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Historical Elements in the Matsya Purana

by Chaitali Kadia | 2021 | 91,183 words

This page relates ‘Ancient States in the Matsya Purana� of the study on the historical elements of the Matsya-purana: one of the eighteen Mahapuranas which are Sanskrit texts that have preserved the cultural heritage, philosophy, religion, geography, etc of ancient India. This Matsyapurana was originally written in 20,000 verses and deals with topics such as architecture, ancient history, polity, religion and philosophy.

Ancient States in the Matsya ʳܰṇa

To give a geographical description, not only the descriptions of natural geographical condition, but also the descriptions of different countries and states are compulsory. There are many countries and states all over the world. Their natural location is an integral part of the geographical description. Although there are many different between the ancient states and the present states, there are still some similarities between them. In ancient times, the number of countries was small but now it has increased. At the same time, their geographical conditions have also changed. The ʳܰṇa refer to ancient India as well as several countries and states of the world. All those states are mentioned in the identity of different dynasties. Likewise, some states have been mentioned in the Matsya ʳܰṇa to draw the context of a few dynasties. Although there are description more about the significance of the kings than the geographical location of the states. Yet that little information is very important in the context of the current geographical description of India.

The kings of the ṣv dynasty are described in the chapter 271 of the Matsya Ѳܰṇa.

In that context, it is said that the capital of the Sun-dynasty king پ첹 is the beautiful city of ǻ in the central portion of the India.

vatsavyūhāt prativyomastasya putro 徱첹� |
tasyaiva madhyadeśe tu ayodhyā nagarī śubhā || 5 ||

This city later became the famous land of ǻ in the 峾ⲹṇa . The name of this city has not changed yet. The ʳܰṇa states that ǻ is located in the middle portion of the country. Currently ǻ is located in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Elsewhere in verse 18 of this chapter there is mentioned about the king ṛhٳ and also mentioned that the clan is a dynasty of Magadha .

ītyeva� bhānavo ṃśa� 岵𱹲 ܻṛt� |
ata urdhva� pravakṣyāmi māgadhā ye vṛhadrathā ||
Matsya (Ch.-27/18)

This Magadha state is located in present day southern Bihar. This kingdom was in ancient times a state of sixteen great Mahajanapadas. The state of Magadha was formed with some cities of present day like Patna, Jehanabad, Nalanda, Aurangabad and Gaya. The state is bounded on the north by the Ganges, east by the river , on the south by the Chhota Nagpur Plateau and on the west by the Sana river. Not only the ṛhٳ dynasty, this Magadha kingdom is a significant part of the history of the Maurya and Gupta dynasty.

There are descriptions about the king and dynasty of Śśܲ岵 in the verse 5 of the chapter 272.

In the context of the narration, it is said that Śśܲ岵 established his own son in the city of ṇaī and he took shelter in a place called Giribraja .

ṇa� ܳٲ� sthapya śrayiṣyati girivrajam |
śiśunāgaśca varṣāṇi catvāriśaṃda bhaviṣyati ||
Matsya (Ch. 272/6)

There is no need for a separate identity of the city or ṇaī because the reputation of this city is well known from ancient times to present day. This holy land of Lord Ś belongs to the state of Uttar Pradesh. ṇaī is also known as Benaras now. Even some call it as śī . In ancient times this place has also been mentioned as Avimukta, Ānandavana and ܻ (Varanasi: About the city� official website of Uttar Pradesh Tourism. Archived from the original on 8 July 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2013). On the other side, Girivraja is the Ჹṛh or ٲܳٲ (Matsya ʳܰṇa , Gitapress�1037 page). This place is located in Ի district of Bihar. It is now known as Rajgir. This place is also mentioned in the Ѳٲ and 峾ⲹṇa as Girivraja . In the Ѳٲ , it is mentioned as the capital of king Jarāsandh. In ancient times this place was known by many other names like Իśṛh (Aitihasik Sthana, page 77), Magadhpur (AS, P-289, 693), 󲹻ٳ󲹱ܰ (AS, P-622), վܰī (AS, P-289) and ʲñśܰ (AS, P-515).

In the context of another king ī, in the 272nd chapter, there is mentioned about the Kusumpur .

This town was located on the southern coast of the Ganges.�

ܻī 󲹱 ٲ ٰⲹٰṃśa ṛp� |
sarve pūrvapara� dakṣiṇyā� kusumāhvayam ||
gaṅgāyā dakṣiṇe kule caturthe tu kariṣyati ||

Matsya (Ch-272/10, 11)

Later the name of the city was changed to ٱٰܳ and the present name is Patna (Matsya ʳܰṇa , Gitapress).

Apart from these 272nd chapter contents some other dynasties such as the ṣv dynasty, ñ dynasty, king of śī , king of Haihaya dynasty, king of ṅg dynasty, dynasty of ś첹 country, Kuru dynasty, king of Maithila , ŚܰԲ dynasty and īپ󲹳ٰ dynasty (15, 16, 17). These dynasties provide evidence of the existence of several ancient cities of that time. For an example�ñ , which is a special city of the Mahajanapadas, is also mentioned in the Ѳٲ as a famous country. ٰܱ貹ī is the princess of this city according to the Ѳٲ . Currently it is located in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. ṅg country which lies on thebanks of the ѲԲ徱 and Ҵǻ屹ī , references to this country are also found in the Ѳٲ . At present it belongs to the state of Odisha. Some portions of this city are located in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. However, some consider ṅg as Odisha. ś첹 or śś첹 Nagar which is another ancient city on the bank of Ҵǻ屹 , consists of sixteen ѲᲹԲ . It is currently surrounded by some parts of Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Maharashtra. The capital of this ancient city was ʴdz or ʴǻ , which is now considered the Bodhan region of Telangana. Kuru is another famous city of the ancient Sixteen Mahajanapadas. The famous Kuru Kingdom of the Ѳٲ was surrounded by the city which is now located in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The Ѿٳ󾱱 dynasty is named after Ѿٳ󾱱 Nagar, which is an ancient Vedic city. It is currently located in the state of Bihar. The Vedic town is bounded oneast by the ѲԲԻ , on the south by the ҲԲ , on the west by the Gandaki river and on the north by the Himalayan foothills. It is thought that some parts of the city extend to Nepal. ŚܰԲ , this ancient city is currently located in Uttar Pradesh. Mathura is capital of the city. Even some call it հᲹܳī . This հᲹܳī is the holy place of ۲岹śṣṭ Lord Śīṛṣṇa’s activity place.

There are also references to several other dynasties, such as the ĀԻ dynasty, Ś첹 dynasty, ṛhٳ dynasty etc. Although no specific country is mentioned in the context of those tribes.

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