Page:Ancient History of the Deccan.djvu/9

 INTRODUCTION

India may be divided into hvo parts, the North and the South. From the remotest times, this division has been adopted by the Indians who have given the name of Dakshina (Dakshinâpatha) or 'The South' to all the Country that extends from the Narbada to the extremity of the peninsula. In this work, we shall use the word Deccan to designate the ancient Dakshnia, but with this little restriction, that the three Southernmost kingdoms of Chola, Chera and Pandya, which have always remained a little isolated, shall be excluded. We shall therefore call "The Deccan" the large tract of country which is bounded on the north by the Narbada and the Mahanadi, on the east by the Bay of Bengal, on the east by the Arabian Sea, on the south by the Nilgiri Hill and the Southern Pennar (which reaches the sea near Cuddalore and which is the northern boundary of the Chola country according to the poetess Auvaiyar).

We have limited our subject in extent; let us now proceed to fix a lime-limit for it. "Ancient History of the Deccan" means for us "the history of the Deccan in ancient times" and