Q1.
Do you recognise the names of any regions given in the map (Fig. 5.4) on page 79? List the ones that you have heard of.
Answer
Fig. 5.4 carries 38 names, and they stretch from Afghanistan to Kanniyakumari — which is the whole point of the map. Here they are, grouped by where they sit, with the ones most students recognise marked.
| Part of the Subcontinent | Names printed on Fig. 5.4 | Ones you have almost certainly heard of |
|---|---|---|
| North-west (today Afghanistan, Pakistan, Punjab) | Gandhāra, Druhyu, Kamboja, Kaikeya, Madra, Vāhlika, Ambaṣṭha, Sauvīra, Śhivi | Gandhāra — from Gandhara sculpture, and from Gāndhārī in the Mahābhārata Madra — Madri, Nakula and Sahadeva's mother Kaikeya — Kaikeyī in the Rāmāyaṇa |
| The northern plains (today Rajasthan, UP, Bihar) | Matsya, Śhūrasena, Pañchāla, Chedi, Kosala, Kāśhi, Videha, Magadha, Anga | Kosala (Ayodhya), Kāśhi (Varanasi), Magadha (south Bihar), Videha (Mithila — Sītā is Vaidehī), Pañchāla (Draupadī is Pāñchālī), Śhūrasena (the Mathura country), Anga (Karṇa's kingdom) |
| The east (today Bengal, Assam, Odisha) | Prāgjyotiṣha, Puṇḍra, Vanga, Suhma, Kalinga | Vanga — the book itself says ‘parts of Bengal’ Prāgjyotiṣha — ‘roughly today's Assam’ Kalinga — from Aśhoka's war, which you meet later in the book |
| The west and centre (today Gujarat, MP, Chhattisgarh) | Ānarta, Surāṣhṭra, Avanti, Māhiṣhmatī, Darśana, Kāruṣha, Dakṣhina Kosala | Surāṣhṭra — today's Saurashtra in Gujarat Avanti — the Ujjain country Māhiṣhmatī — the city on the Narmada |
| The Deccan (today Maharashtra, Telangana) | Vidarbha, Janasthāna, Aśhmaka | Vidarbha — eastern Maharashtra; Damayantī and Rukmiṇī came from there Janasthāna — the forest on the Godavari in the Rāmāyaṇa |
| The far south (today Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu) | Kiṣhkindhyā, Draviḍa, Kerala, Chola, Pāṇḍya | Kerala — ‘more or less today's Kerala’, says the book Kiṣhkindhyā — Sugrīva's kingdom in the Rāmāyaṇa Chola and Pāṇḍya — the great Tamil dynasties |
How to answer this in your notebook. Do not just copy the list. Write it as three columns — Name on the map / Where have I heard it? / Which part of India today? — and fill only the ones you honestly recognise. A short honest list is a better answer than a long copied one.
Sample answer: “I recognised eight names. Kosala and Videha from the Rāmāyaṇa; Pañchāla, Anga and Gandhāra from the Mahābhārata; Magadha and Kalinga because I have heard of Aśhoka; and Kerala, because that is still the name of a state. Most of the others were new to me.”
Why the book says you need not remember them: the caption is clear — “You do not need to remember those regions, but notice how they cover the entire geography of the Subcontinent.” The map is not a list to memorise; it is a piece of evidence. The names spread from the Hindu Kush to the sea in every direction, which shows that whoever composed the Mahābhārata already thought of this whole land as one connected space. That is the argument the map makes.
Check it yourself: the chapter's text on page 78 names Kāshmīra, Kurukṣhetra and Kaccha as well — but look carefully and you will find that these three are not printed on Fig. 5.4. The map shows a selection, not the full list. Noticing what a source leaves out is a real historian's habit.