all round. The roads were represented by a red line and the rivers by a blue one. The various ranges were very distinct with the narrow passes through them: in short, it wanted but a scale. The valley of Nepal was accurately delineated; but towards the borders of the map everything was crowded and in confusion.¹ The map of Nepal noticed of by Wilford appears to have been of the same type as the painting the Citrakuñjavat region of Daṇḍak-āraṇya conceived by Bhavabhūti. The Indian maps mentioned by Wilford were probably uninfluenced by foreigners, as otherwise he would have added a note on the point. Unfortunately, Wilford does not say anything about the antiquity of the Indian maps noticed by him. The one of Nepal, of which he has given some details, could not have been very early.