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MAY, 1893.)
HIUEN TSIANG'S CAPITAL OF MAHARASHTRA.
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est voisine d'un grand pleuve," which apparently mean that the capital lay towards the west of the kingdom and was on or near a great river. And I thus take it that we must locate the required place as far to the west as possible, consistently with maintaining, approxi. mately, the given distance and direction from Broach.
Since, then, the given distance from Broach keeps us far away to the north of the real capital, BÂdâmi, we have to look for some subordinate but important town, somewhere along or near the northern frontier and towards the western end of it, which was mistakenly spoken of as the capital by Hiuen Tsiang, - most probably because it was the basis of the military operations against Harshavardhana of Kapanj, which also are alluded to in his account, and because, in connection with those operations, Pulikéáin II. happened to be there at the time. And I feel po hesitation in deciding that the place, which must of necessity lie somewhere towards the west or north-west of the Nâsik District, is NAsik itself. This town is about 128 miles to the south-south-east of Broach: the distance corresponds sufficiently well: and, accepting the statement of Hwui-li, so does the bearing; for Broach, lying actually to the north-north-west of Nâsik, may very fairly, in the rough manner followed by the Chinese pilgrims, be described as lying towards the north-west. And the surroundings of the town, which has been a place of importance from considerable antiquity, answer in detail to the description given by Hinen Tsiang. It is on the Godavari, which, anywhere along its course, is always counted as one of the great rivers of India. Within a distance of six miles on the south-west, there is the Pandu-lêņa group of Buddhist caves, in which we may locate the sangháráma mentioned by the Chinese pilgrim. And finally, as regards the stúpas spoken of by him, one, at any rate, still exists, - near a small water-fall on the Godavari, about six miles west of the town,
In conclusion, I would remark that, in my opinion, the country which Hiuen Tsiang has described might have been called more properly Kuntala (in Maharashtra), - rather than Maharashtra itself. To allow for the number of ninety-nine thousand villages, whether actual or traditional, which the Aihoļe inscription allots to the three divisions of it, each called Maharashtraka, the Maharashtra country proper must, I think, have extended on the north up to the Narmada, and on the east and north-east far beyond Ajantà. What Hiuen Tsiang was describing is really the kingdom of Pulikesin II., or part of it. Now, the later Western Chalukyas of Kalyani were specially known as "the lords of Kuntala." The dominions of their predecessors of Badâmi appear to have coincided very much with their own doninions. And the existence of the Kuntala country may certainly be taken back to at least the time of Hiuen Tsiang; for it is mentioned, as a well-established and principal territorial division, in an inscription at Ajanta, which, though possibly not quite so early as the period of Hinen Tsiang, is at any rate not very much later in date. It is, moreover, mentioned there under circumstances which suggest the inference that the Ajaņțâ caves were themselves in Kuntala.
It may be added that the given distance of about 410 miles to the south-east from Násik takes us to a very likely place indeed, Karnal, as the capital of the country of Kong-kin. na-pu-lo. The actual distance here is, as near as possible, 403 miles, to the south-east. And, on the assumption, which appears to be correct, that the distances given by Hiuen Tsiang are always the distances from capital to capital, the distance and direction to Karşûl from
The same meaning may, I think, be given to Mr. Beal's translation, by inserting a comma after "west." And very possibly he intended such a comma to be understood. But, as it stands, his sentence is decidedly enigmatical.
Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. XVI., N&sik, p. 539. It is there called a "burial mound; but the details of the description shew it to be an undeniable stúpa.- To obriate unnecessary questioning, it may be stated that, in spite of its being a Buddhist site, and one, too, on the line of his route, NÅsik is nowhere mentioned by name by Hiuen Tsiang. So there is no objection of that kind,- vix. that he refers to it in any other connection, against the identification for which I decide. The matter sooms to me so obvious, that it appears curious that no one has already hit on the trae solution. But it probably required what I have been able to give it, - personal consideration on the spot.
• Archool. Surv. West. Ind. Vol. IV. Pp. 126, 127.-In an earlier time still, the name of Kuntala occurs in Varahamihira's Brihat-Samhita, xvi. 11.
