Where is Bharat in Sugriva’s atlas?

The Valmiki Ramayana tells a story that may be 3,000 years old. However, it was written down only 2,000 years ago, with many additions by later authors.

In this story, the monkey-king Sugriva tells his monkey troop, and Ram, that Bharat was located north of Kishkinda, while the Vindhya and the Narmada were located south of Kishkinda. He spoke of regions to the east and west of Kishkinda also, including Indonesia and Central Asia. He knew all this because he ran around the world, trying to hide from his brother Vali, who pursued him everywhere, intent on killing him. 

This information comes from the Valmiki Ramayana’s Kishkinda Kanda verses 40-43. This goes against the modern beliefs that all of South Asia has always been referred to as Bharat, and Kishkinda was always located in Karnataka’s Hampi region. 

Credit: Dhaivat Chhaya

The reason for this is simple. These verses were probably written around 500 AD, added to an older Ramayana manuscript, by someone who had a good understanding of contemporary trade routes. 

Even though Sita has been taken in the southern direction, why would Sugriva send his troops looking for her in the four directions, even beyond the Himalayas. This seems almost like an excuse for the storyteller to share his understanding of geography with his readers, and nothing to do with the Ramayana’s plot.

Sugriva’s atlas is clearly an interpolation, dated to 500 AD, when India was trading with Central Asia via passes of the Hindu Kush, with Rome via ships sailing from the west coast, and Java via ships sailing from the east coast, taking advantage of the annual monsoon winds.

First, let us understand why Sugriva stated that Bharat was in North India, probably in the Haryana region. This region was linked with Bharat kings who won the Battle of the Ten Kings described in the Rig Veda. The Bharatas then united the warring Aryan tribes of the region and marked the union with the compilation of the Rig Veda in 1000 BC. It is not by accident that the last verse of the Rig Veda (X.191) is a call for unity and collaboration.

In 100 BC, Kharavela of Odisha inscribed on the walls of the Udayagiri caves that he had marched north to Bharatvarsha, indicating that he did not see his kingdom of Kalinga as part of Bharat. It is only in Vishnu Purana, dated 500 AD, that Bharat is described as the land north of the sea and south of the Himalayas. By this time, the Brahmins had migrated from Aryavarta (Ganga-Yamuna doab) to the western (Gujarat), eastern (Odisha), and probably even southern (Kerala) end of India, as indicated by the distribution of Brahmadeya land grants. In Ashokan Buddhist edicts, from 250 BC, South Asia was for the first time referred to as a single unit named Jambudvipa, the rose-apple continent. 

Now let us understand the location of Kishkinda.

According to Sugriva, it was north of the Vindhya mountains and the Narmada river. In the Ramayana, there is a clear description of Ram crossing the Ganga and the Yamuna — and no other river. Ram lived in Panchvati, on banks of the Godavari river when Sita was abducted. Goda turns out to be a generic Mundari word for fresh water and is linked to Gond tribes and Gondwana land. So, the Ramayana’s Godavari was not the mighty Godavari that flows down Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Nashik, an ancient human settlement, was linked to Panchavati and the abduction of Sita, only after the great southern migration of the Brahmins after 100 AD. This was also when many southern rivers were linked to the Ganga and many southern mountains were linked to Kailash. 

Credit: Dhaivat Chhaya

Additionally, in Kishkinda, Ram displays his archery skills to Sugriva by shooting a single arrow through seven Sala trees. Sala trees are found only in Chhattisgarh and Odisha, not in the south, certainly not in Karnataka. As per the Valmiki Ramayana, even Lanka is full of Sala trees lending credence to the argument that Ravana’s Lanka originally was located at Odisha. Somavamsi kings of Odisha referred to Western Odisha as ‘Paschima or Western’ Lanka and Swarnapuri in the 8th century. In the city of Sonepur, even today, they worship Lankeshwari and commemorate the burning of Lanka by Hanuman in the Lanka-Podi festival. In the 16th century, Gond kings issued coins calling themselves Paulatsya, descendants of Ravana.

The Chalukya kings carved the Ramayana panels on the walls of their temples in Badami and Pattadakal around 700 AD. This is probably when the Karnataka region came to be linked to Kishkinda.

It was only around 900 AD that Sri Lanka came to be known as Ravana’s Lanka. Before that Sri Lanka was known as Sinhala and not linked to Ravana’s Lanka. Lanka originally referred to any island. During the Chola rule, Tamilians began referring to Sinhala, their arch enemy, as Ilankai, identifying themselves with Ram and his army, with titles such as Sethupathi, guardians of the bridge.

Around 500 AD Sinhala was a major hub connecting the western and eastern sea. To the west was Rome, from where Roman wine and Roman gold were imported from 100 BC until Roman trade waned around 300 AD. Import of wine from across the sea gave rise to the concept of Varuni, goddess of wine, born from the ocean of milk.

On the eastern sea, on the island of Java, we find the Ramayana panels on the walls of the Prambanan temples, dated to 800 AD. Simhala traded with Goa too, and so the Shilahara kings of Konkan and Goa were called ‘kings of Lanka’ in 1000 AD. In fact, a Kadamba king who defeated the Shilahara wrote that he had conquered Lanka without building a bridge as had been done by monkeys.

So, while Sanatani content-creators are busy promoting the historicity of Ramayana to 12000 or 10000 or 7000 BC, despite the absence of any material evidence, we cannot afford to overlook geography. The Valmiki Ramayana has layers of information, included in different historical periods, that saw the location of Sugriva’s kingdom and Ravana’s kingdom shift. What was once in the Chhattisgarh-Odisha region is now spread to Karnataka and Sri Lanka. Such is the power of faith.

(Devdutt Pattanaik is the author of more than 50 books on mythology. X: @devduttmyth.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.