Encyclopedia for Epics of Ancient India

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Panchala

PANCHALA. [Source: Dowson's Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology] Name of a country.

From the Mahabharata it would seem to have occupied Lower Doab ; Manu places it Kanauj. It has sometimes been identified with the Panjab, and with "a little territory in the more immediate neighbourhood of Hastinapur." Wilson says, "A country extending north and west from Delhi, from the foot of the Himalayas to the Chambal." It was divided into Northern and Southern Panchalas, and the Ganges separated them.

Cunningham considers North Panchala to be Rohilkhand, and South Panchala the Gangetic Doab. The capital of the former was Ahichhatra, whose ruins are found near Ramnagar, and of the latter Kampilya, identical with the modern Kampila, on the old Ganges between Badaun and Farrukhabad.


Modern Languages MLLL-4993. Indian Epics. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D. The textual material made available at this website is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. No claims are made regarding the status of images used at this website; if you own the copyright privileges to any of these images and believe your copyright privileges have been violated, please contact the webmaster. Page last updated: October 16, 2007 12:22 PM