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Pañcāla

One of the sixteen great countries (Mahājanapadas) (A.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 Kumbhakāra Jātaka, the capital of Uttara Pañcāla was Kampillanagara, where a king named Dummukha once reigned.

J.iii.379; also Mtu.iii.26; but the Dvy. (435) calls the capital Hastināpura. According to the Mahābhārata (i.138, 73-4), the capital was Ahicchatra or Chatravatī, while the capital of Daksina-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., J.v.444; also Mahābhārata i.138), but at other times it formed a part of Kampillarattha (e.g., J.iii.79; v. 21, 289) Kampilla probably being the capital of Dakkhiṇa Pañcāla. So it happened that sometimes the kings of Kampillarattha had their capital in Uttara Pañcāla nagara, while at others the kings of Uttara Pañcāla-nagara had their capital in Kampilla nagara. Cūlanī Brahmadatta is described in theMahā Ummagga Jātaka as king of Pañcāla, with his capital in Kampilla.

J.vi.329, 396, etc.; also PvA. 161; see also Uttarādhiyayana Sūtra (SBE. xlv. 57 61) and the Rāmāyana (i.32). Similarly Sambhūta was king of Uttara-Pañcāla (J.iv.392ff.). Sometimes the king of Pañcāla is merely spoken of as Pañcāla   e.g., J.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 “Pañcāla rājā.” Pañcāla is generally identified (Law: Geog. of Early Buddhism, p. 19.) with the country to the north and west of Delhi, from the foot of the Himālaya to the river Chambal.

Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names • G.P. Malalasekera