History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.t6.1.3

v5.c74.t6.1.3

37-44) also says that Gautama brought Jāhnavī to Daṇḍaka and the river became Godāvarī. The Kūrma (II. 20. 29-35) mentions a long list of rivers and other sacred places and winds up by saying that the Godāvarī is pre-eminently a place for performing śrāddha. It is stated in the Brahmapurāṇa that for the removal of all kinds of distress two alone are declared (as the means) viz. the holy river Gautamī or Śiva who is full of compassion.¹⁶¹⁴ The Brahmapurāṇa describes about a hundred tīrthas on the Godāvarī, such as Tryambaka (79.6), Kuśāvarta (80. 1-3), Janasthāna (88.1), Govardhana (chap. 91), Pravarāsaṅgama (106) and Nivāsapura¹⁶¹⁵ (106. 55), Vañjarāsaṅgama (159) but they have to be passed over from considerations of space. A few words must, however, be said about Nasik, Govardhana, Pañcavaṭī and Janasthāna. Nasik must have existed at least 200 years before Christ. An Inscription on one pillar of the railing at Bharhut stūpa (about 200 B. C.) records the gift of Gorakṣitā of Nasik, the wife of Vasuka.¹⁶¹⁶ This is the earliest certain historical reference to Nasik discovered so far. The Mahābhāṣya¹⁶¹⁷ speaks of Nāsikya as a city. The Vāyupurāṇa (45.130) mentions Nāsikya as a country. The Nasik Inscriptions in the Pāṇḍuleṇā caves (Bombay Gazetteer vol. 16 pp. 544-639 and E. I. vol. VIII pp. 59-96 edited by Senart) establish that Nasik was a prosperous place in the centuries before and after Christ. Ptolemy (about 150 A. D.) mentions Nasika (Ptolemy p. 156).