Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c6.s3.21

c6.s3.21

In the same way, the Kuśa-dvīpa may be identified with Kush, the land of the Kushiya people mentioned in the Achaemenian inscriptions. Some scholars identify Kush with Ethiopia while others place it in Central Egypt, though both the regions may have been named after settlements of the Kushiya people. But, as Mudrāya (Egypt) and Kush are both mentioned in the list of territories under the early Achaemenian emperors, the identification of Kush with Ethiopia seems to be preferable. In any case, the country of Kush, after which the Puranic Kuśa-dvīpa appears to have been named, was situated somewhere in North-Eastern Africa beyond Mudrāya or Egypt.⁴⁹