Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c8.s5.16

c8.s5.16

Like the list of territories in Gautamīputra Śātakarṇi’s kingdom as found in the Nasik praśasti, another valuable list of the lands forming parts of the dominions of Śaka Rudradāman (130-50 A.D.) is offered by the Junāgaḍh inscription.²⁹ The Allāhābād pillar inscription³⁰ of Samudragupta (c. 335-76 A. D.) contains a large number of geographical names, such as the lands of his adversaries in Dakṣiṇāpatha, the pratyanta countries bordering on his empire and the states offering him submission, some of which (e.g. the land of Davāka apparently in Eastern India) are not found in any other source. In the description of the military exploits of the royal heroes, geographical names generally occur, e.g., the Tirumalai rock inscription³¹ of Rājendra-cola specially mentions the achievements of the Cola army in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Bengal and of the Cola navy in the lands in and beyond the Bay of Bengal.