Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c8.31

c8.31

The 8th Paṭala of the *Śaktisaṅgama Tantra*, Book III, is also very interesting to the students of early Indian geography. It gives an account of a fivefold division of India. The Chinese authors generally refer to the Five Indies, *viz.*, the Northern, Western, Central, Eastern and Southern, and the *Bhuvanakośa* section of the Purāṇas divide the country into Madhyadeśa, Udīcya, Prācya, Dakṣiṇāpatha and Aparānta, although sometimes the Himalayan and Vindhyan regions are added to them. The *Kāvyamīmāṃsā* of Rājaśekhara also refers to this fivefold division when it speaks of Pūrva-deśa beyond Vārāṇasī, Dakṣiṇāpatha beyond Māhiṣmatī, Paścād-deśa beyond Devasabhā and Uttarāpatha beyond Pṛthūdaka. The five divisions of India as given in the *Śaktisaṅgama Tantra* from the Tantric point of view are different. They are Indra-prastha, Yama-prastha, Varuṇa-prastha, Kūrma-prastha and Deva-prastha. We have appended this interesting section as a supplement to the text of the *Ṣaṭpañcāśaddeśavibhāga*.