Orissa - From Place Names In Inscriptions C.260 B.C. - 1200 A.D. (Cultural and Historical Geography)

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Extended from 17°49'-22° 34′N Latitude and from 81° 29'E-87° 29'E longitude the state of Orissa has very beautiful topography and is well equipped with all sorts of natural sources.

It started its political career with the rule of the Nanda dynasty of Magadha and enjoyed the prosperous regime of the king Khāravela. After the downfall of Khāravela different dynasties ruled over the territory updqgos Isshol to the end of twelfth century A.D. All these dynasties tried to bring more and more land under cultivation by giving grants of lands and villages to Brāhmaṇas and religious institutions. They also grouped these villages into different units for their proper administration. Many scholars have studied these place names for tracing the historical geography of the region but these names have rarely been taken into account for tracing the cultural history of region.

Dr. Malati Mahajan who retired as lecturer from the Post Graduate Teaching Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology of Nagpur University, Nagpur is the student of the same department. She passed her M.A. examination in first division and was awarded Motilal Nehru centenary prize for standing first in order of merit. She was the recipient of the U.G.C. fellowship while working for her Ph.D. thesis under the guidance of Dr. S.B. Deo. After Ph.D. she worked as research assistant with Dr. S.B. Deo and completed the work of translation of the 'Topographical List of Inscriptions found in Maharashtra and Goa'. Again in the same capacity she worked with Dr. Ajay Mitra Shastri and completed the Project 'Dictionary of Place names from Inscriptions found in Maharashtra and Goa'.

Place names mentioned in the inscriptions of the different dynasties form an important source for tracing the cultural history and also historical geography of the given region and the period. Each place name and also of regional name has got its own identity and while writing either historical geography or cultural history of any period one must not remain satisfied with only the location or identification of the region or the place but also take into account characteristic features and meaning of the name of the region, as well as of the place names. Because, as stated in Adiparva of Mahabharata "The wise men call a particular country i.e. Deśa after its characteristic features" and the same rule seems applicable to place names as well. Kautilya states that limits of the habitation should be decided with the help of natural objects like mountains, hills, particular species of trees etc. and these objects deciding the border must also have played an important role in naming the place as well. It seems that the practice of recognizing the place or country after its characteristic features was well established by about 6th Cent.B.C.

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