________________
504
A CRITICAL STUDY OF PAUMACARIYAN
Bharata (varsa) According to the Jambūdivapannatti, the country of Bhārata is situated in the southern most part of Jambūdvīpa. It is bound on the north by Cullahimavanta and on the south, east and the west by the Lavana ocean?. It is divided into Uttarardha and Dakşiņārdha? Bhārata by the Vijayārdha mountains stretching from the east to the west in the middle of it. The lake Padmadrahasituated in the middle of the Cullahimavanta is said to be the source of the Ganges and the Sindhu which flow first to the south, go across the Vijayārdha mountain, again flow in the Dakşina Bhārata towards the east and the west and then empty into the eastern and the western Lavana-Samudra respectively. Thus these two rivers and mount Veyaddha divide the Bharata country into six divisions. 5
In the Brahmanical literature the situation of the Bharata is between the Himālaya and the sea. The Märkandeyapurāna locates it in the south of Jambūdvipa?. But there 'Bharata' covers a much larger area than the real Bhārata, because Bhäratavarşa has been divided into nine regions which are separated by inaccessible seas and the last region is called Bharata.
According to the Buddhist conception of the world, Jambūdvipa means India except Simhaladvipa, The Ganges and the Sindhu have their sources in the Anavatapta sarovara beyond the Himavat.10 The Sumangalavilasini does not mention Sindhu whereas the five rivers of Jambūdvipa are said to be the Ganges, the Jamuni, Sarabhū Acirāvati and Mahi.
Thus we find that Bhāratavarşa meant a larger area than India to the Brahmanical conception and Jambūdvipa of the Buddhists12 was
1. Su 10; also TP, 4.107; 4.196f, 4.252. 2. Referred to in the PCV as Bharahaddhavāsa (7.164 & 8.143) and Dahina.
bharaha (103.7). 3. TP, 4.195. 4. JP, Su. 73. & 74. 5. 7P, Su. 10. 6. Vn. Pu, 2.3; 1; Mār. Pu, 54.49. 7. 52.21. 8. Mār. Pu, 54.4, Vn. Pu, 2. 3. 6f (Vide B. C. Law's TIG:11 Int.). 9. Geog. Essays, p. 9. 10. Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosa-Vide H.L Jain-TP, Int. p. 88. 11. II. 429. 12. The Asoka minor RE. I mentions Jambūdvipi which denotes the whole
country ruled by him.
