Geography of Puranas

Locations of 4 cardinal points from Surya Siddhanta inserted in hand by Arun Kumar Upadhyay

FIG 6

JAMBU DWIPA

associated with the Mudgagiri hills of Monghyr. Antargiri and bahirgiri janapadas appear to have been located on the plateau proper. The former occupied the hilly country between the Rajmahal and Hazaribagh ranges and the later the region beyond the Hazaribagh range, i.e. the basin of the Damodar. Both the janapadas essentially belonged to the Hills. V. THE SOUTHERN JANAPADAS The list of the Puranic janapadas of the south shows that the Dakshinapatha or Southern India was normally conceived as that part of the Indian Peninsula which lies south of the crests of Satpura-Mahadeo-Maikal Ranges and the western and southern limits of the Mhanadi basin. North of this line were the Vindhyan lands while to its north-west lay the western lands of the Puranas. By virtue of their position, the janapadas located on the border lands of these major regions could be assigned to either side. Some Puranas, for instance, the Matsya and the Vayu, rightly consider the Narmada and Mahanadi axis as the dividing line between Northern and Southern India and include the Tapti basin within the southern region.