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IDENTIFICATION OF MANIPURA 



reigned the king Citravahana, who had an only daughter 

 Citrangada. Arjuna demanded her in marriage, after having 

 made himself known. The king did not object to this 

 request, but demanded that, as Citrangada was his only child, 

 — for no Raja of Manipura had ever had or would have more 

 than one child, — the son bom to Arjuna by his daughter 

 should become king of Manipura. To this Arjuna consented 

 and a son, Babhruvahana, was born to Citrangada, and after 

 Arjuna had staid for three years in Manipura, he left it, turned 

 towards the Western Coast, wandered along it to Grokarna, 

 and finally met Krsna at Dvaraka. In the horse sacrifice 

 Arjuna came once more to Manipura, fought with, and was 

 killed by, his son Babhruvahana, but was revived through the 

 life-restoring jewel. 



Deciding on the evidence before us as taken from the 

 Mahabharata, Mr. Wheeler's identification of the ancient 

 Manipura with the modern Munnipur falls to the ground, 

 and with it all his explanations of the significance of this 

 myth. That the stories concerning Arjuna's journey to 

 Manipura should be known among the Munnipurees of our 

 days, and that they should claim to be the descendants of the 

 inhabitants of ancient Manipura 202 need not astonish anybody. 

 By this time the contents of the Mahabharata are pretty 

 well known all over India and its bordering states, and the 

 Munnipurees do not stand alone in arrogating to themselves 

 historical fame by taking advantage of the resemblance of 

 names. There exist in India many places called Manipura. 



Equally wrong, though less objectionable, is the conjecture 

 of Lassen. There does not exist near Chicacole a place 

 called Manphur-Bunder. The name of the town he thought 

 of is not Manphur-Bunder, but Mafus-Bandar. It lies on 

 the left bank of the Langulya river near the sea, and is a 

 comparatively modern place, as its name, which is a mixture 



202 See History of India, I. p. 149. 



