Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c5.s2.4

c5.s2.4

A division of the country into zones, i.e. one in the central area and the others on its borders in the different directions, developed in the later Vedic ages. The *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa*49 mentions the Prācyas or the peoples of the eastern country and also the Bāhīkas as the people of the west. The same work further refers to the Udīcya Brāhmaṇas (i.e. the Brāhmaṇas of Uttarāpatha or the North).50 Post-Vedic literature applies the name Bāhīka to the tribes of the Punjab called Pañcanada in the *Mahābhārata*.⁵¹ The *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*52 mentions the Madhyamā Diś, ‘the Central or Middle Region’, as well as the regions in the east (Prācya), south (Dakṣiṇa), west (Pratīcya) and north (Udīcya). Amongst the peoples of the outer zones, mention is made of the Sātvats ruled by kings styled Bhoja in the south (probably in the Berar region) and of the Uttara-Kurus and Uttara-Madras beyond the Himavat in the north. More interesting is the reference to the central zone.