Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c5.s1.67

c5.s1.67

It will be seen that the following boundaries of the *cakravarti-kṣetra* are indicated by the epigraphic and literary records discussed above : (1) north—Himālaya, Bindusaras, Gandhamādana, Kailāsa, Kedāra, the mythical Sumeru mountain, Prāgjyotiṣa or Kāmarūpa, Vaṅkṣu or Oxus and Bālhīka ; (2) south—Indian Ocean, Cape Comorin, Mahendragiri, Setubandha-Rāmeśvara, Suvela, Siṃhala dvīpa and Malaya ; (3) east—Vaṅga, Lauhitya, the mythical eastern or Sun-rise mountain, Bengal, the eastern country and Gaṅgā-sāgara-saṅgama ; (4) west—the mouths of the Sindhu, Arabian Sea, the mythical Mandara, western or Sun-set mountain, the Rajaputana Desert and Pārasīka (Persia). As already pointed out above, these were the traditional boundaries of Bhāratavarṣa, conceived as the sphere of influence of an imperial ruler of India, and they had really nothing to do with the actual territories of the king who is described as the lord or conqueror of the land within the above boundaries.