Dakshinapatha

Dakshinapathais a historical region which is the ancient equivalent of the present-dayDeccan.It can also mean:

the "Ancient South of theIndian subcontinent"belowUttarapatha.The term usually encompasses the Deccan and sometimesTamilakamandCeylonas well.
the "great southern highway" in India, traveling fromMagadhatoPratishthana,^[1]or;
a kingdom on theGodavari Riverin southern India^[2]^[3]

Etymology

The termDakshinapathais composite of two terms,dakshinaandpatha.nameDeccanis an anglicised form of thePrakritworddakkhinordakkhaṇaderived fromSanskritdakṣiṇa(दक्षिण"south" ),^[4]^[5]as the region was located just south of North India. Path means road, hence, Dakshinapatha means ''southern road'', but it has been also applied for South Indian realm.

Historical background

Three divisions of the Indian subcontinent mentioned in the Later Vedic texts areAryavarta(Northern India),Madhya Desha(Central India) and Dakshinapatha (South India).^[6]TheAitareya Brahmana(1st half of 1st mil BCE) also mentions some tribes in the South (Dakshinadis) ofVindhyanand north Deccan origin such asSatvants,Vidarbha,Andhra,Nishadasand Kuntis.^[7]Panini(500 BCE) in his 'Aṣṭādhyāyī' mentionsAsmaka Kingdomin connection with Dakshinatya andKalinga.^[8]Dakshinapatha also finds mention inJunagarh rock inscriptionof Indo-Scythian kingRudradharmanfrom 150 CE

...who by force destroyed the Yaudheyas who were loath to submit, rendered proud as they were by having manifested their' title of' heroes among all Kshatriyas; who obtained good report because he, in spite of having twice in fair fight completely defeated Satakarni, the lord of Dakshinapatha, on account of the nearness of their connection did not destroy him; who [obtained] victory........; who reinstates deposed kings;
— Rudradaman I, Junagadh rock inscription

Description

The Dakshinapatha trade route was one of two great highways that have connected different parts of the sub-continent since theIron Age.The other highway was theUttarapathaor the great northern road that ran from Taxila in Pakistan, through the modern Punjab up to the western coast of Yamuna. Following the course of Yamuna it went southwards up to Mathura, from there it passed on to Ujjain in Malwa and to Broach on western coast. According toLand of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's GeographybySanjeev Sanyal,the trajectory of the northern road (Uttarapatha) has remained roughly the same from pre-Mauryan times and is now known asGrand Trunk Roador the oldNH2(currently theNH 19along with parts of northernNH 44and easternNH 3). However, the southern road appears to have drifted since the ancient era. Rama's route into exile in the epic may have been an early version of the road, but by the time of Buddha it started at Varanasi and ran through Vidisha in central India, to Pratishthana (nowPaithan). It probably extended all the way to Chola, Chera and Pandya kingdoms of the far south. By the Mauryan period, there would have been a branch fromUjjainto the ports of Gujarat which made Ujjain a major city by Gupta era. In the modern era, Dakshinapatha roughly coincides with the old NH-7 (currently theNH 44along with parts of southernNH 34,NH 30andNH 35), which runs much further east of the old road but still meets the northern road atVaranasi.^[9]

References

^Singh, U. (2008).A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century.Pearson Education. p. 289.ISBN 9788131711200.Retrieved2015-01-01.
^http://www.historytoday.com/historical-dictionary/d/dakshinapatha^{[dead link]}
^"Dakkhināpatha".palikanon.com.Retrieved2015-01-01.
^Henry Yule, A. C. Burnell (13 June 2013).Hobson-Jobson: The Definitive Glossary of British India.Oxford.ISBN 9780191645839.
^Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary, p. 498(scanned image atSriPedia Initiative): Sanskritdakṣiṇameaning 'southern'.
^"India History - The Vedic Period".www.globalsecurity.org.Retrieved2021-04-09.
^"From Clans to Kingdoms (1700 BCE- 600 BCE)".www.livehistoryindia.com.Retrieved2021-04-10.
^Gupta, Kalyan Kumar Das (1972). "The Aśvakas: an Early Indian Tribe".East and West.22(1/2): 33–40.ISSN 0012-8376.JSTOR 29755742.
^Sanjeev, Sanyal (2012-11-15).Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography.Penguin Random House India Private Limited. pp. 71–76.ISBN 9788184756715.

External links

Pali Definition of Dakshinapatha

[google-1] Singh, U. (2008).A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century.Pearson Education. p. 289.ISBN 9788131711200.Retrieved2015-01-01.

[2] ttp://www.historytoday.com/historical-dictionary/d/dakshinapatha^{[dead link]}

[palikanon-3] "Dakkhināpatha".palikanon.com.Retrieved2015-01-01.

[4] Henry Yule, A. C. Burnell (13 June 2013).Hobson-Jobson: The Definitive Glossary of British India.Oxford.ISBN 9780191645839.

[5] Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary, p. 498(scanned image atSriPedia Initiative): Sanskritdakṣiṇameaning 'southern'.

[6] "India History - The Vedic Period".www.globalsecurity.org.Retrieved2021-04-09.

[7] "From Clans to Kingdoms (1700 BCE- 600 BCE)".www.livehistoryindia.com.Retrieved2021-04-10.

[8] Gupta, Kalyan Kumar Das (1972). "The Aśvakas: an Early Indian Tribe".East and West.22(1/2): 33–40.ISSN 0012-8376.JSTOR 29755742.

[9] Sanjeev, Sanyal (2012-11-15).Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India's Geography.Penguin Random House India Private Limited. pp. 71–76.ISBN 9788184756715.

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