Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s4.136

v2.c4.s4.136

Madhya-deśa, the ‘Middle Country,’ is, according to the Mānava Dharma Śāstra,¹ the land between the Himālaya in the north, the Vindhya in the south, Vinaśana in the west, and Prayāga (now Allahabad) in the east—that is, between the place where the Sarasvatī disappears in the desert, and the point of the confluence of the Yamunā (Jumna) and the Gaṅgā (Ganges). The same authority² defines Brahmarṣi-deśa as denoting the land of Kurukṣetra, the Matsyas, Pañcālas, and Śūrasenakas, and Brahmāvarta³ as meaning the particularly holy land between the Sarasvatī and the Dṛṣadvatī. The Baudhāyana Dharma Sūtra⁴ defines Āryāvarta as the land east of Vinaśana; west of the Kālaka-vana, ‘Black Forest,’ or rather Kanakhala, near Hardvār; south of the Himālaya; and north of the Pāriyātra or the Pāripātra Mountains; adding that, in the opinion of others,⁵ it was confined to the country between the Yamunā and the Gaṅgā, while the Bhāllavins⁶ took it as the country between the boundary-river (or perhaps the Sarasvatī)⁷ and the region where the sun rises. The Mānava Dharma Śāstra,⁸ in accord with the Vasiṣṭha Dharma Sūtra,⁹ defines Āryāvarta as the region between the Vindhya and the Himālaya, the two ranges which seem to be the boundaries of the Āryan world in the Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad also.¹⁰