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62
JAINA ANTIQUARY.
[ Vol. III
Turning to the non-Jain literature, we find Podanapura mentioned in the Buddhist Jātakas as the capital of Assakadeśa and the Suttanipata says that the Assaka country was beside the Godāvāri river and lay between the Sakya mountains, Western Ghauts and the Dandakarnya. The great Sanskrit lexicon Vrahdabhidhāna points that Paundya was the capital of King Ashamaka and the Ashamaka country is said to be in the south or south-west of India in Rāmāyaṇa (Kiṣkandhā-kanda).'
But the question here arises that whether Podanapur of the Jains books is identical with the Potana and Paundya of the non-Jain literature? I would give its reply in affermative, since I find mentioned the country of Ashamaka in the Mahapurana as AshamakaRamyaka'. It means that either Ashamaka country was also known as Ramyaka or Suramya or it became split into two territories during the later period. The Jain Harivamsapurāņa, while giving the names of those countries of southern part of India, which the sons of Rṣabhadeva renounced owing to the aggression of their elder brother Bharat, names the country of Ashamaka among them.3 The Varahamihira has also counted the Ashamaka people with those living in south India and just after the Andhras. Rājasekhar in his "Kavyamimansa" placed also the Ashamaka country in south in very clear words. Sākaṭayana, who was very well acquainted
with south India, hed also named the Ashamakas after the Salvas (i.e., Andhras).6 Kautilya peculiarised the country of Ashamaka for its diamonds and named it with the Rastrikas." In the region beyond the Vindhyas, which was in fact the Dakṣiņāpatha of the ancient India, we find Golcunda, the famous place for diamonds in the district of Aurangabad. Hence Ashamaka country seems to lie somewhere in the modern Berar and Nizam territories.
1. Jain Gazette XXII, 211.
2. Parva 16 Sb. 152.
3. Sarga xi sls. 70--71.
4. Ch. xvi sl. xi.
5. G. O. S. Vol. I Ch. xvii p. 92.
6. II, 4, 101.
7. अधि २ प्रकरण २९
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
