Vol. X, No. 9.] Notes on Ancient Any a. 319 



Buddhist, was the capital of Ariga and which is situated far 

 to the north of Baidyanatha. Then, again, in the same 

 Tantra " BhuvaneSa " also appears to be the southern boun- 

 dary of Gauda. 1 " BhuvaneSa" or Bhubaneswara evidently 

 could not have been the southern boundary of both the coun- 

 tries of Ariga and Gaudi at the time when the Tantra was 

 composed, and there is no authentic record to show that Anga 

 ever extended to Orissa. If we may hazard a conjecture, 

 '•" BhuvaneSa" as the southern boundary of Ariga is evidently 

 a mislection for " BhuvaneSl M which is another name for 

 Kirltesvarl.' 2 whose temple is situated at Kirltaknona, three 

 miles from Murshidabad city, and which is one of the fifty-two 

 Pithas where Sati's Kirlta (crown) is said to have fallen, and it 

 will be remarked that the Saktisamgama Tantra described the 

 extent of Ariga from one celebrated temple to another. The 

 substitution of "Bhuvane^i" for "BhuvaneSa" does not at 

 all violate the metre. 



In the Ramayana we find Ariga mentioned as a kingdom 

 . .,. M . A1 under the sway of its monarch Roma- 



c^untTy pSda called also DaSaratha, who was 



an ally of DaSratha, king of Ko6ala 

 (Oudh). Romapada averted the calamity of a dreadful 

 drought and consequent famine by performing a sacrifice 

 presided over by Rsi RsyaSririga. 3 The people of Ariga are 

 mentioned in the work along with those of Videha, KaSl, 

 Kosala and Punclra.* Romapada it appears from the Puranas 

 was the fifth or sixth in descent from Ariga, the founder of the 

 kingdom. 5 



At the time of the Mahabharata Ariga appears to have 

 been a feudatory kingdom under the Kurus of Hastinapur, 

 for when Arjuna refused to fight with Karna as not being a 

 person of equal rank with him, Duryodhana at once installed 

 him as king of Ariga in the very arena of the tournament. 6 

 This exercise of sovereign power was only possible on the part 

 of Duryodhana if it be considered that Ariga had been con- 

 quered before by Pandu along with the neighbouring kingdoms, 

 though it has not been expressly mentioned among his con- 

 quests. 7 Karna was the foster son of Adhiratha, and all the 



1 S'aktis. Tant. , vii : 



wt^st wttwt *j^sn^f fat i 



* Tantrachudamani 



3 Ram., i, 9. ♦ Ibid., iv, 40. 6 Vish. Pur an, iv, 18 



« Mbh., i, 138; Santi P., eh. 5. 7 Ibid., I, 113. 



