Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c9.s2.4

c9.s2.4

inhabited by the deity Gauḍeśa or Gauḍeśī, in the land between the river Padmā and Vardhamāna. Thus the Gauḍa country is placed exactly about the Murshidabad District bounded in the north by the Padmā and in the south by the Burdwan or Vardhamāna District. The same authority regards Gauḍa as only one of the seven deśas forming Puṇḍra-deśa, viz. (1) Gauḍa, (2) Varendra (Malda-Rajshahi-Bogra region), (3) Niviti, (4) Suhma-deśa (i.e., Rāḍha), (5) Jhārīkhaṇḍa (Santal Parganas District) called jāṅgala apparently meaning ‘jungly’, (6) Varāhabhumi (Barābhūm in the Manbhum District), and (7) Vardhamāna (Burdwan).¹ The localities forming the Gauḍa country according to the same tradition are : (1) Navadvīpa (in the Nadia District), (2) Śāntipura (in the Nadia District), (3) Maulapattana (Mollāi in the Hooghly District), and (4) Kaṇṭakapattana (Katwa in the Burdwan District). The tradition would thus comprise in the Gauḍa country the present Murshidabad District together with parts of the Nadia, Burdwan and Hooghly Districts of West Bengal. It may be pointed out in this connection that the Puṇḍra country in this tradition comprised Western and Northern Bengal together with some eastern districts of Bihar. Niviti is said to have included Bardhankoṭ in the Rangpur District. It is sometimes believed that the same name is found in the Trikāṇḍaśeṣa. But the Trikāṇḍaśeṣa passage Puṇḍrāḥ syur = Varendrī Gauḍa-nivṛti seems to mean that the Puṇḍra country was the same as Varendrī lying in the realm (nivṛt) of Gauḍa. The name Gauḍa is here used in a wider sense. It is however not improbable that the Bhaviṣya Purāṇa tradition is based on a misunderstanding of the Trikāṇḍaśeṣa passage.