INTRODUCTIONTHE REGIONAL PATTERN OF INDIAN HISTORY
The first major region of the Indian subcontinent is the alluvial land of the
northern rivers which extends for about 2,000 miles from the mouth of the
Indus to the mouth of the river Ganga. This belt of land is only about 200
miles wide. The two other major regions are the southern highlands and
the east coast. They are separated from the northern region by the large
intermediate zone which extends right across India for about 1,000 miles
from Gujarat to Orissa and is 300–400 miles wide.
The northern region is subdivided into four smaller regions, the first one
being the region of the first great Indian empire in the east, Bengal and
Bihar, the second the middle Gangetic basin including the lower Ganga-
Yamuna Doab, the third the Agra-Delhi region and the Western Doab, and
the fourth the Indus region. The intermediate zone is both a mediator and
a buffer between the northern region and the two other ones. Its two
terminal regions, Gujarat and Orissa, are both separated from the other
major regions in specific ways, Gujarat by the desert in the north and
Orissa by mountains and rivers which are always in flood in the monsoon
season. The interior of the intermediate zone contains four enclaves which
are isolated from each other: the fertile plains of Chattisgarh, a region
which was called Dakshina Koshala in ancient times; Vidarbha, the area
around present Nagpur; the Malwa Plateau around Ujjain which was
called Avanti in antiquity; and finally the Rajput country between Jaipur
and Udaipur. Of course, there have been some contacts among these
regions of the intermediate zone and with the other major regions.
Furthermore Gujarat and Orissa, predestined by their location on the
coast, have been in touch with regions overseas. But for military
intervention, this intermediate zone has always been a major obstacle.
The four sub-regional centres of the highland region are the Deccan
Lava Trap around Aurangabad and Paithan, the central region around
Haiderabad, including the old capitals of Bidar, Manyakheta and Kalyani,
the region between Bijapur and Vijayanagara which includes old capitals
such as the Badami of the Chalukyas, and finally the region around
Mysore, the stronghold of the Hoysalas and later on of Tipu Sultan. The
four subregions within the east coast region are the Krishna-Godaveri
delta, Tondaimandalam around present Madras, the centre of the old
Pallava empire, Cholamandalam in the Kaveri delta region, the home
ground of the Chola dynasty, and finally Pandyamandala around Madurai,
the centre of the Pandyas.
The three last mentioned sub-regions are close to each other, but they
are divided from the first east coast sub-region, the Krishna-Godaveri
delta, by a stretch of land called Rayalaseema. Here the highland comes
close to the coast and cuts into the fertile coastal plains. Thus, though
Rayalaseema and the region adjacent to it, the Raichur Doab located