Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c5.s1.11

c5.s1.11

In connection with the tradition regarding Bharata’s conquest of the whole earth, attention may be drawn to the Purāṇic legends according to which the dominions of Bharata and his descendants, the Bhāratas, extended over that tract in the south of Jambudvīpa, which later came to be called Bhāratavarṣa after that monarch.¹ Again, the great Maurya emperor Aśoka (c. 272-232 B.C.) claims in the Dhauli version of his Fifth Rock Edict to have employed the Superintendents of the Religious Department, called Dharma-mahāmātra, throughout the earth (*sava-puṭhaviyaṃ*), although all the other versions of the above Rock Edict read *sarvatra vijite* (i.e. everywhere in the dominions of Aśoka) in that context.² It is interesting to note in this connection that Aśoka’s Minor Rock Edict I seems to refer to his empire as Jambudvīpa while he is described in Buddhist tradition as a *Dvīpa-cakravartin*, i.e. the ruler of the entire Jambudvīpa.³ As is well known, Aśoka’s empire included India with the exception of Assam and certain small kingdoms to the south of Mysore but together with parts of Afghanistan, and was no doubt only a small portion of the earth. In the fourth and fifth centuries A. D. , the Gupta emperors, who held sway over the major part of Northern India but succeeded in extending their political influence over parts of Southern India as well claimed to have either conquered or ruled over ‘the whole earth’. Thus the prosperity of Samudragupta (c. 340-76 A. D.) is mentioned as *sarva-pṛthivī-vijaya-janita*;¹ them inister of Candragupta II (c. 376-414 A.D.), who accompanied his master in the latter’s campaign against the Śakas of Malwa, describes the monarch as having the aim of *kṛtsna-pṛthvī-jaya*;² Kumāragupta I (c. 414-55 A.D.) is said to have ruled over the *pṛthivī* that was encircled by the four seas;³ Skandagupta (c. 455-67 A.D.) is described as the conqueror of the whole earth (*pṛthivīṃ samagrāṃ*);⁴ and Budhagupta (c. 576-95 A.D.) is represented as the ruler of the earth.⁵