Dandakaranya (), also rendered Dandaka (, IAST: ), is a historical region and the name of a forest mentioned in the ancient Indian epic Ramayana. It covers about of land, which includes the Abujhmar Hills in the west and borders the Eastern Ghats in the east, including regions of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Telangana states. It spans about from north to south and about from east to west.
Etymology
Dandakaranya means "the Dandaka forest" in Sanskrit, the abode of the
rakshasa Dandaka.
[ It was the site of the Danda kingdom in Hindu puranic history, a stronghold of the rakshasa tribes. It was a state of the Lanka kingdom under the reign of Ravana. Ravana's governor Khara ruled this province.
]
Hinduism
Dandakaranya is considered sacred in Hinduism, as many accounts of the region describe ancient Hindu peoples and Hindu deities living together in refuge there. The Dandakaranya zone was the location of the turning point in the Ramayana, a famous Sanskrit epic. The plot for the divine objectives to uproot the from the land was formulated here.[Arya, Ravi Prakash (ed.).Ramayana of Valmiki: Sanskrit Text and English Translation. (English translation according to M. N. Dutt, introduction by Dr. Ramashraya Sharma, 4-volume set) Parimal Publications: Delhi, 1998, ] According to the epic, it was home to many deadly creatures and demons. It is described to have stretched from Narmada River to the Godavari River and Krishna River Rivers according to the epic. Rama, his wife Sita, and his brother Lakshmana, are described to have spent their initial years of fourteen years as exiles traveling around the region.
See also
