1922.] A Note on the Jangala Desa. 289 
(Trans.—Then on the bank of the Saraswati near the 
barren waste —? saw the forest named Kamyaka which was 
liked by hermits.) 
It signifies that the Kamyaka forest lay just on the bank 
of the Saraswati. The Kuru-Jangala country therefore ex- 
oO k 
not beyond it. The ‘‘Marudhanyashu”’ of the verse cannot be 
taken to mean the whole of the deserts of Rajputana includ- 
ing Bikanir. As a matter of fact the Kuru country lay far to 
the north-east of Bikanir. 
The learned Pandit further wants us to believe that the 
capital of Jangala Desa was Ahichchhatrapur and he identifies 
it with modern Nagour (in the northern part of the Jodhpur 
State.) But unfortunately the evidence which he has adduced 
is not at all convincing. 
he mere fact that both Nagapur (which the Pandit 
derives from Nagour,) and Ahichchhatrapura denote ‘the city 
capital of the North Panchala. Jnanachandra, ‘ the guru of Col. 
Todd,’ whose index of 25 names, among which Ahichchhatra- 
pura is spoken of as the capital of Jangala Desa, has been relied 
upon by the learned Pandit, can never satisfy a critical mind. 
We know that Jnanachandra belongs to a very late date and 
taken alone, his account of something belonging to antiquity 
cannot be deemed trustworthy. Apart from these facts we 
cannot admit that Jangala Desa of the Epics was modern 
Bikanir State and Marwar, merely by the fact that in their 
family ensign the Maharajas of Bikanir style themselves ‘‘ Jan 
— Badashaha. 
what appears to be a fact is that we should not 
take Jangala Desa to mean a particular tract of land. We 
should rather take it in its literal sense signifying Jete~s 
settlement in —— In Bate’s Hindi ec ** Janga 
means a forest, wood, waste, desert, weeds. These “ txticals 
settlements ”’ were sometimes named differently to ae ochre 
a ee a eS 
