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NĀYAKUMARACARIU
said to have lived two generations prior to Jājalladeva, thus bringing us to the time of Sindhuraja i. e. about 1005 A. D. I am, therefore, tempted to identify Vajjuka of the inscription with the Asura king Vajrānkuśa whom, according to Padmagupta, Sindhurāja killed in battle. Thus the main events described by Padmagupta are attested to by epigraphical records of the same age.
Can we now locate Bhogavati, the ancient capital of the Năgas? Rai Babadur Hiralal identifies it with Rāmateka near Nagpur where, according to him, the name is still preserved in the tradition of the Ambālā tank close to the hillock where, people aver, the Bhogavati Ganga exists. The Rāmāyana mentions Bhogavati as being on the way to Lankā ( Tatra Bhogavati nūma sarpaņāmālayah puri ). This description suits Rām teka if we suppose Rāvana's Lanka to have been situated in the South. It can also suit if the Lankā is identified with the Anarakantaka hill, but in this case we will have to suppose that Rama was travelling northwards to reach Lankā. In the Chindwārā district on the Satpurā plateau there is a low ground surrounded by hills. People call this place Pātāla-kūpa or Pātāla-kota. Rai Bahadur Hiralal infers frim this that low lands were probably called Pătāla. I agree with this view. It must be one such Pātāla that is mentioned in the present work (V, 12, 6). According to Arrian Alexander had made Pātāla his normal base. This is identified with Hyderabad Sindha by Cunningham and Bahmanābād by V. Smith. (Cun. Geo. notes p. 691 ). It appears to me to have been another similar Pātāla. These low grounds seem to have been preferred by the Nāgas for their habitation and this is borne out by the fact that their abode is called by such words as Dhara-randhra,' 'Mahivivara' in the present work as well as elsewhere. "My idea is,” says Rai Bahadur Hiralal" that the tract below the Satpuras down to the Godāvari, including the Nagpur and the Chanda districts, Bastar State and parts of the Raipur and Drug districts once formed the Nāga kingdom with the capital located at Bhogavati or Rāmateka which occupies a central position.” At one end of the Ramateka hills is what is called Nāgārjuna hill. It has already been mentioned how Nāgārjuna is said to have acquired some of his learning from the Nāgas. The whole locality is, thus, still resounding with the echoes of the bygone Nāga supremacy and above all in the name of Nagpur in the vicinity of Rāmateka.
Conclusion :-To sum up, the references given above go to prove that
1. The Nāgas were men of flesh and blood and not mere mythical names.
2. They had their settlements scattered practically all over India from very early times down almost to the present day, but they ceased to wield political power after the fourteenth century.
which appeared rathe
3. They had a culture of their own which appeared rather peculiar, in the early stages to the Aryans who gradually began to associate more freely and even frequently entered into matrimonial alliances with them.
frequently entered Aryans who gradual
-- XXXVI
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