Dakshinapatha: Encyclopedia - Dakshinapatha

Dakshinapatha

The ancient Buddhist and Brahmanical texts use the expression Dakshinpatha as a name for both the southern high road and for the region lying south of Majjhimdesa or Mid India.

The first reference to Dakshinapatha occurs in the Rig-Veda where it refers to the region where the exile goes on being turned out. In the opinion of several scholars, this means the South beyond the limits of the Saptasindhu-- the then recognised Aryan world.

Dakshinapatha is found in Panini (IV.2.98). Baudhyana mentions Dakshinapatha or Dakshinatya in association with Saurashtra.

Jataka and Vinaya Pitaka attest name Dakshinapatha coupled with Avanti as in Avantidakshinapatha where it seems to refer to Janapada of Avanti and implies its location in Dakshinapatha.

In Mahabharata, Dakshinapatha is placed beyond Avanti and Vindhyas and to south of the kingdom of Vidarbhas and southern Kosalas, the latter being located on the banks of Wardha and Mahanadi.

The epic hero Rama who had set out from Ayodhya into voluntary exile had taken a route which extended from Ayodhya into Dakshinapatha or the southern direction.

The Sutta Nipata Commentary seems to explain Dakshinapatha as the road leading to the Dakshinajanapada, the latter name referring to a Janapada located to south of Ganges.

In the same Sutta Nipata, the name Dakshinapatha also refers to a remote Aryan settlement located on the banks of the upper Godavari.

A Kossalan Brahmin named Bavari had left Savathi (capital of Kosala) to set up his hermitage at the junction of river Mula and Godavari, midway between the kingdoms of Assaka and Mulaka (in modern Maharashtra), which place has been noted as lying in Dakshinapatha..

In Dighvijayaparva of Mahabharata, Dakshinpatha is distinguished from Pandyan realm in the southernmost tip of the Madras.

According to Puranic accounts, the Janapadas of Asmakas, Mulakas, Vaidarbhas, Kalingas, Andhras, Pundras, Pulindas, Dandakas, Kuntalas, Keralas, Pandyas, Cholas etc lied in the Dakshinapatha.

In the Petavatthu commentary, the Damila i.e Dravida country is included in the Dakhinápatha.

On their way to Rajagriha, the pupils of ascetic Bavari from Dakshinapatha (Godavari) had followed a route which led them through Pratisthana (Paithan), Mahesvar, Ujjaini, Gonaddha (Gond country), Bhilsa (Bhil country), Kosam, Saketa (Fyzabad), Savathi, Setavya, Kapilavastu, Kusinara, Pava, Bhoganagar, Vaisali and then to Rajagriha (in Magadha).

It is stated that Dakshinapatha was originally the name of the high road which led southwards, and the Aryan settlement at the end of this high road on the banks of the Godavari, being also called Dakshinapatha. At later time, this southern high road (Dakshinapatha) lent its name to the whole region through which it passed (See: Geography of Early Buddhism)

Thus, initially, Dakshinapatha, as high road, ran between Rajgriha and Pratisthana (Paithan). Later, on expansion of Aryan culture deep into southern India, it also extended further into the south running parellel to west-coast and following probably through Bijapur, Bengalore and Madura to Setu, the southern tip of India.

In Gupta period, Dakshinaptha as a region extended from the land of the Kosalas to the kingdom of Kanchi. In later times however, it had embraced the whole of Trans-Vindhya India from Setu (Adam's Bridge) to Narmada.

Ancient Dakshinapatha later gave its name to modern Deccan or Dekkan.

The Dakshinapatha was famous in literature as the birthplace of strong bullocks. It also held a home to large number of ascetics.

From notices made above, it is clear that, in the earlier literature at any rate, the word Dakshinapatha did not mean it initially comprised the whole country in the modern word Dekkhan or Deccan.

Like Dakshinapatha, Uttarapatha was initially the name of northern high road which ran from Tamraliptika or Tamluk located in west Bengal through Pataliputra, Vaisali, Kusinara, Kapilvastu, Savathi, Hastinapura, through Panjab, Taxila, Puskaravati (Pushkalavati) and Kabol up to Zariaspa (Balkh) in Bactria. Later, Uttarapatha was also the name lent to the region of Indian sub-continent through which this high road passed. One early Medieval era Brahmanical text attests the Uttarapatha as the region lying to the west of Prithudaka (modern Pehoa near Thaneswar in Haryana). The Uttarpatha had formed the northern division of Puranic Jambudvipa.

The philosophies of the easterners were disseminated precisely by the intercourse that went on along the Uttarapatha and the Dakshinpatha high routes. These were also the high roads which the horse-dealers from Kamboja of Uttarapatha had followed for trading horses with southern India and Sri Lanka.

See also

• Uttarapatha

• For Pali Defintition of Dakshinapatha click: [1]

Category: History of India

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