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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(APRIL, 1921
districte, so that his description of them may be faithful. The Nagyasastra of Bharata (Kavyamála Series) also gives details as to the colours with which to paint actors personifying the various tribes of India and its borders. It thns gives geographical and ethnological data. (JA8B, 1909, pp., 359-60.]
The Vâtsyayana Kama Sutra and its commentary by Yasodhara (ed. by the late M. M. Durgaprasada) are also valuable. The Sutra refers to various countries and the commen. tary indicates their location.
The Rajataraigtus and the historical poems-the Charita Kavyas---Harshacharita, Gattia vaho, Navasāhasāíkacharita, Vikramājkadeva-sharita, Dvyāsrayakāvya, Kumārapāla - charita, Rama(päls)-charita, Prithvirāja-vijaya, Kirtikaumudi, Vasantavilasa, Vallalecharita. Hammira-mardana, VenabhQpåla-charita, Achyutarāyābhyudaya, eto. Though these works have many shortcomings as a source to history, they are "invaluable" (as Sir A. Stein says of the R. T.) for the study of historical geography."
Even the ordinary literary works sometimes incidentally introduce geography. The plots of some of the plays, the classical poems, and the collection of imaginative stories and fables (e.g., Jätakas, Pafchatantra, Kathasaritsāgara) were woven round geographical nomes. And such allusions can, to a certair extent, be put to a practical use. Thus the statement of the Dasakumāracharita that Täme lipti (Mod. Tamluk was in the Suhma oountry settled the location Suhma (which was formerly identified by H. H. Wilson with Arakan and Tipperah). Similar incidental references are to be met with in every department of literature. The Arthasāstra of Kautilya and various Ratnaéástras and medical works referring to the natural products of the various countries also throw some light n this subject.
Astronomical works. Astronomers discarded the theory of a circular earth (Parimandala) with Mt. Meru in the middle, and proved that the earth is an immovable globe guspended in space. They knew the dimensions and indicated the poles and the equator.35 They calculated debdntara (longitude) and prepared globes. The Karmavibhaga of the Teeelfar (chap. XIV) of triafer is very important for geographical study. Here Karma means the earth, because it resembles & tortoise, being round, surrounded by the water, and having a globular convexity on its surface (Alberuni.) Its special object is to provide an arrangement from which it may be determined what countries and peoples would suffer calamity when particular nakshatras are vexed by planets. The 27 nakshatras are divided into nine groups and so is the earth (i.e. India). Dr. Fleet first examined the list (Ind. Ant, XXII, p. 169 ff.). Prof. Mario Longhena 36 did the same, giving references to passages of the epics which mention the same nations, etc. The com, of Utpala on the T eilear (Vizianagram Sanskrit Series, Benares) gives quotations from the Pardéara tantra on the same subject which has also been treated in chap. LVIII of the Markandeya Purána. Comparing these three lists, we find a number of various readings and the original reading can be reconstructed in some cases.
The third chapter of Bhaskaracharya's work and the 12th chapter of Süryasiddhanta are also important.
The introductions and colophons of MSS. sometimes incidentally give historical and geographical notices. The place of composition or copying is mentioned in some MSS. with details.
* Thibaut in his Astronomie (Grundriss), pp. 21, 30, 37. 36 Pulle's Studi Italiani, vol. IV.
