Geography in Ancient Indian Inscriptions: Up to 650 A.D.

The book is organized around the reconstruction of ancient Indian geography through inscriptional evidence. The introductory section discusses the principal sources of ancient Indian geography, including indigenous texts, incidental references in Indian literature, foreign accounts, inscriptions, coins, archaeological materials, and epigraphic records. Chapter I, “The Peoples, Countries and the Political Divisions,” studies the geographical extent of ancient India and its five-fold division into Northern India, Middle Country, Western Country, Eastern Country, and Southern Country, with further attention to the Eastern Deccan, Central Deccan, Western Deccan, and Far South. Chapter II deals with the cities mentioned in ancient inscriptions, while Chapter III studies villages and local settlements. Chapter IV analyzes mountains, and Chapter V examines rivers as geographical and cultural markers. The work concludes with supporting scholarly apparatus, including an appendix, bibliography, index of geographical names, index of epigraphical and literary sources, and photographic plates of major inscriptions such as Aśokan rock edicts, pillar inscriptions, copper-plate grants, and inscriptions from different dynastic contexts.