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Ramagiri In Jaina Literature
V. V. MIRASHI
THE HE location of Ramagiri described in the Meghadûta of Kalidasa hast recently become a matter of keen controversy. Many years ago, while editing the Meghadüta, Prof. H. H. Wilson suggested that it might be identical with Ramtek, about 28 miles north of Nagpur, but beyond. stating that the hill was covered with buildings consecrated to Rāma and was periodically visited by numerous pilgrims, he did not substantiate the identification with any evidence. Besides, his identification of Mala with Mäldã in the Bilaspur District of Madhya Pradesh, and of Amrakūta with the Amarakantak hill where the Narmada takes its rise, are not in accordance with the description of those places in the Meghaduta. Prof. K. B. Pathak accepted this identification of Ramagiri with Ramtek near Nagpur in his first edition of the Meghaduta but in his second edition of that work published in 1916 he proposed to identify the place with the Ramgarh hill in the Central Provinces as the place intended by the poet owing to its extreme proximity to
Jain Education International
1 Kalidasa describes Mäla as a table-land situated to the north of Ramagiri, while Malḍā in the Bilaspur district lies southeast of Ramtek. Amrakața cannot be Amarkantak; for the poet describes in the Meghadüta that the Cloud-messenger saw the Narmada after flying considerable distance from Amrakuta with great speed. (तोयोत्सर्गततरगतिस्तत्परं वस् तीर्णः रेवां द्रश्यसि etc.) Amarkantak is, on the other hand, the source of the Narmada,
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