Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c5.s2.3

c5.s2.3

I have little doubt that Gauḍa has been mentioned here to indicate the northern *cakravarti-kṣetra* or Āryāvarta, so that Bhoja is represented as the lord of the entire Cakravarti-kṣetra comprising both Dakṣiṇāpatha and North India. Thus both the partial *cakravarti-kṣetras* are mentioned here side by side to signify the whole of Bhāratavarṣa conceived as the main *cakravarti-kṣetra*. It is interesting to note in this connection that there is some evidence in support of the name Gauḍa being sometimes applied to indicate the whole of Northern India. The Brāhmaṇical society of South India is usually divided into five classes called the *Pañcha-Drāviḍa*. These classes are : (1) Drāviḍa (Tamil), (2) Karṇāṭa (Kannaḍa), (3) Gurjara (Gujarati), (4) Mahā-rāṣṭra and (5) Tailaṅga (Telugu). This classification is based on a linguistic division of the South Indian Brāhmaṇas. Although the population of North India can hardly be divided into five linguistic groups with propriety, an attempt was made in imitation of the South Indian classification to classify the Brāhmaṇa society of Northern India into the same number of subdivisions. Strangely, however, the common name applied to the five classes of North Indian Brāhmaṇas was Gauḍa as Drāviḍa is the general name of southern Brāhmaṇas. The divisions of the Northern Brāhmaṇas are : (1) Sārasvata (associated with the valley of the Sarasvatī in the Punjab), (2) Kānyakubja (in Uttar Pradesh), (3) Gauḍa (in Bengal), (4) Maithila (in North Bihar) and Utkala (in Orissa). In these cases, therefore, the name Drāviḍa indicates South India, while Gauḍa signifies North India. We know that the name Gauḍa, originally the name of a part of Bengal, was often used to indicate all the countries of Eastern India. Thus the East Indian style of Sanskrit composition as well as the medieval East Indian alphabet came to be called after Gauḍa. A further expansion of the connotation of the name to indicate the whole of North India is suggested by the classification of Brāhmaṇas referred to above.¹