India As Described In Early Texts Of Buddhism and Jainism

Author(s): Bimla Charn Law
Publisher: Bimlacharan Law

Page 81

GEOGRAPHY
the high road between Kapilavatthu and Sāvatthi.
The Apadāna mentions the Sindhu (Indus), Vitamsā (Vitastā), and Candabhāgā (Chenab) among the important rivers of Uttarāpatha, and points out that the Gangă Bhāgirasi (Bhägirathi) taking its rise in the Himalayas, Howed by the gate of Hamsavati, which was an ancient city in Uttarapatha. The Amarikā was a river which flowed down from the foot of the Samanga mountain belonging to the Himalayan range.
V Aparānta or Pascāddeśa (Western India): This may be taken to represent that part of Western India which lay to the west of the Buddhist Mid-land and to the north and south respectively of the Dakkhiņāpatha and Uttarāpatha. According to the Kāvya-mimāṁsā, as we noted, the region extended westward from Devasabhā (identified with modern Dewas in the Central Indian States Agency). From, the Buddhist definition of the Middle country it may be inferred that Aparānta extended westward from the western side of the kingdom of Vatsa. Bhagawanlal Indraji took Aparanta to be the western sea-board of India. The Bhoja and Rastra countries that are referred in the Mārkandeya Purāna to the Vindhye region are mentioned in Asoka's R.E. V, as examples of countries in Western India