Regions in the Mahabharata
Topic: India, That Is Bharat: Names of India and Unity in Diversity · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 5 "India, That Is Bharat"
Meaning
The Mahābhārata names many regions spread across the whole Subcontinent. Scholars broadly agree that it was written from a few centuries BCE onwards. The regions it names include Kāshmīra (about Kashmir), Kurukṣhetra (parts of Haryana), Vanga (parts of Bengal), Prāgjyotiṣha (about Assam), Kaccha (Kutch) and Kerala. Many of these appear in the epic as kingdoms, with their own kings and armies. The list shows that the epic's authors knew the land from north to south and from east to west.
Example
In the epic, Bhagadatta, king of Prāgjyotiṣha (in today's Assam), comes all the way to fight in the war at Kurukṣhetra (in today's Haryana). The story links the far northeast with the north-west in one tale.
Don't confuse with
- Sapta Sindhava: this was the Ṛig Veda's name for the north-west only, the "land of seven rivers". The Mahābhārata's list covers the whole Subcontinent.