Indian Antiquary Vol 50

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 79

MARCH. 1921 ]
THE EARLY COURSE OF THE GANGES
69
Buxar in the district of Shahabad in Behar, situated on the southern bank of the Ganges (Ra mayana, Adi, chs. 24, 26) and Kâmâsrama (Ramayana, Adi, ch. 23), the Madana-Tapovana of the Raghuvamsa (canto XI, v. 13) or the modern Kâron, 8 miles to the north of Karamtedi in the district of Balia, United Provinces, situated at the time of the Ramayana at the confluence of the Sarayu and the Ganges, just opposite to Buxar (see my Georgraphical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India, s. v. Kâmâ÷rama). Pâtaliputra or Patna (Mudrâkrâshasa, Act III, Milindâ-Pañho, IV, I. 47). In the 4th century B. C., Pâtaliputra was situated at the confluence of the Ganges and Erannoboa (Hiranyabâhu) or Son (McCrindle's Megasthenes, p. 68). Vaisâli or Besâch in Tirhut, 18 milesnorth of Hajipur (Ramayana, Adi, ch. 45). The southern portion of Tirhut, including Vaisâlî, was the eastern Matsya of the Mahabharata (Sabhâ, ch. 30) conquered by Bhima. Vaisâlî is described by Hiuen Tsang as the country of the Monster fish (Beal's Records of the Western Countries, Vol. II, p. 78; JASB., 1900, p. 83). Hence the Matsya Purana (ch. 120) states that the Ganges flows through the country of Matsya, which does not mean the western Matsya or the territory of Jaipur. Jahnu-Asrama (now called Jâhnghira in Sultanpur) on the west of Bhagalpur (Brihad-Dharmma P., Madhya Kh., ch. 22). Champâ in the district of Bhagalpur, once the capital of Auga (Mbh., Vana, Chs. 84, 112, 306). Gauḍa (Gaur) in the district of Malda, once the capital of Bengal. It is called Vijayapura in the Pavanadûta, the capital of Lakshmana Sena, the son Vallâla Sena, and from Lakshmana Sena, it was called Lakshmanavati or Lakhnauti (Hamilton's East India Gazetteer, 8.v. Gour). Vijayapura has been identified by some with Navadvîpa, but this identification is incorrect, and not even plausible, as Navadvipa was the capital of Lakshmaniya, called also Aoka Sena, the great-grandson of Vallâla Sena, and not of Lakshmana Sena, the son of Vallâla Sena, who has been referred to in the Pavanadûta by the author Dhoyi, who lived in the court of that king. Padmavati-sangama, the confluence of the Ganges and Padma at Suti (Brihad-Dharmma P., Pûrva, ch. 6) it is situated in Suhma-Uttara (or Uttara Radha) of the Matsya Purana. Saptagrâma, modern Sâtgâon, in the district of Hugli, the Gange of Ptolemy and the Periplus, and Trivenî of the Brihad-Dharmma Purana (Pârva, ch. 6). Tâmralipta or Tamluk was, as stated before, once situated on the Ganges. Sagara-saugama, or the union of the Ganges with the ocean. It varied at different periods, but it always bore the name of Kapilasrama: the name did not change, though the places did. It was much higher up before, but at present it is near the Sagara Island. These places, as recorded in ancient Hindu works, show the course of the Ganges from the Himalaya to the ocean. Some of the towns exist merely in name, but there are others in flourishing condition.
The asramas or hermitages of Jahnu Muni as recorded in ancient Hindu works or by foreign writers serve as several mile-stones in the course of the The eight Jahnus. Ganges on her way to the Ocean. So far as I am aware, there are. eight places where Jahnu is said to have swallowed up the Ganges and let her out again. Jahnu, it appears, is an allegorical representation of a great change in the course of the Ganges. They are
(1) At Bhairavaghâți below Gangotri in Garwal at the junction of the Bhagirathi and the Jahnavî.145
(2) At or near Kridvara, 146
145 Ramayana, Adi, ch. 43: Fraser's Himalaya mountains, p. 476.
146 Brihat-Náradiya P., pt. II, ch. 66, v. 26.