Vamana Purana — Structure of Jambudvipa, Shloka 40
The Structure of Jambudvipa: Nine Varshas, Navadvipa Bharata, Mountains, Rivers, and Peoples
काम्बोजा दरदाश्चैव बर्बरा ह्यङ्गलौकिकाः चीनाश्चैव तुषाराश्च बहुधा बाह्यतोदराः
kāmbojā daradāścaiva barbarā hyaṅgalaukikāḥ cīnāścaiva tuṣārāśca bahudhā bāhyatodarāḥ
«Les Kāmbojas et les Daradas ; ainsi que les Barbaras (peuples étrangers) et les Aṅgalaukikas ; de même les Cīnas et les Tuṣāras — maintes sortes de peuples demeurant au dehors (des terres centrales).»
{ "primaryRasa": "adbhuta", "secondaryRasa": "bhayanaka", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }
FAQs
The verse functions descriptively rather than prescriptively: it situates the Purāṇic world as broad and plural, acknowledging many peoples beyond the Madhyadeśa. Later tradition sometimes frames such lists as ‘outside’ the Vedic social sphere, but the immediate purpose here is cataloguing, not moral judgment.
This aligns best with ancillary material supporting vaṃśānucarita/itihāsa-frameworks and the Purāṇic cosmographical mapping of the human world (often grouped under ‘bhūgolavarṇana’ in practice, though not one of the strict five).
Symbolically, ‘bāhya’ peoples mark the horizon of the known world in Purāṇic imagination—signposting the limits of ritual geography and the expanding encounter with transregional cultures.