The vastness of the Bharath, the land rich in heritage and cultural diversity
Anupa is particularly important because the Mahabharata does not present this landscape merely as a name in a geographical catalogue. Mahishmati becomes the setting for one of the most remarkable episodes of Sahadeva’s Digvijaya, involving King Nila, the protection of Agni and the political submission of the city to Yudhishthira’s Rajasuya authority.
Located on the left bank of the Swat River in present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Barikot is identified with ancient Bazira, also known in regional traditions as Vajirasthana. Archaeological evidence indicates human occupation in the area from at least the second millennium BCE, followed by successive Early Historic, Indo-Greek, Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, later Hindu Shahi and early Islamic phases.
Vaidisha, identified with the ancient Vidisha-Besnagar region of present-day Madhya Pradesh, occupied one of the most strategically important landscapes of central Bharat. Situated around the Betwa or ancient Vetravati River and close to the Vindhyan and eastern Malwa regions, it stood at a natural meeting point between northern India, the Malwa plateau, Bundelkhand and the routes leading farther south.
The discovery comes from Leilo Kaa, a rock shelter in the Chiphur area of Noklak district near the India-Myanmar frontier. A joint team from Nagaland University’s Department of History and Archaeology and the Government of Nagaland’s Department of Art and Culture conducted the first preliminary archaeological cave expedition in the district in March 2026. The wider survey identified and mapped five caves and four rock shelters across the rugged limestone terrain of the Naga Hills Ophiolite Belt.
Modern geographical identification: Vidisha and the eastern Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh, India
The inscription was noticed after villagers cleared vegetation around the temple and alerted local researchers. Scholars associated with the Krishnagiri District Government Museum and historical research organisations subsequently examined the stone and identified it as a medieval merchant-guild inscription.
The Mahabharata nevertheless clearly knows the Malavas as a distinct political and military people. They appear during the Pandavas’ campaigns, at Yudhishthira’s Rajasuya sacrifice and on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. The epic also names individual Malava chiefs, confirming that they possessed recognised leadership and substantial military strength.
The Mahabharata remembers Avanti mainly through its two warrior rulers, Vinda and Anuvinda. They first appear as kings who resisted Sahadeva during the Pandava campaign conducted before Yudhishthira’s Rajasuya sacrifice. They were defeated but retained their kingdom. Years later, when the great conflict between the Pandavas and Kauravas began, both rulers chose Duryodhana and became prominent warriors in the Kaurava army.
Karusha appears several times in the epic as an established kingdom with its own rulers and warriors. Its kings attended major royal gatherings and participated in regional alliances. Karusha troops later fought in large numbers during the Kurukshetra War.
The geographical identities of both kingdoms survived beyond the epic age. Mathura became the recognised capital of the historical Surasena Mahajanapada, while Chedi remained associated with the eastern Bundelkhand region around the Ken river system.
