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104 INDIA AS DESCRIBED IN EARLY TEXTS
Videhan king, was divided into seven subkingdoms, the kingdom of Avanti fell to the share of Vessabhū, counted as one of the seven contemporary kings of the line of Bharata. 1 Māhissati (Sk. Māhīşmati) was then the capital of this kingdom. But the Pali canonical texts nention Ujjeni (Sk. Ujjayini) as the capital of Caņdapajjota, the king of Avanti in the time of Mahāvīra and the Buddha. Professor D. R. Bhandarkar seeks to account for this discrepancy by the assumption that the country of the Avantis was divided into two kingdoms, one placed in the Dakkhiņāpatha having Mābissati for its capital, and the other, i.e., the northern singdom having its capital at Ujjeni. This explanation has not so far been disputed.
As for the Avantīs as a people, the Matsya Purana counts them among the five branches of he Haibayas, the other four being represented by the Vitihotras, Bhojas, Kuņņikeras or Tuņņi. keras and Tālajanghas. According to the Matsya 4 and Väyu o Purăņas, the first dynasty of Māhismati 6 was of the Haihaya family. The Haihayas, mentioned also in the Arthasāstra, established themselves in that part of India by
1 Digha, zi, p. 236. 2 Carmichael Lectures, 1918, p. 54. 8 Matsya, 43.48-9. * Ibid., 43.8–29. + Vày, 94.5–26, D-JRAS., 1916, p. 867--Pargiter's note deserves consideratior
