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CHAPTER LXXIII
THE DASĀRŅAS
The Daśārņas are mentioned in the Epics and Purāņas, and also in Kālidāsa's Meghadūta. They appear to have had more than one settlement during the Epic period. The Mahābhārata seems to refer to two Daśārņas, one in the west, which was conquered by Nakula (Sabhāparvan, Chap. 32), and another in the east (or southeast), which was subjugated by Bhīmasena (Sabhāparvan, Chap. 30). The Rāmāyana and the Purāņas point to a Daśārņa country grouped with those of the Mālavas, Kārūsas, Utkalas and Mekalas, who are all said to have lived in the Vindhyan tract. This Daśārņa is probably the same as the one conquered by Bhimasena.
The Daśārņa country in the west seems to have been more important than the other localities in the east or south-east. According to the Meghadūta (verses 24-5), the capital of this Daśārņa country was Vidisa (mod. Bhilsā) on the Vetravati (= mod. Betwā). The Daśārnas thus occupied a site on the Daśārņa river (which can still be traced in the modern Dashān river that flows through Bundelkhand, rising in Bhopal and emptying into the Betwa). According to Wilson,2 a Daśārņa river is said in the Purānas to rise in a mountain called Citrakūta (= Kāmptānāth-gir in Bundelkhand). This is doubtless identical with the modern Dashān river. The Meghadūta further mentions a hill called Nicah as situated in the Daśārņa country (loc. cit.).
As we have seen, the Purānas associate the Daśārņas with the Vindhyan tribes, Mālavas, Kārūsas, Mekalas, Utkalas, and Nişadhas. In the Rāmāyana, also their country is connected with those of the Mekalas and Utkalas, whither Sugrīva sends his monkey army in quest of Sītā (Kiskindhyā K., loc. cit.). The Daśārņa country of the Rāmāyana and the Purānas is thus different from the Daśārņa of the Meghadūta; it is probably identical with Dosarene of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. According to Wilson, eastern or south-eastern Daśārņa formed a part of the Chattisgarh
Rāmāyaṇa; Kişkindhyā K., 41, 8-10; Brahmānda P., Chap. 49; Vāyu P., Chap. 45; Matsya P., Chap. 114; Märkandeya P., Chap. 57; Vāmana P., Chap. 13; etc.—'Vindhya-prstha-nivāsinah'.
2 Essays Analytical, etc., Vol. II, p. 336, f.n. I. 3 Wilson's Visnu P., Hall's Ed., Vol. II, p. 160, f.n. 3.
