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GEOGRAPHICAL PLACES, PEOPLES AND TRIBES
507
mentioned as Anāryas and at places no distinction is made between the Aryas and the non-Aryans.
(1) Places and peoples referred to in the main story or associated wtth Rāma.
Saketapura :-Rama's birth place was Sāketapura (25.22). It is variously called as Ayodhyā (37.19). Vinītāpuri (24.34;32.50), Kośalapuri (99.30), Kośalā (20.28), Kośalanagari (98.53), and Kośalāpuri (82.5). It is called Prathamapuri also (28.70) as it was the birth place of the first Jina and it was the first city to be established by Dhanada (3.113;20.30; PCR. 3.169). It is mentioned in the PCV (99.30) that some river lay near it. Ayodhyā is identified with a place about six miles from the Fyzabad Railway station in Uttara Pradesh. The river should be the Saryu on which it is situated. The Saryu is identified with the Ghagra or the Gogra in Oudh'.
The PCV mentions Ayodhyā as the capital of KośalodeśaKošalavişaya-Kosalāpurivişaya (99.29). Košala was one of the 16 great Janapadas of ancient time. It lay to the east of the Kurus and Pañcalas and to the west of the Videhas from whom it was separated by the Gandak
Aruhasthala:--Rāma's mother, Aparājita was the princess of Aruhasthala and the daughter of its king Sukošala (22 106). The PCR (22.171) mentions that place as Darbhasthala. Darbha is the other name of the Kusa grass, therefore Darbhasthala and Kuśasthala are two names of the same place. The PCV further mentions Kušasthala also and says that marital relations existed between the kings of Ayodhyā and Kuśasthala. An ancestor of Dasaratha, namely Kirtidhara had married a princess of Kuśasthalapura (21.79). The PCR calls it Kausalastha (21.142). According to the VR there were two Kośala countries viz. North-Kośala and South-Kośala (VR, 7-107). Ayodhyā was the capital of North Kośala or Oudh while Kuśāvati was the capital of South Kośala and Kusa ruled there. The VR (7.108. 4) mentions that Kuśavati was situated in the Vindhyas (Vindhyaparvatarodhasi). The VR Vayupurāna mentions it as Kuśasthali.3 Thus it seems that Aruhasthala", Darbhasthala, Kausalastha and Kuśāvati should be identical. The PCV names the king of Aruhasthala as Sukošala, a name similar to the name of the country. South Kośala
1. HGAI, p. 67. 2. Ibid, p. 42., 99. 3. Vā. Pu, 88.98 4. Vide Supra, p. 34.
