104 K. K. Bhattacharya— Identity of TJpello with Upaplava. [No. 2, 
been situate near the Maldali district in Northern Bengal; and both parties 
show some ruins to verify their respective theories.* 
I found the other day in a Bengali Map of India by a Ganesachandra 
Bhattacharjya that Berar of the present time was marked as the kingdom of 
Virata of the Mahabharata. According to the Prakrita Grammar the word 
Virata in Sanskrit might be reduced to the form of Birada in the Prakrita, 
hence Birara or Berar in the vernaculars. So this last supposition has a 
strong etymological ground to support it. 
The traditions and hypotheses cited above are apparently of such a 
contradictory nature that from them not much light can be derived. 
So leaving them aside for a moment, let us search in the Mahabharata after 
the districts bordering on Matsyadesa. 
We find in the Digvijaya Parvadhyaya, of Sabhaparva, Mahabha¬ 
rata :— 
VT*TT | 
fftT ^T§f*TT II 
“ That Bhima on his way to conquer the eastern countries, having sub¬ 
dued many countries, in a short time came to Dasarna, where Sudhar- 
ma the king of the place fought a dreadful battle, but Bhima gained the 
field. After completing the conquest of this country, the very powerful 
Bhima subdued the inhabitants of Matsya and Malada respectively.” 
It is manifest from the above that the Matsyadesa of Mahabharata 
had Dasarna on one side and Malada on the other. But this, instead of 
solving the problem, leads us to a greater confusion. Now the question 
arises where was Dasarna situated, and where Malada P On the reply to 
this depends our solution, but this is not an easy task. 
Mr. Wilson, in his commentary on the 24th sloka of Meghaduta re¬ 
cites the following in respect of Dasarna : 
“No traces of this name are to be found in modern maps. It is 
enumerated in Major Wilford’s lists from the Puranas, Asiatic Researches, 
Vol. VIII, amongst the countries situated behind the Vindhya mountains and 
corresponds according to him with Daserene of Ptolemy’s. * * * * It may 
possibly correspond, at least in part, with the modern district of Chattisgarh, 
* [This is a mistake, according to Dr. E. Mitra, who thinks “ that the Pandit 
must have confounded Midnapur with Dinajpur which has often been described as 
the Virata of the Mahabharata.” See Proceedings, A. S. B., August 1880. On the 
identification ot Virata, see General Cunningham’s Ancient Geography of India, vol. I’ 
p. 350. Ed.] 
