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A CRITICAL STUDY OF PAUMACARIYAN
Thus to the PCV and other Jaina works the Vijayārdha is the great mountainous belt of India stretching east-west, to the south of the Gangetic and the Sindhu plains.
It is stated in the Titthogāli-paiņņaya (16-18) that there occurred great famine in the Madhyadesa so the monks migrated to other countries. Some took shelter under the caves of the Veyaddha (Veyaţthakandarāsu ya nadīsu sedhisamuddakulesu). This reference to the Veyaddha cannot be to the Himalayas. It is a reference to the mountainous region of the Madhyadeśa. Therefore Veyattha stands for the Vindhya system of mountains.
In the Matsya (113.52-54)' and the Vayu Purāņa (45. 132-134) the Janapadas such as Mālava, Daśārņa, Kiskindhaka, Košala, Vaidiša, Avanti, Mekala, Utkala, Aundra, etc. are said to be occupying the Vindhya region. Thus the Vindhyas are here referred to as not only the Vindhya range lying to the north of the Narmadā but the whole system of the mountains spreading from Mālawā up to Orrisā.
In accordance with these evidences it can be safely said that if a line be drawn from the Rajamahal hills passing through the Maikal and Mahadeo hills, up to the Vindhya proper then the hilly region and the plateau region falling to the north and to the south of this line would be called as the north and the south Vijayārdha or Vindhyas. The width of 50 Yojanas i.e. nearly 200 to 300 miles north to south as mentioned in the Jaina works would thus agree with the Vindhyaprstha of the Purāņas.
According to the modern geographers also the Vindhya mountain extends from Gujerat to Bihar, taking different local names at different places (HGAI, p. 310) and B.C. Law also regards the Veyaddha or Vijayārdha of the Jaina tradition as the Vindhya range (stretching from the west to the east (IDETBJ, p. 77) dividing the continent into North India and South India.
It seems that Veyaddha' is the Prakrit name of Vindhyādri' of Indian literature. (Vindhyādri=Viñjhaddha=Viyaddha=Veyaddha), Then the Prakrit name itself became Sanskritised in the form of Vaitādhya and Vijayārdha.
1. Malavāsca Karuşāśca Mekalascotkalaiḥ saha/
Auņdrā Maşā Daśārņāśca Bhojāḥ Kiskindhakaiḥ saha// Stosalo Kosalascaiva Traipurā Va idiśāstathā/ Tumurāstumbarascaiva Padgamā Naişadh aiḥ saha// Arupāḥ Saundikerāśca Vitihotrā Avantayaḥ/ Ete Janapadāḥ khyātā Vindhyaprsthanivasinaḥ//
