Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c8.s3.142

c8.s3.142

Kaikaya is placed between the Brahmaputra and Kāmarūpa. The ancient Kekaya country lay in the Punjab to the east of Gandhāra (the Peshawar-Rāwalpindi region). But a Kekaya kingdom is known to have existed in the northern part of Mysore in the fifth century A.D.¹ The Kaikaya country mentioned in our verse seems to be a place in North-East Bengal, which was possibly connected by local traditions with the ancient Kekayas of the Punjab. Kaikaya here may even indicate the land of the Kukis in Assam and Manipur. It this identification is accepted, it shows how such tribal names were given a classical colour in the late medieval works.