The Ancient Geography of India

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Sir Alexander Cunningham's The Ancient Geography of India, remains a foundational text for understanding India's past. This pioneering work delves into the geographical landscapes of ancient India, shedding light on the region's historical and cultural tapestry. While some details might require reassessment due to advancements in archaeology, the book's comprehensive coverage and meticulous research make it an enduring resource. Cunningham's authority as the first Archaeological Surveyor to the Government of India adds weight to the book's accuracy and reliability. His contributions to Indian archaeology and his role in establishing the Archaeological Survey solidify the work's importance.

This edition has been recomposed with modern diacritics with the main objective of providing a clear printed text for a better reading experience. Also included in this edition is a new introduction and notes by Surendranath Majumdar Sastri with 14 maps, further enhancing the reader's experience. These additions provide fresh insights and update the text with contemporary knowledge. Despite its age, 'The Ancient Geography of India' retains its relevance as an indispensable handbook. It remains a valuable tool for scholars, historians, and anyone fascinated by the rich tapestry of India's ancient world.

The late Sir Alexander Cunningham's Ancient Geography of India is the standard treatise on the subject, and is an indispensable hand-book for those who are interested in Indian antiquities. Though it is over fifty years that it was published, and so naturally some portions have become to some extent antiquated in the light of more recent knowledge, it has not yet been superseded, and still remains indispensable. Unfortunately it has long been out of print, and students of Ancient Indian History have thus been put to great difficulties. When therefore the Publishers, after securing the very kind permission of Lt. Col. A. J. C. Cunningham, R.E., son of the late Sir Alexander, to bring out a new edition of this work, invited me to undertake the work of revision, I accepted the offer very gladly, though I knew full well the great difficulty and responsibility of the task.

The text in the present edition is exactly the same as in the original edition. But it has not been found possible to keep the paging identical. For the convenience, however, or those who wish to localise any references to the original edition, the original paging has also been given within brackets, in the table of Contents and Notes.

I have tried, in my Introduction and Notes, to supplement Cunning- ham's text by the most up-to-date information available to me which could be gleaned from the latest researches on the subject. And I venture to hope that with the help of these supplementary notes, the student will be accurately posted in the subject. As the space at my disposal is very short, I have been compelled to use in these Notes a very concise style, almost reminiscent of the Sutra literature (अर्डमात्रा लाघवेन पुत्रोत्पत्तिः) and to refrain from pointing out mere slips of pen, exploded theories of Chronology (e.g. Imperial Guptas flourishing in the first or second century A.D.), etc. which could be easily detected.

As to the spelling of Classical words, I have followed M'Crindle and Schoff; and in the matter of Chinese names I have followed Watters. In the transliteration of Sanskrit and Pali words, I have to offer an apology. The use of proper diacritical marks to indicate cerebrals, palatals, etc.

I. Pioneers in this field of research

2. H. H. Wilson. In 1824 he contributed to the Oriental Magazine (Vol. II, p. 180) an article in which he described a Skr. MS. professing to be a section of the Bhabishya Purana which elucidates the local geography of Bengal. In his translation of the Vishnu Purana he commented on the Puranic geography. His Notes on the Indica of Ctesias was published in 1836 (Oxford). The geographical portion of his Ariana Antiqua (London, 1841) an account of the coins and antiquities discovered by Mr. Masson during his travels in Afghanistan-is full and valuable.

3. Christian Lassen-the encyclopædic Indologist. (a) His Penta- potamia Indica (1827) gives an account of the Punjab from the "classical" sources and from the Mahabharata, the Koshas and other Skr. sources. (b) In the geographical section of his Indische Alterthumskunde (Bonn, 1843) the very learned and exhaustive work on the antiquities of India-he described the physical features of India and gave (especially in the footnotes) whatever information he could collect from classical and Skr. sources. Though "his system of identification is based on a wrong principle" (M'Crindle's Ptolemy, Preface, p. vii) and hence many of his identifications are wrong (Pargiter in J.A.S.B., 1895, p. 250), these works of erudition are 'precious mines of materials' utilised by later scholars.