[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Historical geography](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography) › [Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.sircar-1960) › c8.31 # Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c8.31 Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c8.31 - **Language:** English ### [c8.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.sircar-1960.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\*. - [Previous: c8.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.sircar-1960.c8.30) - [Next: c8.s1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.sircar-1960.c8.s1.1) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.sircar-1960.c8) ## Cites (8) - [Śaktisaṅgamatantra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.sampradaya.general.sakta.mahavidya.saktisangama) — Sanskrit - [Kāvyamīmāṃsā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.art.alamkara.kavisiksa.kavyamimamsa) — Rājaśekhara, Sanskrit - [Uttarāpatha](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.epigraphy.northwest) - [Madhyadeśa](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.epigraphy.north) - [Aparānta](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.epigraphy.west) - [Prācya](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.epigraphy.east) - [Dakṣiṇāpatha](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.epigraphy.deccan) - [Mahishmati](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.mahishmati) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.sircar-1960.c8.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.geography.sircar-1960.c8.31) · Pramāṇa