Kosala
Kosala, 1908
(from kushala, ' happy '). — Two tracts of this name are known in Hindu literature. That north of the Vindhyas corresponded roughly to Oudh. In the Ramayana it is the country of Dasaratha and Rama, with its capital at Ajodhya, and it then extended to the Ganges. It was part of the holy land of Buddhism, and in Buddhist literature kings of Kosala ruled also over Kapilavastu. Sravasti, the site of which is disputed, was the capital of Uttara Kosala, the northern portion, over which Lava, son of Rama, ruled after his father's death. Southern or Great Kosala (Dakshina or Maha. Kosala), which fell to Kusa, the other son of Rama, lay south of the Vindhyas. In the seventh century Hiuen Tsiang describes it as bounded by Ujjain on the north, Maharashtra on the west, Orissa on the east, and Andhra and Kalinga on the south. It thus lay in ChhattTsgarh about the upper valley of the Mahanadi and its tributaries, from Amarkantak on the north to Ranker on the south, and may at times have extended west into Mandla and Balaghat Districts, and cast into Sambalpur. From about the year 1000 the tract was absorbed in a new kingdom called chedi (eastern). [For Northern Kosala, see Lassen, Ind. Alt., vol. i, p. 129, and authorities quoted there ; Rhys Davids's Buddhist India, passim. For Southern Kosala, see Cunningham, Archaeological Survey Reports, vol. xvii, p. 68, and map ; and Coins of Mediaeval India, p. 73.]
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
