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Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c6.s5: 5. Knowledge of Countries outside India

Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c6.s5

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5. Knowledge of Countries outside India

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As regards the Indians' knowledge about the countries outside the Indian sub-continent, we have to note that Afghanistan and its neighbourhood were a part of India according to the Puranic and some other early 'ndian writers. The ruins of a large number of Buddhist establishments have been discovered in Chinese Turkestan where numerous epigraphs and manuscripts in Indian languages and scripts have also been found, though our early geographical literature gives only meagre information about the area. We have already referred to the location of the Uttara-Kuru people beyond the Himalayas in the later Vedic literature and to the mention of the Central Asian deserts in the Mahābhārata and elsewhere. The Rāmāyaṇa (IV. 43) mentions Mount Somagiri (between the Uttara-Kuru and the Northern Ocean) which lightens the sunless country about it. This is sometimes taken to be a reference to the Aurora Borealis of the arctic regions.⁹⁷ Mention may also be made, in this connection, of the Bāveru Jātaka (No. 339) speaking of the visit of Indian maritime traders to the kingdom of Bāveru (Babylon), which may refer to the Seleucid empire established in 312 B. C. with its capital at the city of Babylon or less probably to the much earlier Babylonian empire. Kālidāsa's Raghuvamśa (4th or 5th century A.D.) mentions the Pārasika or Pāścātya (i.e. the Persian) people as well as the Hūṇas inhabiting the valley of the Oxus.

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⁹⁷ Raychaudhuri, op. cit., p. 75 (tatra-deśo visūryo=pi tasya bhāsā prākāśate).

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The Achaemenian empire included Northern Africa in the west and Sindhu (the valley of the Indus or the Punjab) and Gandhāra in the east. While Indian soldiers in the army of Xerxes fought on Greek soil, Greek officers in the Achaemenian administration served in India. Maurya Aśoka (c. 272-232 B. C.) sent embassies to Antiochus II Theos of Syria and Western Asia, Ptolemy II Philadelphos of Egypt, Magas of Cyrene, Antigonas Gonatas of Macedonia and Alexander of Epirus or Corinth. The empire of some of the Kuṣāṇa rulers extended over considerable parts of both Northern India and Central Asia. There were also Indian settlers in Chinese Turkestan during the early centuries of the Christian era. There is evidence of the existence of Brāhmaṇa theosophists at Alexandria (Egypt) during the same period,⁹⁸ and there are a large number of Sanskrit records and Brahmanical and Buddhist monuments all over the countries of Indochina and Indonesia beginning from the same age.⁹⁹ In spite of the contact, however, there is nothing in Indian literature which exhibits such knowledge of foreign lands as we get, e.g., in the historical work of Herodotus (484-424 B.C.), the Indica of Megasthenes (last quarter of the 4th century B.C.), the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (about 80 A.D.) and the Geography of Ptolemy (middle of the 2nd century A.D.) in the Greek literature. In any case, however, we are here not concerned, as already indicated above, with the problem of contact between India and the outside world.¹⁰⁰

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⁹⁸ See HQ, Vol. xii, pp. 124. V. S. Wakankar has published the eye-copy of a Brāhmī inscription of the 3rd century A. D. discovered in Egypt and now preserved in the Cairo Museum (Bharati Kala Bhawan Patrika, Ujjain, No. 7). A hoard of Kuṣāṇa gold coins (of Kadphises II, Kaniṣka I, Huviṣka and Vāsudeva) has been found at the monastery at Dabra Dāmmo in Abyssinia (A. Mordini, ‘Gli Aurei Kushāna del Convento di Dabra Dāmmo’ in Convento internazionale di studi Etiopici, Rome, 1959, pp. 249-54). Coins of Kaniṣka have been unearthed in Scandinavia and Wales (JRAS, 1912, p. 672).

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⁹⁹ See R. C. Majumdar, Hindu Colonies in the Far East, Calcutta.

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¹⁰⁰ Cf. above, p. 14, note 46.

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We have mentioned above the Suppāraka Jātaka referring to the voyage of West Indian merchants in the Western Seas. Although we are diffident to read in the Jātaka story more than a vague knowledge of the seas in the west on the part of the ancient Indians, it will be unfair to K. P. Jayaswal if we do not summarise his views on the subject. "The identification of Kuśa-dvīpa with Nubia led to Capt. Speke's discovery of the sources of the Nile from its description in the Purāṇas.¹⁰¹ The Kushites were masters of Nubia between the 22nd and the 18th century B.C. as their name appears in the inscriptions of that period. The canal which took the Kuśa-Nila country (sic) into the Volcano (Vaḍavāmukha) Sea existed in the time of Seti I, 1380 B.C. This Canal joined the Red Sea near the Bitter Lake with the Nile and made navigation from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean possible.¹⁰² The Canal ceased to exist in the next millennium since, in 609 B.C., Necho started building another canal without success. The Dadhi Sea by the Kuśa country (sic) is evidently what we call the Red Sea, both names having their origin in the appearance of the water of the sea thickened by the peculiar matter that floats in it.¹⁰³ The Babylonian national legend of the Man-fish (Oannes) who lived in the sea and civilized them is well known. Khur was also a Babylonian god mentioned in the inscriptions of the time of Khammurabi, 2200 B.C.¹⁰⁴ Agnimāla refers either to the Arabian coast near Aden or some portion of the Somali coast. Voyages of North Indians in the Persian Gulf are known from the Ṛgvedic story of Bhujyu.¹⁰⁵ Acquaintance with a Babylonian deity is indicated by the Atharvaveda as suggested by Tilak while acquaintance with the Assyrian language is suggested by the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (III. 2. 1. 23-24) reference to the shibboleth halavo halavaḥ of the Asura language and to the Mleccha people. Helava is from Semitic he+ellu=Assyrian Elowah, ‘God’, while Mleccha is Semitic Malekh, ‘a king’.¹⁰⁶ It is significant that the same Brāhmaṇa knows the story of the Deluge which is of Babylonian origin.¹⁰⁷

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¹⁰¹ See his Journal, pp. 13, 17, 77, 216; also Schoff, The Periplus, p. 230.

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¹⁰² Encyc. Brit., Vol. xxvi, p. 22.

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¹⁰³ Of course dadhi is not red in colour and the Dadhimāla was full of silver which is white.

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¹⁰⁴ Sayce, Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia, p. 79.

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¹⁰⁵ i. 116. 5 ; Bühler, Ind. Pal., p. 16.

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¹⁰⁶ For the land of the Melukhha, see Hall, op. cit., p. 187, note.

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¹⁰⁷ JBORS, Vol. vi pp. 195-96.

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As regards the discovery of the sources of the Nile from its description in the Purāṇas, we know that Wilford compiled an account of the river Nile and its source and prepared a map on the basis of the Purāṇas,¹⁰⁸ while J. H. Speke states that, in planning his discovery of the sources of the Nile, he received great help from Wilford’s map based on Puranic information which is substantially correct.¹⁰⁹ We are sorry that we are not inclined to attach any importance to Wilford’s researches which are no better than the ‘wild speculation’ of an ‘injudicious writer.’¹¹⁰ Jayaswal’s own suggestions appear to be equally unconvincing.

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¹⁰⁸ Asiatick Researches, Vol. iii.

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¹⁰⁹ Discovery of the Source of the Nile, Chapters i, v and x.

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¹¹⁰ Cf. H. H. Wilson, Hindu Theatre, Vol. i, p. 9 ; Cunningham, Arch. Surv. Rep., Vol. i, p. ii ; also Martin, État actuel des études sur l’Inde ancienne, p. xiii. Majumdar Sastri, on the other hand, is inclined to attach importance to the

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It may be noted that the Rāmāyaṇa, while recounting the names of the rivers, mountains and countries in the east, south, west and north, both within and outside India, in Chapters 40-43 of the Kiṣkindhā-kāṇḍa, does not appear to exhibit any appreciable knowledge of the west. The four lists, which are characterised by some amount of confusion and do not have exactly the same text in different versions of the Rāmāyaṇa, are summarised below from one version.

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East—1. Bhāgirathī-nadī ; 2. Sarayū-nadī, 3. Kauśiki-nadī ; 4. Kālinidī-nadī ; 5. Yamunā-nadī ; 6. Yāmuna-giri ; 7. Sarasvatī-nadī ; 8. Soṇa-nada ; 9. Mahi-nadī ; 10. Kālamahī-nadī ; 11. Brahmamālā ; 12. Videha ; 13. Mālava ; 14-15. Kāśi-Kośala ; 16. Magadha ; 17. Mahāgrāma ; 18. Puṇḍra ; 19. Aṅga ; 20. Koṣakāra-bhūmi; 21, Rajatākara; 22. Mount Mandara; 23. Karṇaprāvaraṇa; 24. Oṣṭhakarṇaka ; 25. Ghora-Lohamukha ; 26. Javana (Yavana); 27. Ekapādaka ; 28. Akṣaya ; 29. Vālavat ; 30. Puruṣadaka ; 31. the gold-complexioned Kirāta with pointed headgear or hair-knot ; 32. the islander Kirāta who move about in waters, eat raw fish and are known as Man-tigers ; 33. Yava-dvīpa with its 7 rājyas, 34. Suvarṇa-rūpyaka-dvīpa ; 35. Mount Śiśira beyond the Yava-dvīpa ; 36. Soṇa river with red water ; 37. land of the Asuras beyond the sea ; 38. Lohita sea ; 39. Kūṭaśālmali tree (in the Śālmali-dvīpa ?) ; 40. the abode of Garuḍa ; 41. land of the Mandeha Rākṣasas (of the Kuśa-dvīpa ?) ; 42. Kṣiroda sea (milk ocean around Śāka-dvīpa ?) ; 43. Mount Ṛṣabha in the said sea ; 44. Lake Sudarśana ; 45. Jaloda sea (Water Ocean around the Puṣkara-dvīpa ?) characterised by vaḍavāmukha (submarine fire) ; 46. Mount Jātarūpa (Gold) on the northern shore of the Jaloda ; and 47. Udayagiri (the sun-rise mountain) to the north of which is the Jambu-dvīpa.

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South—1. Mount Vindhya ; 2. Narmadā-nadī ; 3. Godāvarī-nadī ; 4. Mahānadī ; 5. Kṛṣṇaveṇi-nadī ; 6. Mekala ; 7. Utkala ; 8. Daśārṇa-nagara ; 9. Āvravanti ; 10. Avanti ; 11. Vidarbha ; 12. Rṣṭika (Ṛṣika) ; 13. Mahiṣika ; 14. Matsya ; 15. Kaliṅga ; 16. Kauśika ; 17. Daṇḍak-āraṇya ; 18. Godāvarī-nadī (see No. 3) ; 19. Andhra ; 20. Puṇḍra ; 21. Cola ; 22. Pāṇḍya ; 23. Kerala ; 24. Ayomukha ; 25. Mount Malaya ; 26. Kāverī-nadī ; 27. Tāmraparṇī-nadī ; 28. Pāṇḍya-kapāṭa ; 29. Mahendra mountain ; 30. island beyond the sea (i.e.

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Purāṇas for the discovery of the source of the Nile (see his Cunningham's Ancient Geography of India, p. xxxviii) without noticing that the Puranic chroniclers could hardly have any knowledge of the source of the Nile, about which even the Greek geographer Ptolemy of Alexandria in Egypt had no precise information in the 2nd century A.D.

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Ceylon) ; 31. Mount Puṣpitaka in the sea ; 32. Mount Sūryavat beyond the Puṣpitaka ; 33. Mount Vaidyuta beyond the Sūryavat ; 34. Mount Kuñjara on which Agastya’s abode is situtated ; 35. Bhogavati, city of the Nāga king Vāsuki ; 36. Mount Ṛṣabha, the sandal forests on which are guarded by the Rohita Gandharvas ; and 37. Pitṛloka, capital of Yama at the southern end of the earth.

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West—1. Bāhlīka ; 2. Saurāṣṭra ; 3. Candracitra ; 4. hills called Śiśira ; 5. a sea ; 6. Muracī-pattana ; 7. Jaṭāpura ; 8. Ava ti ; 9. Aṅgalepa ; 10. Mount Somagiri at Sindhusāgara-saṅgama ; 11. Pāriyātra and the Gandharva land ; 12. Mount Vajra ; 13. Mount Cakravat in a quarter of the sea, where lived the demon Pañcajana from whom Kṛṣṇa obtained his conch-sell called Pāñcajanya; 14. Mount Varāha ; 15. Prāgjyotiṣapura where the demon Naraka lived ; 16. Mount Sauvarṇa protected by Indra ; and 17. Mount Sāvarṇi-meru or Ast-ācala (the sun-set mountain) where there is Varuṇa’s abode.

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North—1. Mleccha ; 2. Pulinda ; 3. Śūrasena ; 4. Prasthala ; 5. Bharata ; 6. Kuru ; 7. Madra ; 8. Kāmboja ; 9. Yavana ; 10. pattanas of the Śakas ; 11. Himavat mountain; 12. Somāśrama; 13. Mount Kāla; 14. Mount Sudarśana (probably the same as Meru or Sumeru) ; 15. a tract 100 yojanas in extent ; 16. a lake (probably the Mānasa) ; 17. Mount Krauñca ; 18. Mount Maināka, the land of Aśvamukhī women and the hermitages of the Vaikhānasa and Bālakhilya sages ; 19. Śailodā-nadī ; 20. Uttara-Kuru, and 21. Somagiri beyond Maināka near the Northern Ocean

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Of the errors due to confusion, the most unfortunate in the lists is the mention of Prāgjyotiṣapura in the west. The mention of Yava-dvīpa (literally, ‘the barley island’, under which name it is also mentioned in Ptolemy’s Geography about the middle of the 2nd century A.D.) exhibits some knowledge of South East Asia. But otherwise the lists exhibit poor knowledge of the lands outside the boundaries of the Indian sub-continent though an attempt was made to cover it with imaginary details regarding names which look like fabricated in many cases.

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In chapters 26ff. of the Sabhā-parvan of the Mahābhārata, there is a similar description of territories in the different irections in connection with the digvijaya of the four Pāṇḍava brothers, viz. Arjuna conquering the countries and peoples in the north, Bhīma subduing those of the east, Nakula those of the west and Sahadeva those of the south. Although the different versions of the Mahābhārata do not offer exactly the same text of the said section and there is confusion and some names appear in more than one of the lists and more than once in the same list, the description is important since it gives us an idea about the location of various countries in the four regions of the Indian sub-continent :

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*North*—1. Kulinda (Kuṇinda) 2. Ānarta, 3. Kālakūṭa, 4. Sumaṇḍala, 5. Śākala-dvīpa, 6. Prāgjyotiṣa with its army consisting of the Kirāta, Cīna and Sāgarānūpavāsin, 7. Antargiri, 8. Bahirgiri, 9. Upagiri, 10. Uluka and Uttara-Uluka, 11. Modāpura, 12. Vāmadeva, 13. Sudāman, 14. Susaṅkula, 15. Pañcagaṇa, 16. Devaprastha, 17. Paurava king (cf. Porus ruling over the land between the Jhelum and the Chenab in the fourth century B.C.), 18. Utsavasaṅketa, 19. Kāśmīra, 20. Lohita, 21. Trigarta 22. Dārva (near Abhisāra in the Poonch-Naoshera region), 23. Kokanada, 24. Abhisāra, 25. king of Uraga (Urasā), 26. Siṃhapura, 27. Suhma, 28. Cola, 29. Vāhlika, 30. Kāmboja, 31. Loha, 32. Parama-Kāmboja, 33. Uttara-Ṛṣika, 34. Yavana, 35. Āśuga, 36. Kimpuruṣa country beyond the Śveta-parvata, 37. Hāṭaka, 38. Mānasa-saras, 39. Hari-varṣa, and 40. Uttara-Kuru.

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*East*—1. Pañcāla, 2. Gaṇḍaka (people of the Gaṇḍaki valley), 3. Videha, 4. Daśārṇa, 5. Aśvamedha, 6. Pūrva-deśa, 7. Pulinda-nagara, 8. Cedi, 9. Kumāra-viṣaya, 10. Ayodhyā, 11. Uttara-Kośala, 12. Malla, 13. Bhallāṭa around Mt. Śuktimat, 14 Kāśi, 15. Supārśva, 16. Matsya, 17. Malada, 18. Anagha, 19. Abhaya, 20. Paśu-bhūmi, 21. Somadheya, 22. Vatsa-bhūmi, 23. Bharga, 24. Niṣāda, 25. Dakṣiṇa-Malla, 26. Śarmaka, 27. Varmaka, 28. Vaidehaka, 29. Śaka, 30. Varvara, 31. Kirāta kings of the Videha region near the Indra-parvata, 32. Suhma, 33. Prasuhma, 34. Māgadha, 35. Daṇḍa, 36. Daṇḍadhāra, 37. Girivraja (in the Patna District), 38. king Karṇa of Aṅga, 39. Modāgiri (Mudgagiri), 40. Puṇḍra, 41. Kauśikī-kaccha (people of the valley of the Kosi), 42. Vaṅga, 43. Tāmralipta, 44. Karvaṭa, 45. Lauhitya, and 46. Sāgarānūpa.

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*South*—1. Sūrasena, 2. Matsya, 3. Apara-Matsya, 4. Paṭaccara, 5. Niṣāda-bhūmi, 6. Mt. Gośṛṅga, 7. Nararāṣṭra (Navarāṣṭra), 8. Kunti-bhoja, 9. Carmaṇvati-kūla, 10. Seka, 11. Apara-Seka, 12. Avanti near the Narmadā, 13. Bhojakaṭa (in Berar). 14. Kośala (South Kośala), 15. Veṇvā-taṭa, 16. Kāntāraka (cf. Mahākāntāra of the Allahabad pillar inscription), 17 Prāk-Kośala, 18. Nāṭakeya, 19. Herambaka, 20. Mārudha, 21. Ramyagrāma, 22. Nācīna, 23. Arbuka, 24. Āṭavika, 25. Vāta (Vātāpi), 26. Pulinda, 27. Pāṇḍya, 28. Kiṣkindhā, 29. Māhiṣmatī, 30. Traipura, 31. Paurava, 32. Surāṣṭra, 33. Bhojakaṭa (see No. 13.), 34 Sūrpāraka, 35. Tālākaṭa (Tālikaṭa), 36. Daṇḍaka, 37. Sāgara-dvīpa, 38. Niṣāda, 39. Puruṣāda, 40. Karṇaprāvaraṇa, 41. Kālamukha, 42. Kollagiri, 43. Surabhīpaṭṭana, 44. Tāmra-dvīpa, 45. Mt. Rāmaka, 46. Timiṅgila, 47. Ekapāda, 48. Kerala, 49. Sañjayanti-nagarī, 50. Pāṣaṇḍa, 51. Karahāṭaka, 52. Pāṇḍya, 53. Draviḍa, 54. Coṇḍra (Coḍa,) 55. Kerala (cf. No. 48) 56. Andhra, 57. Tālavana, 58. Kaliṅga, 59. Uṣṭrakarṇika, 60. Āṭavī-purī, 61. Yavanapura, and 62. Kaccha whence a messenger was dispatched to Vibhīṣaṇa of Laṅkā.

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West—1. Mattamayūraka of Rohitaka (Rohtak), 2. Bahudhānyaka (near Rohtak), 3. Śairiṣaka, 4. Mahottha, 5. Daśārṇa, 6. Śibi, 7. Trigarta, 8. Ambaṣṭha, 9. Mālava, 10. Pañcakarpaṭa, 11. Mādhyamakeya, 12. Vāṭadhāna-dvija, 13. Puṣkarāraṇya, 14. Utsavasaṅketa (generally placed in the Himalayas),1 5. Grāmaṇiyas of the Sindhu-kūla, 16-17. Śūdra and Ābhīra near the Sarasvatī, 18. Matsya, 19. Parvatavāsin, 20. Pañcanada, 21. Amara-parvata, 22. Uttarajyotiṣa, 23. Divyakaṭa, 24. Rāmaṭha, 25. Hārahūṇa, 26. Vāsudeva of Dvārakā, 27. Śākala (Sialkot) the city of the Madra people, 28. Mleccha of the Sāgara-kukṣi, 29. Pahlava, 30. Varvara, 31. Kirāta, 32. Yavana, and 33. Śaka.

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The territories of the peoples subdued by the four Pāṇḍava brothers in the four directions lay in the conventional Cakravarti-kṣetra or the sphere of an Indian emperor's political influence. It may be noted that Prāgjyotiṣa (Assam), as a Himalayan territory, has been placed in the north and that this is supported by Kālidāsa's Raghuvamśa, Canto iv.111 Many of the names occurring in these lists are also noticed in the Puranic lists of janapadas to be discussed in our next lecture.

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111. Raghu first went to the east and reached the lands near the Eastern Ocean. There he received the submission of the Suhma (Rāḍha), defeated the Vaṅga in the tract watered by the mouths of the Bhāgīrathī and crossed the Kapiśā river (modern Kaśāi in the Midnapur District) and the land of the Utkala to reach the Kaliṅga country. After defeating the Kaliṅga king called the lord of Mt. Mahendra, Raghu went to the south to the valleys of the Kāverī and the Malaya and Dardura mountains and defeated the Pāṇḍya, frightened the Kerala and crossed Mt. Sahya and the Muralā river in order to subjugate the Aparānta. From there, he took the land-route to the west through the Yavana territory and defeated the Pārasika, called Pāścātya or the Western people. Thereafter Raghu turned towards the north and defeated first the Hūṇa in the valley of the Vamkṣu or Oxus and then the Kāmboja. Next he went up the Himalayas and defeated the Utsavasaṅketa near the land of the Kinnara and, after crossing the Lauhitya (i.e. the upper course of the Brahmaputra), received the voluntary submission of the king of Prāgjyotiṣa. In the description of Latitāditya's digvijaya, Kalhaṇa's Rājatarangiṇī (iv. 171) also places As regards the passages in the Rāmāyaṇa referring to the Suvarṇa-Rūpyaka-dvīpa (Suvarṇa-dvīpa and Rūpyaka-dvīpa, the same as Chryse and Argyre of the Classical writers) and to the Nara-vyāghra, which are also found in a few other sources, we have to point out that some versions read Suvarṇa-kuḍyaka-dvīpa (the same as ‘the Island of the wall of Gold’ of the Chinese and Tibetan writers) and Samudra-dvīpa (cf. the name of Sumatra derived from Samudra) respectively.¹¹²

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¹¹² See R. C. Majumdar, Suvarṇadvīpa, Part i, pp. 54-55. The Greek geographer Ptolemy mentions Chryse Chora (Golden land) and Chryse Chersonesus (Golden Peninsula) similar to Suvarṇa-bhūmi and Suvarṇa-dvīpa of the Indian authors who, however, often used the two names indiscriminately (ibid., pp. 40ff.). It is interesting to note that Ptolemy places these territories in ‘India beyond the Ganges’. This is apparently due to the spread of Indian culture in the said regions.

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That the Indians had somewhat better contact with and more knowledge about South-East Asia is also indicated by some of the Puranic sections as well as by early Buddhist literature. Thus, while describing the islands in the ocean to the south of the Bhārata-varṣa, the Vāyu Purāṇa (Ch. 49) mentions—(1) Aṅga-dvīpa (Angodiya of the Arab writers who locate it near the Siamese coast in the Bay of Bengal) ; (2) Yama-dvīpa (identified with Yamakoṭi, 90° to the east of Laṅkā or Ceylon) ; (3) Malaya-dvīpa (the Malay Peninsula) ; (4) Śaṅkha-dvīpa (Sankhay of the Arabs who locate it at 3 days’ voyage from Malay and within the Śailendra empire of Kaṭāha and Śrīvijaya) ; (5) Kuśa-dvīpa ; and (6) Varāha-dvīpa (the Barawa islands of the Arabs who place them about 100 farsangs from Fansur, i.e. Boros on the Sumatra coast).¹¹³ The identifications of some of the dvīpas,

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¹¹³ Ibid., pp. 52-53. In the description of the seven streams of the Gaṅgā, as we shall see below, the Purāṇas mention the Sirindhra, Kukura, Cina,

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Prāgjyotiṣa in the North with other Himalayan territories like the Strīrājya which is mentioned in various sources. The name of the Strīrājya (kingdom of the women) reminds us of the belief among the Newars of Nepal that their country belongs to the Kumārī (a young girl elected from time to time and worshipped as the living form of Kālī or Durgā) so that the king has to take every year a fresh mandate from her to rule the land. There are Kumārīs of lesser importance worshipped at every bihāl (vihāra) of the Newars. See Gopal Singh Nepali, The Newars, reviewed in Swarajya, March, 1966, p. 27. See also the women’s country in the Himalayas mentioned in Hiuen-tsang’s Si-yu-ki to be cited below.

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suggested by scholars and indicated above, do not appear to be supported by the *Vaijayantikoṣa* to be cited below.

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The *Milindapañha* of the early centuries of the Christian era mentions Takkola (the Isthmus of Kra in the Malay Peninsula), Cīna (called This in the *Periplus* and Ptolemy’s *Geography*) and Suvarṇa-bhūmi.¹¹⁴

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¹¹⁴ Trenckner, *Milindapañho*, p. 359 ; *S.B.E.*, Vol. xxxvii, trans, p. 269 ; Majumdar, *op. cit.*, pp. 38, 51-52. The *Milindapañha* passage in question mentions Vaṅga, Takkola, Cīna, Sauvīra, Surāṣṭra, Alasanda, Kola-pattana and Suvarṇa-bhūmi, while another passage in the same work (Trenckner, *op. cit.*, p. 331) speaks of Śaka-Yavana, Cīna-Kirāta, Alasanda, Nikumba, Kāśī-Kośala, Kāśmīra and Gandhāra. Alasanda of this work is not Alexandria in Egypt, but lay at the mouth of the Indus. The *Kathāsaritsāgara* (Taraṅga 56, verses 54 ff.) of the 11th century A.D. mentions Nārikela-dvīpa (identified with the Nicobar Islands), Kaṭāha-dvīpa (Keḍah in the Malay Peninsula), Karpūra-dvīpa (either Borneo or North-Western Borneo or the Port Barus region in North-Western Sumatra ; also known to the Arabs), Suvarṇa-dvīpa and Siṃhala-dvīpa (Ceylon). About the same age, the Śailendra kings of Malayasia and Indonesia had friendly relations with the Pālas of Eastern India and the Coḷas of the South, while, shortly before 1025 A.D., Rājendra-coḷa’s navy is stated to have defeated the Śailendra king and conquered Mā-nakkavāram (Nicobar), Kaḍāram (Keḍah), Talait-takkolam (Isthmas of Kra), Māp-pappālam (near Kra), Māy-iruḍiṅgam (near Ligor), Ilaṅgāśogam (near Ligor), Mā-dam-āliṅgam (near the Bay of Bandon), Śrīvijaya (Palembang in South Sumatra), Ilāmuri-deśam (Lamri in North Sumatra), Pannai (East Sumatra), Malaiyūr

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Varvara, Yavana, Śaka, Ruṣāṇa, Kuṇinda, Aṅgalokavara, Cīna-maru, Taṅgaṇa, Sūlika, Sādhra, Lampāka, Pahlava, Pārada, Darada, Kāśmīra, Gandhāra, Aurasa, Kuhu, Śivapaura, Indra-maru, Vasāti, Visarjaya, Saindhava, Randhra-karakā, Bhramara, Ābhīra, Romaka, Śunāmukha and Ūrdhva-maru in the west and the Upaka, Niṣāda, Dhīvara, Ṛṣika, Nilamukha, Kekara, Uṣṭra-karṇa, Kirāta, Kālodara, Vivarṇa, Kuśika, Svarṇabhūmika, Kupatha, Indradyumna-saras, Kharapatha, Vetrapatha, Śaṅkupatha, Udyānaka-maru, Kuthaprāvaraṇa, Indra-dvīpa, Tomara, Haṃsamārga, Huhuka, Karṇaprāvaraṇa, Aśvamukha, Vidyādhara and Śaimimaṇḍala in the east. The patha-ending names of the east appear to indicate more intimate knowledge. See below; also Sircar, *Stud. Geog. Anc. Med. Ind.*, pp. 60ff.

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The *Niddesa* commentary (about the 2nd century A.D.) on the *Suttanipāta* mentions the following places on the high seas—1. Gumba, 2. Takkola, 3. Takṣaśilā, 4. Kālamukha, 5. Maraṇapāra, 6. Vesuṅga, 7. Verā-patha (cf. Nos. 25-34 below), 8. Yava, 9. Tamili 10. Vaṅga (often identified with the Banka Islands), 11. Elāvardhana, 12. Suvarṇakūṭa (probably the same as Suvarṇa-kuḍyaka), 13. Suvarṇa-bhūmi, 14. Tāmraparṇī (Ceylon), 15. Sūrpāra, 16. Bhṛgukaccha, 17. Surāṣṭra, 18. Aṅganeka (cf. Aṅgalokavara of the Purāṇas), 19. Gaṅgana, 20. Parama-gaṅgana, 21. Yavana, 22. Parama-yavana, 23. Allasanda (not Alexandria in Egypt, but at the mouth of the Indus),¹¹⁵ 24. Marukāntāra, 25. Jānu-patha, 26. Aja-patha, 27. Meṇḍha-patha, 28. Śaṅku-patha, 29. Chatra-patha, 30. Vamśa-patha, 31. Śakuna-patha, 32. Muṣika-patha, 33. Darī-patha, and 34. Vetrādhāra (Vetra-patha).¹¹⁶

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¹¹⁵ See *Journ. Ind. Hist.*, Vol. xliii, part ii, August 1965, pp. 343ff.

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¹¹⁶ Majumdar, pp. 56ff., p. 60 ; Lévi, *L'Etude Asiatique*, Vol. ii, pp. 1-55, 531. See Patañjali on Pāṇini, v. 1. 77 ; *Gaṇapāṭha* on Pāṇini v. 3. 100 ; *Vāyu*, 47. 54 ; *Matsya*, 121. 56 ; *Milindapañha*, op. cit., p. 280 ; *Vimānavatthu*, Ch. 84 ; *Tittira Jātaka*, No. 541. See Majumdar, op. cit., p. 60, note. Some of the names are mentioned also in Ptolemy's *Geography*, e. g., Nos. 6 and 7 are Ptolemy's Besyngeitai and Berabai (see below). The Kālamukha, known from the epics, are located in the Arakan coast. Jānu-patha (No. 25) was a passage which one could cross by kneeling. The words prefixed to *patha* are here *verā* (meaning doubtful), *jānu* (knee), *aja* (goat), *meṇḍha* (ram), *śaṅku* (peg or javelin), *chatra* (umbrella), *vamśa* (bamboo), *śakuna* (bird or vulture), *mūṣika* (rat) and *darī* (cave). Yava is Java and Tamali is the same as Tāmraliṅga (Mā-damāliṅgam) mentioned in a Sanskrit inscription from Caiya in Malay (Majumdar, op. cit., p. 194).

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(South-East Sumatra), etc., etc. See *The Struggle for Empire*, ed. Majumdar p. 239.

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