Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c8.s3.160

c8.s3.160

The Kaccha country is placed to the east of Gaṇeśvara and to the north of the sea, and is possibly also called Sevana. If Gaṇeśvara is the same as Gaṇeśa-giri in the heart of Kāmarūpa, Kaccha may be identified with Kacchapa (possibly Kacchar Cochbihār) placed by the *Bhaviṣya Purāṇa* in the north-eastern region of Vaṅga.¹ But the expression ‘to the north of the sea’ seems to indicate Kutch. The identification of Kaccha and Sevana, possibly suggested in the verse, offers another difficulty. Sevana, i.e. Seuna-deśa, was the name of modern Khandesh. It indicated the kingdom of the Yādavas who had their capital first at Sinnar near Nasik and then at Devagiri, modern Daulatābād in the Aurangabad District of the former Hyderabad State. The Seuna country may therefore have been the Nasik-Daulatabad region or even the vast kingdom conquered by the powerful kings of the Yādava dynasty. But it is doubtful if the memory of the Yādava age lingered down to the late medieval period. Kaccha may possibly also indicate the district round Bhṛgu-kaccha, modern Broach near the mouth of the Narmadā. The meaning of the word *kaccha* appears to be ‘a region on the sea-coast,’ and it is possible that different *Kacchas* (including Kutch and Kacchapa), referred to above, have been confused in the verse. As to Kacchapa, a medieval tradition refers to the expansion of the Eastern Sea (Bay of Bengal) in the heart of Bengal as far north as Devikoṭṭa or Bāṅgaṛh in the Dinajpur District, now in East Pakistan.² Long ago the sea no doubt touched the central areas of Bengal at least through the mouths of the big rivers falling in it. But the medieval tradition referred to above is no doubt due to the existence of big lakes called bils, like the Chalan, in the Rajshahi-Bogra-Mymensing area.