Kusthalapura
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Kusthalapura (कुस्थलपुर) was an ancient kingdom ruled by Dhananjaya which is mentioned as one of the Daksinapatha kingdoms subdued by Samudragupta.
Origin
Variants
- Kusthalapura (कुस्थलपुर) (AS, p.218)
- Kushasthalapura/Kusasthalapura
History
Tej Ram Sharma [1] writes about: (7) Kusthalapura (कुस्थलपुर) mentioned in 'Allahabad Stone Pillar Inscription of Samudragupta (A.D. 335-76)' (No. I, L. 20) : Kusthalapura ruled by Dhananjaya is mentioned as one of the Daksinapatha kingdoms subdued by Samudragupta.
Smith takes it to be a mistake for Kusasthalapura, and identifies it with the holy city of Dwarka, the capital of Anartta, i. e. North Gujarat. Raj Bali Pandey also identifies it with Kusasthali (Dwarka). G. Ramdas locates the place in Gujarat following Smith. Monier Williams also identifies Kusasthala with the town of Dwarka. Bhandarkar, following Barnett identifies the place with Kuttalur near Polur in North Arcot.
This Kusasthali is not situated in Gujarat but presumably on the eastern spurs of the Vindhya range near Dakshinakosala. It was the capital of Kusha, son of Ramacandra. But its
230 Personal and geographical names in the Gupta inscriptions
position in the list of the States of Daksinapatha indicates a place a little more to the south.
By the process of Haplology, Kusasthalapura is simplified into Kusthalapura which may be changed to Kusasthali or Kusavati in short.
The suffix sthala or sthali is significant : it suggests a high- lying country, an eminence, tableland, or dry-land as opposed to a damp low-land. The Mahabharata, Harivamsa, early Jain and Pali literature use the word in this sense. The Mahabharata mentions both Kusasthala as well as kusasthali. The latter is supposed to be another name of Dwarka.
कुस्थलपुर
विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर[2] ने लेख किया है ...कुस्थलपुर (AS, p.218) गुप्त सम्राट समुद्रगुप्त की प्रयाग प्रशस्ति में कुस्थलपुर के शासक धनंजय के समुद्रगुप्त द्वारा जीते जाने का उल्लेख है--- काञ्चेयकविष्णुगोपावसमुक्त्तक- नीलराज, वैङ्गेयकहस्तिवर्म्म-पाल्लकोग्रसेन-दैवराष्ट्रकुबेर-कौस्थलपुरक-धनञ्जय-प्रभृति- सर्व्वदक्षिणापथराज-ग्रहण-मोक्षानुग्रह-जनित-प्रतापोन्मिश्र-महाभाग्यस्य...'
इस स्थान का अभियान निश्चित रूप से नहीं हो सका है. प्रसंग से इसकी स्थिति जिला विजगापटम (आंध्र प्रदेश) के अंतर्गत होनी चाहिए.