Maraguda valley (82.28'E an d20.43'N) is located at the Sunabeda Plateau, Nuapada district. In particular, it is located at the historical and cultural junction of Magadha, Madhya Pradesh, Deccan and Odisha.
This place is of great historical significance as there are ongoing explorations and excavations of the exuberant city ruins with unprecedented socio-religious connotation of early Indian city civilization. This site is identified as the capital city of South Kosal kingdom[ citation needed ]. Recent archaeological investigations have revealed about the existence of prosperous metropolis in this area. The famous Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang visited the bustling city during the first half of the 7th century A.D. describes it as spreading over 40 li or 10–15 km. circuit area having excellent religious institutions, magnificent residential apartments, massive fortification and efflorescent palace complex, as the majestic imperial metropolis with acropolis and seat of cultural culmination of Kosal kingdom.[ citation needed ]
During the Puranic period, this region was known to be part of Nishadha Kingdom. In the Mahabharata and Ramayana it was known as Kantara or Mahakantara which later on finds mention in the historical record of Allahabad pillaring scription of Samudragupta. Mahabharata has not specified the location of Nishadha, but has referred to its capital Giriprastha which seems to have been the Maraguda valley. It is also found that this area is mentioned as Atabika territory in the rock edict of Ashok. In the Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela this part was called Vidhyadharadhivasa and was famous as a military recruiting centre. In the Satavahana record, it's mentioned as Mahabana. It formed part of Asmaka Mahajanapada in the early Buddhist list of Sodasamahajanapadas of Anguttaranikaya.
In the Seravanijia Jataka this place was known as a brisk trade centre. During the mythological period it was part of Dandakaranya, Daruvana and Tapovana. Many Saivacharya and sages of hoary fame hailed from Tapovana of this part. Subsequently the region came to be known as Kosal Kingdom in the early historical period. With the rise of the illustrious and mighty Nala rulers in the 3rd century A.D. Maraguda valley emerged as the classic capital city of Kosal and thrived for centuries with prosperity. The valley was fortunate in having a wonderful landscape of hills and dales quite befitting to nourish a rich civilisation as revealed by recent excavations corroborated by Hiuen Tsang's travel account. Many scholars have identified the site as capital city of Kosal Kingdom referred to by Hiuen Tsang. Of late, painstaking researches have further testified its identification. Hiuen Tsang who extensively traveled in India from 630-645 A.D. narrates that from Kalinga, he went north-west by hills and woods for about 1800 li to reach Kosal country which was 6000 li in circuit, surrounded by marshes and mountains with its capital city 40 li or 10 km in circuit. The soil of the country was rich and fertile, the towns and villages were closed together, the people were prosperous, tall of stature and black in colour and the ruling king was a Kshatriya by birth. He further refers to Po-Lo-Mo-Lo-Ki-Li or Gandhmardan hill 300 li to the south-west of capital city. In the light of the reference of the Chinese pilgrim, Maraguda valley has been identified as the capital city of Mahakantara. The Nala king Viruparaja was most likely ruling at the time of his visit.
Kshatriya is one of the four varnas of Hindu society and is associated with the warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term kṣatriyaḥ is used in the context of later Vedic society wherein members were organised into four classes: brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya, and shudra.
Damayanti is a figure in a love story found in the Vana Parva book of the Mahabharata. She is the daughter of Bhima and a princess of the Vidarbha Kingdom, who marries King Nala of the Nishadha kingdom. The figure is also found in other Hindu texts by many authors in numerous Indian languages. She, along with Nala, are the central figures in the 12th century text Nishadha Charita, one of the five mahakavyas in the canon of Sanskrit literature, written by Sriharsha.
Balangir District, also called Bolangir District, is a district situated in Odisha state of India. The district has an area of 6,575 km2 (2,539 sq mi), and a population of 1,648,997. The town of Balangir is the district headquarters. The composition of the land is predominantly rural. Other important big & small towns in Balangir district are Titlagarh, Patnagarh, Kantabanji, Loisingha, Saintala, Belpada, Tushra, Agalpur, Deogaon, Chudapali, Biripali, Bhalumunda, Bangomunda, Sindhekela,Kansil, Turekela and Muribahal.
Kamarupa, an early state during the Classical period on the Indian subcontinent, was the first historical kingdom of Assam. The Kamrupa word first appeared in the Samudragupta Allahabad Edict before that there is no mention of existence of this word.
Pushkalavati, was the capital of the ancient region of Gāndhāra, situated in present day's Pakistan. Its ruins are located on the outskirts of the modern city of Charsadda, in Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 35-42 kilometres northeast of Peshawar, at the banks of Jindi River, near the junction of Swat River with Kabul River. The earliest archaeological remains in Bala Hisar mound are from 1400 to 800 BCE. Pushkalavati may have been incorporated as an Achaemenid regional settlement around 520 BCE, and it remained an important city through to the beginning of 3rd century CE.
Kosala is the kingdom of Rama mentioned in the Ramayana. Ayodhya was its capital, now located in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. Rama's sons Lava and Kusha inherited parts of this kingdom. Lava ruled from the city called Shravasti and Kusa from the city called Kushavati. A colony of Kosala kings existed in Madhya Pradesh. It was called Dakshina Kosala. Rama's mother Kausalya was from this kingdom. Rama extended his influence up to the island-kingdom of Lanka situated in the Indian Ocean. He had friendly relations with the southern kingdom of Kishkindha.
The historical Avanti kingdom of ancient India is described in the Mahabharata epic. Avanti was divided into north and south by river Vetravati. Initially, Mahissati was the capital of southern Avanti, and Ujjaini was of northern Avanti, but at the times of Mahavira and Buddha, Ujjaini was the capital of integrated Avanti. The country of Avanti roughly corresponded to modern Malwa, Nimar and adjoining parts of the Madhya Pradesh.
Trigarta was an ancient Indo-Aryan kingdom based in the region of modern day Punjab. The focal point of its administration was situated in Jalandhar. However at its zenith it encompassed the hill territory extending from the Sutlej to the Ravi, with a secondary capital in Kangra. According to a genealogical record of the Kangra State, the first significant monarch is identified as Susarman, who is recognised for his participation in the Kurukshetra War based in the early Iron Age. It was during this period that the kingdom held Multan.
Odra was a kingdom located in the northern Odisha in Eastern India. This kingdom was mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. Odras were neighbours to the Vangas. It is believed that the Odia language and the state Odisha got their names derived from the name "Odra".
The Vidarbha kingdom in the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata is among the many kingdoms ruled by Yadu kings . It was situated in the region still known as Vidarbha in what is now Maharashtra in central India.
Nagarjunakonda: Nāgārjunikoṇḍa, meaning Nagarjuna Hill) is a historical town, now an island located near Nagarjuna Sagar in Palnadu district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of India's richest Buddhist sites, and now lies almost entirely under the lake created by the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam. With the construction of the dam, the archaeological relics at Nagarjunakonda were submerged, and had to be excavated and transferred to higher land, which has become an island.
Malhar is a small town situated in Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh, India. A historically important site that once was a major city and served as a capital in the 1st millennium, it has been referred to as Mallar, Mallari and Sarabhapur in inscriptions and Indian literature. In contemporary times, it is more village like with mounds and ruins of an ancient fort, two restored Shiva temples and a museum with the ruins of major group of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist temples. It has archaeological significance. It is about 30 kilometers southeast from Bilaspur in a rural terrain, connected with a feeder road from India's National Highway 49.
Tamralipta or Tamralipti was an ancient port city and capital of Suhma kingdom in ancient India, located on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. The Tamluk town in present-day Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, is generally identified as the site of Tamralipti.
Kundinapuri was the capital of Vidarbha kingdom, ruled by king Bhima. It was also ruled by king Bhishmaka and his son Rukmi, a Bhoja-Yadava. However, king Rukmi created another capital for Vidarbha called Bhojakata. Two famous ladies mentioned in the Mahabharata epic, Damayanti and Rukmini, lived here. They were both well known Vidarbha princesses. Damayanti was the daughter of king Bhima and the wife of the Nishadha prince Nala. Rukmini was the daughter of Bhishmaka and the sister of Rukmi. She was the first wife of Vasudeva Krishna of Dwaraka.
Pushpagiri was an ancient Indian mahavihara or monastic complex located atop Langudi Hill in Jajpur district of Odisha, India. Pushpagiri was mentioned in the writings of the Chinese traveller Xuanzang and some other ancient sources. Until the 1990s, it was hypothesised to be one or all of the Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Udayagiri group of monastic sites, also located in Jajpur district. These sites contain ruins of many buildings, stupas of various sizes, sculptures, and other artifacts.
Gauda, was a territory located in Bengal in ancient and medieval times, as part of the Gauda Kingdom.
The history of Kalahandi goes back to the primitive period where a well-civilized, urbanized, and cultured people inhabited this land mass around 2000 years ago. The world's largest celt of Stone Age and the largest cemetery of the megalithic age have been discovered in Kalahandi. This shows the region had a civilized culture since the pre-historic era. Asurgarh near Narla in Kalahandi was one of the oldest metropolises in Odisha whereas the other one was Sisupalgarh near Bhubaneswar. Some other historical forts in the region includes Budhigarh, Amthagarh, Belkhandi and Dadpur-Jajjaldeypur. This land was unconquered by the great Ashoka, who fought the great Kalinga War, as per Ashokan record. In medieval period the region had played a prominent role to link South India, Eastern India and Central India region and witnessed the battle ground for Somavamsi, Chola, Kalachuris of Kalyani and Eastern Ganga dynasty. Kalahandi region was the main route for Chola to attack Subarnapur.
Bhawanipatna is classified as one of the major tourist destinations by the tourism Department of Government of Odisha. All the tourist attraction in Kalahandi region comes under Bhawanipatna jurisdiction. Though tourist potential of Kalahandi has not been fully exploited, the land is rich in terms of waterfalls, forest and wild life, natural scenery, tribal life, mountains, agriculture field, historical sites and handicrafts. The best time to visit Kalahandi region is from October to March. April–June is hard Summer and temperatures may reach 45 degree C and June to August is the Monsoon Season. While it occasionally rains in September, the Nuakhai festival is help in September and Dassara is held at the end of September or early October. The celebration of Chaitra occurs in February/March.
Pundranagar in Paundrabhukti was the most important city in the ancient Bengal region, now identified with the current site of Mahasthan, located in Bogra, Bangladesh. It was a vibrant administrative, religious and cultural centre from the 3rd century BC to the 12th century AD that is from the Maurya Empire time to the Sena dynasty period. Archaeological remains and literary descriptions speak of a truly planned and magnificent city. City walls, elaborate gates, palaces, common dwellings, assembly halls, temples, viharas, shops, ponds and even suburban temples and viharas characterised the city; Chinese pilgrim, Xuanzang, visiting in the 7th century AD, particularly mentions ponds, orchards, flowers and pleasure gardens.
The Nalas were an Indian dynasty that ruled parts of present-day Chhattisgarh and Odisha during the 6th century CE. Their core territory included the areas around Bastar and Koraput districts. Their capital was probably Pushkari, identified with the modern Garhdhanora in Bastar district. At one point, they seem to have conquered the Vakataka capital Nandivardhana in the Vidarbha region, but suffered reverses against the Vakatakas as well as the Chalukyas. Sharabhapuriyas, their northern neighbours, also seem to have played a part in their downfall. They were probably supplanted by the Panduvamshi dynasty, although one branch of the dynasty seems to have ruled a small territory until the 7th or 8th century CE.