Pañcāla untranslated

Pañcāla, Pañcālajanapada, Pañcālaraṭṭha, Pañcālā. One of the sixteen Mahā Janapadas (AN.i.213; iv.252, etc.). It consisted of two divisions: Uttara Pañcāla and Dakkhiṇa Pañcāla. The river Bhagīrathi formed the boundary between the divisions. According to the Kumbhakārajātaka (Ja 408), the capital of Uttara Pañcāla was Kampillanagara, where a king named Dummukha once reigned. Ja.iii.379; also Mvu.iii.26; but the Divyāvadāna (435) calls the capital Hastināpura. According to the Mahā Bhārata (i.138, 73-4), the capital was Ahicchatra or Chatravatī, while the capital of Dakṣina Pañcāla was Kāmpilya.

Pañcāla was to the east of the Kuru country, and, in ancient times, there seems to have been a constant struggle between the Kurus and the Pañcālas for the possession of Uttara Pañcāla. Thus, sometimes, Uttara Pañcāla was included in the Kuru kingdom (e.g., Ja.v.444; also Mahā Bhārata i.138), but at other times it formed a part of Kampillaraṭṭha (e.g., Ja.iii.79; v. 21, 289) Kampilla probably being the capital of Dakkhiṇa Pañcāla. So it happened that sometimes the kings of Kampillaraṭṭha had their capital in Uttara Pañcālanagara, while at others the kings of Uttara Pañcālanagara had their capital in Kampillanagara. Cūḷanī Brahmadatta is described in the Mahā Ummaggajātaka (Ja 546) as king of Pañcāla, with his capital in Kampilla. Ja.vi.329, 396, etc.; also Pv-a. 161; see also Uttarādhiyayana Sūtra (SBE. xlv. 57-61) and the Rāmāyaṇa (i.32).

Similarly Sambhūta was king of Uttara Pañcāla (Ja.iv.392ff.). Sometimes the king of Pañcāla is merely spoken of as Pañcāla e.g., Ja.iv.430, v. 98. See also Jayaddisa.

There seems to have been a chieftain (rājā) of Pañcāla even in the Buddha’s day, for we are told (Thag­a.i.331) that Visākha Pañcāliputta (q.v.) was the son of the daughter of the “Pañcālarājā.” Pañcāla is generally identified with the country to the north and west of Deḷhi, from the foot of the Himālaya to the river Chambal. Law: Geography of Early Buddhism, p.19.