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Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c5.s5: 5. Villages, Towns, etc.

Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c5.s5

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5. Villages, Towns, etc.

c5.s5.1

Of the villages, townships and the like, mentioned in the later Saṃhitās, Brāhmaṇas, etc., we may refer to the following.

c5.s5.2

¹⁰³ i. 10. 1.

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1. Kāmpīla—mentioned in the *Yajurveda*; later spelt as Kāmpilya which was the capital of South Pañcāla; identified with modern Kampil in the Farrukhabad District, U.P. Other Pañcāla cities were Paricakrā (Parivakrā) and probably Kauśāmbā.

c5.s5.4

2. Kārapacava—a place on the Yamunā; known from the *Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa*.

c5.s5.5

3. Kāroti—mentioned in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* as a place or a river.

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4. Triplakṣa—place where the Dṛṣadvatī disappeared in the sands; near the Yamunā, according to the *Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa*.

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5. Nāḍapit—probably mentioned in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* as the birth place of king Bharata.

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6. Plakṣa-prasravaṇa—mentioned in the *Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa*, *Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa*, etc.; a locality 44 days' journey from the place where the Sarasvatī disappeared in the sands; the middle or central point of the earth was believed to be a *pradeśa* or span to its north.

c5.s5.9

7. Maṣṇāra—scene of the victory of a Kuru king mentioned in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*.

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8. Munimaraṇa—place of the slaughter of the Vaikhānasa sages according to the *Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa*.

c5.s5.11

9. Raikvaparṇa—locality in the Mahāvṛṣa country according to the *Chāndogya Upaniṣad*.

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10. Rohitakakūla—known from the *Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa*; cf. modern Rohtak District, Punjab.

c5.s5.13

11. Sāciguṇa—probably a place in the land of the Bharata people according to the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*.¹⁰⁶

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¹⁰⁶ Ved. Ind., Vol. i, pp. 149, 151, 330, 440; Vol. ii, pp. 55, 139, 168, 227, 228, 443.

c5.s5.15

Besides the above, some localities such as those lying on the borders of Kurukṣetra and Āryāvarta have already been mentioned. Khāṇḍava lying on the boundary of Kurukṣetra is no doubt the forest of that name mentioned in the *Mahābhārata*. The Puranic tradition locates the Khāṇḍava forest on the river Aśvarathā or the Yamunā and sometimes regards the Khāṇḍava-prastha as identical with Indra-prastha near Delhi, though Khāṇḍava is supposed to have extended from modern Bulandshahr to Saharanpur.¹⁰⁷ But, as we have seen, Khāṇḍava was to the south of Kurukṣetra according to the *Taittirīya Āraṇyaka*.

c5.s5.16

¹⁰⁷ N. L. Dey, Geog. Dict., s.v.

c5.s5.17

We have also referred above to the Anyataḥplakṣa lake, the Varṣiṣṭhīya plain and the Śaraṇyāvat which may have been a lake in Kurukṣetra. In connection with Kurukṣetra, mention has also been made of Maru or the desert in its vicinity.

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