Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c7: Section V. Geography of the Jātakas

Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jātaka Stories c7

Language: English

Section V. Geography of the Jātakas

IT is an admitted fact that the study of the history of any country remains imperfect without the study of its geography. History and geography are, indeed, the two inseparable sciences. The immense influence which the physical features of a country exercise over the character of its people and their political, economic and social destiny can never be overlooked. In fact "a knowledge of space, no less than that of time, of geography, no less than that of chronology, is an indispensable pre-requisite of a serious historical study."[1]

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In the following pages we shall attempt to glean as much information as the *Jātakas* can give about the geography of India and the outside world known to them.

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Here, as also in the historical study, we have to bear in mind that the *Jātakas* do not belong to any particular date or place. They are popular stories which were current among the people from very early times, and which remained with the people, subject to individual narrators. This may, at first, appear to take away much of the value that attaches to the geographical knowledge contained in them, but, in reality, it is not so. The information we receive is, barring a few exceptions, much older and, hence, valuable.

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A question may arise here, whether the *Jātakas*, being considered as only a part of the larger Buddhist *Pāli* Literature, can be worthy of a separate treatment at all as regards geography. Our answer is that, while admitting the general agreement of the *Jātakas*, in this respect, with the Buddhist Canonical Literature, we feel that the very nature of our task demands such a treatment.

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Attempts have been made, it is true, to utilise the geographical information supplied by the *Jātakas* in the reconstruction of ancient Indian history and geography.[2] But these are, more or less, of a casual character, and no systematic arrangement of this geographical data, on the lines on which we have, herein, proceeded, has as yet been made.

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In our attempt to do so, we shall have to face many a fictitious or fabulous name. But that is, at the same time, no reason why we should discard it altogether. This will be clear when we remember that the names of some of the countries, cities, mountains and rivers occuring in the *Purāṇas* and the *Epics*, which were considered to be fictitious or fabulous years ago,¹ have, now in the light of further research, come to be regarded as based on facts.² This makes it incumbent upon us to put down the results of our geographical knowledge derived from the *Jātakas*, bearing always in mind that that which looks fabulous now may prove to be a fact in future.

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¹ Raychoudhury, *I. H. Q.*, IV, p. 228.

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² Prominent amongst these may be mentioned: Rhys Davids, *Buddhist India*; Nundo Lal De, *Geographical Dictionary of Ancient India*; D. R. Bhandarkar, *Carmichael Lectures*, 1918; H. C. Raychoudhury, *Political History of Ancient India*; *Studies in Indian Antiquities*; Cunningham, *Ancient Geography of India*, ed. by S. N. Majumdar. The most recent being, B. C. Law, *Geography of Early Buddhism*, London, 1932. *Geographical Essays*, Calcutta, 1938.

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¹ A characteristic example is furnished by this, that when "Mr. Wilford collected an account of the river Nile and its source, and reconstructed a map out of the *Purāṇas*, H. H. Wilson called him an "injudicious writer," Cunningham remarked that his essay was a "wild speculation," St. Martin stated him to be the first victim of the "imposture geographical literature of the Hindus." But it was from this very source that best information was secured, and the source of the river Nile traced and discovered by the 19th century explorer Lieut. J. H. Speke. See *C. A. G. I.*, Introd., p. xxxviii.

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² *Paurāṇic Seven Dvīpas and their identification* by V. Venkatachellam, *Q. J. M. S.*, XV, pp. 62, 119, 238; XVI, pp. 116, 268; XVII, p. 94; *cf.* Raychoudhury, "*India in Purāṇic Cosmography*" in *J. D. L.*, XIX; for seven divisions of *Jambūdvīpa*, Jayaswal, I. A., LXII., pp. 167 ff.; also *Traimāsik*. Quarterly organ of The Forbes Gujarātī Sāhityasabhā, Bombay, Vol. I.

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GENERAL OUTLOOK

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THOSE were the days of brisk trade and commerce, both inland and sea-borne, between India and a large part of the outside world. The Jātakas abound in sea-going references, and they quite frequently refer to brisk inland trade carried on by means of caravans.¹ This, naturally, brought the trading folk in close contact with different parts of the country and with other foreign countries, and thus expanded their geographical knowledge through personal experience. Now, these trading people, when they returned home from their far-off journey on land and water, told their experiences to their relatives and friends, and thus the knowledge of the outside world was easily broad-casted. It was through this process, that the people of India knew well that in the far-off kingdom of Baveru (Babylon), there did not exist various kinds of birds; it was through this medium again, that they knew how prosperous the country of Suvaṇṇabhūmi (Lower Burma) was. It was through this personal experiences of the travellers, also, that the numerous cities and villages, ports and seas, rivers and mountains, plains and deserts became familiar to the people. Besides this, the itinerant mendicants (paribbājakas) of whom we hear a lot in these stories, helped a great deal in spreading geographical knowledge.

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¹ Details of these evidences of our commercial life in those days as given in the Jātakas are presented in the chapter on Exchange: Supra. pp. 225-37.

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In this way the Jātakas know the entire track of the country, from Gandhāra and Kamboja in the North-west to Kaliṅga, Andha and Kāvīrapaṭṭaṇa in the South-east on one side, and from Kasmīra and across the Himālayas on the North to Assaka, Avanti and Mahimsaka in the South on the other. Besides these, the foreign lands like Baveru, Tambapaṇṇi, Suvaṇṇabhūmi and other oceanic countries are known.

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Here, it may be of use to know what was the Jātaka conception about the world in general and India in particular. The earth was recognised as a round sphere (Cakkavāḷa), surrounded on all sides by the sea,² and Jambudīpa was only a part of the bigger sphere.³ The earth was believed to be 24 nahuta yojanas in thickness, and split in two like unto a strong stout cloth garment.⁴

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² J., III, p. 484—"Sāgarena parikkhittam Cakkam ca parimaṇḍalam"; IV, p. 214.

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³ J., IV, p. 214; cf. Hardy, Manual of Buddhism, p. 4.

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⁴ J., I, pp. 321-2; III, p. 42—"Cattālisasahassādhikānidveyojanasatasahassāni bahalā... Balitthaddha sājako viya phalitā"; a nahuta=ten thousand. VI., p. 486; cf. Visuddhimagga, P. T. S., I, p. 205.

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The world was comprised of four Mahādīpas (Catunnaṃ Mahādīpānaṃ) or the four great Continents,¹ surrounded by 2000 dīpas or doabs.² Fortunately for us, the Jātakas do furnish us with the names of these Great Continents. They are: Uttarakuru, Pubba Videha, Apara Goyāna and Jambudīpa.³

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¹ J., II, p. 313; III, pp. 239, 481—G. 91; VI, pp. 3, 432.

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² J., II, p. 313; III, p. 239—"Dvipa originally meant land having water (and not sea) on two (and not all) of its sides." See, C. A. G. I., Intro., p. xxxvii.

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³ J., VI, pp. 278—G. 1212; "Purato Videhe passa Goyāniye ca pacchato, Kuruyo Jambudipaṅca maximhi passa nimmitam," Cf. Hardy, op. cit., and loc. cit.; Cowell and Neil, Divyāvadāna, pp. 214 ff; Law, A Study of the Mahāvastu, pp. 4, 14; Watters, Yuan Chwang, I, pp. 31, 6; according to the Paurāṇic Geography, the world was comprised of 7 concentric dvipas, viz., Jambū, Śāka, Kuśa, Śālmala, Krauñca, Gomeda and Puṣkara; for the attempted identifications of these, see V. Venkatachellam, op. & loc. cit. cf. Kasten Rönnow, Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, London, Vol. V, pp. 253-284.

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UTTARAKURU is mentioned as such once in the Sonananda Jātaka wherefrom we learn that it was to the north of the Himālayas. This is in perfect agreement with the statement of the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa⁴ that Uttarakuru lay beyond the Himālayas (parena Himavantaṃ). It is placed immediately to the south of Uttaraḥ payasaṃ nidhiḥ—the Northern Deep or the Arctic Ocean—by the Rāmāyaṇa.⁵ Both the Greek and Indian writers describe Uttarakuru as a semi-mythic region where there was perpetual happiness and bliss.⁶ It is, nevertheless, identified with Siberia.⁷

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⁴ VIII, 14, 4; Vedic Index, I, p. 84.

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⁵ IV, 43, 56.

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⁶ McCrindle, Ancient India as described in Classical Literature, pp. 63, 113 & notes; Mārk. P. 59, 18 ff; Dīgha Nikāya. The Āṭānāṭiya Suttaṅta, Dialogues of the Buddha, III, pp. 192-4 Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, 1, 492.

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⁷ Jayaswal, I. A., LXII, p. 170. Cf. Raychoudhury, Studies in Indian Antiquities, pp. 71 ff.

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As to PUbBAVIDEHA we have no internal data to identify it. But a passage of the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa⁸ which calls BHADRĀŚVA as PŪRVA-DVĪPA makes us feel certain of the identity between Pubbavideha and Bhadrāśva which is, in turn, identifiable with Eastern Turkestan and North China.⁹

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⁸ Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa 45, 24; 46, 35.

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⁹ Raychaudhury, op. cit., pp. 75-6; Bhadrāśva is said to have been watered by the Sitā, the mythical prototype of the Yārkand and Yellow Rivers. Sitā is our Sidā mentioned in J., VI, p. 100, Gāthās 424-5. Uttara Himavante—Cf. Uttarādhyayana Sūtra, XI, 28.

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APARAGOYĀNA, similarly, should be taken to be identical with the Paurāṇic KETUMĀLA which is, in turn, identifiable with the region of Western Turkestan.¹⁰

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¹⁰ Raychaudhury, op. cit., p. 75.

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As regards JAMBUDĪPA, the fourth of our great continents, we have plenty of references in the Brāhmaṇic as well as in the Buddhist and Jaina literature. It is mentioned quite frequently in the Jātakas.¹¹ But they, we mean the Jātakas, nowhere give any clear idea of the size or extent of this country. The Mahā-ummagga Jātaka,¹² indeed, knows that Jambudīpa was encompassed (paribbata) by the ocean (sāgara), but this, in no way, clears up the matter. However, it seems quite certain that the traditional conception of Jambudīpa was much wider than that of India proper as we understand it now. And if Mr. Jayaswal’s interpretation of Jambudīpa of the Purāṇas as comprising the whole of the Continent of Asia be accepted, and if the Aśokan Inscriptions, as pointed out by him, have a similar wider denotation, we should not then hesitate to ascribe the same denotation to our Jambudīpa.¹ At any rate, we shall not be far wide of the mark, we hope, if we say that by Jambudīpa the Jātakas, for all practical purposes, meant India-cum-Afghanistan.²

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¹¹ See Dines Anderson, Index to the Jātaka, p. 56.

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¹² J., VI, p. 464—G. 1637.

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¹ Jayaswal, *I. A.*, LXII, pp. 170 ff.

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² For detailed information about the development of the name Jambudīpa, see V. Venkatachellam, *Q. J. M. S.*, XVII, p. 102; *cf.* also Raychaudhury, *Studies in Indian Antiquities*, pp. 78 ff.

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DIVISIONS OF INDIA

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THE traditional division of India into five regions is found throughout in Indian Literature. In the *Atharvaveda*,¹ already, we have this division of India as a familiar practice. So also in the well-known passage of the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*,² we find India divided into five great *diks*, viz., *Prācya* (Eastern),³ *Dakṣiṇā* (Southern),⁴ *Pratīcī* (Western), *Udīcī* (Northern),⁵ and *Dhruvā Madhyamā* (Central).⁶ In later times, these five ‘*diks*’ or directions are clearly stated to be *Deśas* or countries. The *Purāṇas*, also, know these five regions, though they, sometimes, add two more, viz., the *Vindhya* and the *Himavanta* regions, thus making the number seven.⁷ Rājaśekhara, in the beginning of the tenth century A.D., clearly gives the boundaries of these five divisions in the following manner: “To the east of Bārāṇasi (Benares) is the eastern country; to the south of Māhiṣmati is the Dakṣiṇāpatha or the Deccan; to the west of Devasabhā is the western country; to the north of Pṛthūdaka (mod, Pehoā, about 14 miles west of Thāṇeśwar) is the Uttarāpatha, and the tract lying between Vinaśana and Prayāga is called Antarvedi (or Madhyadeśa).⁸ The same division was adopted by the Chinese Travellers also.⁹

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¹ III, 27; IV, 40; XII, 3; XIX, 17; *Cf.* H. C. Chakladar, *Social Life in Ancient India*, p. 41.

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² VIII, 14.

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³ *Prācya* also appears in the *Śat. Brāh.* I, 7, 3, 8; See *Ved. Ind.*, II, 46.

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⁴ *Dakṣiṇāpatha* is mentioned in the *Ṛgveda*, X, 61, 8; *cf.* Oldenburg, *Buddha*, p. 394, note.

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⁵ *Udīcī* are mentioned in the *Śat. Brāh.* XI, 4, 1, 1.

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⁶ See *Ved. Ind.*, II. pp. 125-7.

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⁷ *Cf.*, *e.g.*, *Brahmāṇḍa* p. 34, 64; “*Tairidaṃ Bhārataṃ varṣaṃ saptakhaṇḍaṃ kṛtaṃ purā*”; Raychaudhury, op. cit., p. 92.

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⁸ *Kāvyamīmāṃsā*, (G. O. S. Series), pp. 93. *ff.*

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⁹ See Cunningham, op. cit., pp. 13-14; the boundary of the *Madhyadeśa*, the *Āryāvarta* to the east of Aṅga-Kajaṅgala, as the Āryans spread over the country.

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The *Jātakas*, also, are familiar with these divisions of India. Uttarāpatha is mentioned three times¹⁰; Dakkhiṇāpatha is mentioned in the *Sarabhaṅga* and *Indriya Jātakas*¹¹; Majjhimadesa is similarly mentioned a number of times¹²; The names of the other two divisions, viz., the Prācya and the Aparānta do not, however, find mention in the *Jātakas*. But their non-mention does not prove that they were unknown to the *Jātakas*, for the countries like Sovira,¹³ Bharu¹⁴ and Suraṭṭha,¹⁵ mentioned in the *Jātakas*, are apparently to be located in the Aparānta division; so also Kajaṅgala, mentioned in the Kapota Jātaka¹ and the Bhisa Jātaka,² is clearly the western boundary of the Prācya Deśa.

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¹⁰ J., II, pp. 31, 287; IV, p. 79.

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¹¹ J., III, p. 463; V, p. 133.

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¹² J., III, pp. 115, 364, 463; V, p. 134.

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¹³ J., III, p. 470.

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¹⁴ J., II, pp. 171-2; IV, p. 137.

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¹⁵ J., III, p. 463; V, p. 133.

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¹ J., III. p. 226.

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² J., IV, p. 310.

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HIMAVANTA REGION. Besides the above five divisions or regions, the Jātakas know the Himālaya region as a separate division altogether.³ This region is very frequently alluded to, and the Jātakas grow, oftentimes, eloquent over the description of that region showing, thereby, a great deal of observation.⁴ This Himavanta region is also known to the Purāṇas as Parvatāśraya or the “mountain region.”⁵

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³ See Andersen's Index, p. 184.

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⁴ Cf. J. IV, pp. 286-7 ; V, pp. 415-6 ; VI, pp. 496-7.

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⁵ See Brahmāṇḍa pp. 34, 64; Buddhagosa, in his commentary on the Kathāvatthu, mentions two territorial names of the two post-Aśokan Buddhist Schools, viz., Hemavatika, and Uttarāpathaka, thus distinguishing between the two regions : Barua, Old Brāhmi Inscriptions, pp. 219-220.

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BOUNDARIES. Unfortunately, the Jātakas are perfectly silent about the respective boundaries of these divisions. Only incidentally we come across the names of some of the countries or cities which are there said to have been included in particular divisions. Thus Videha was a kingdom in Majjhimadesa;⁶ Takkasilā is said to be outside Majjhimadesa;⁷ the country of Arañjara, again, was situated in the Central region;⁸ Avantī was included in Dakkhiṇāpatha;⁹ the district of Kaṃsa was a part of the Uttarāpatha. ¹⁰

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⁶ J., III, p. 364.

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⁷ J., III, p. 115.

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⁸ J., III, p. 463 ; V, p. 134.

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⁹ J., III, p. 463 ; V, p. 133.

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¹⁰ J., IV, p. 79.

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UTTARĀPATHA AND DAKKHIṆĀPATHA. One remarkable fact now remains to be noticed in this connection. The Jātakas seem to have retained the original significance of the terms Uttarāpatha and Dakkhiṇāpatha as meaning, respectively, “the Northern High Road” and “the Southern High Road.” It is clear that originally two great trade routes, both Uttarāpatha and Dakkhiṇāpatha, lent their names to the regions through which they passed.¹¹ It is in this sense that the districts of Kaṃsa and Uttaramadhurā, which lay on the Northern High Road,¹² are included in Uttarāpatha,¹³ and that Avantī, which lay on the Southern High Road,¹⁴ is included in Dakkhiṇāpatha.¹⁵

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¹¹ Barua, Old Brāhmi Inscriptions, pp. 218-220.

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¹² We know, from the Gandhāra Jātaka, III, p. 365, that traders went from Videha to Gandhāra. This route seems to have extended from Videha, across the rivers Gaṅgā and Yamunā, through the desert on to Takkasilā, the Gandhāra capital.

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¹³ J., IV, p. 79.

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¹⁴ This route extended from Sāvatthi to Paṭiṭṭhāna ; Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, p. 103.

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¹⁵ J., III, p. 463 ; V, p.

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¹³³ About these trade-routes in detail, see Supra, pp. 225-28.

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GEOGRAPHICAL LEXICON

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In order to arrange systematically the mass of geographical material found in the *Jātakas*, we have felt it advisable to place it in a lexiconic order. All the geographical names found in the *Aṭṭhakathā* portions of the *Jātakas* have been arranged in alphabetical order, together with their descriptions as given in the *Jātakas*, their places of reference, and identification and location wherever possible. We have not touched the Introductory portions for this information as we have confined ourselves only to the *Aṭṭhakathā* portion throughout our book, though the former are, in themselves, valuable and have been utilised by other writers.

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Linked texts (16)

Jātaka — Pāli
Aitareyabrāhmaṇa — Mahidāsa Aitareya, Sanskrit
Śatapathabrāhmaṇa — Yājñavalkya & Śāṇḍilya (Vedic teacher), Sanskrit
Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Atharvavedasaṃhitā — Atharvan & Aṅgiras, Sanskrit
Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa — Vālmīki, Sanskrit
Kathāvatthu — Moggaliputta Tissa, Pāli
Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Mahāvastu — Sanskrit
Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Divyāvadāna — Sanskrit
Uttarajjhayaṇa — Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit
Kāvyamīmāṃsā — Rājaśekhara, Sanskrit
Dīghanikāya — Pāli
Visuddhimagga — Buddhaghosa, Pāli
Purāṇa — Sanskrit