Āryāvarta

Āryāvarta · ārya-āvarta, “the land where the noble ones dwell”

Kuśa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kuśa. Yajña has other meanings too: see all meanings of Yajña.

Āryāvarta is the land of yajña, the holy land of Bhārata where the Vedic rites are performed. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa names it four times: as the yajña-bhūmi that Brahmā gathered from the limbs of the Virāṭ Purusha for the first yajña; as the land whose east, west and middle were ruled by the sons of Ikshvāku; as the land Paraśurāma gave as dakshiṇā to the upadrashṭā of his yajña; and as the land to which Devāpi and Maru will return at the end of the Kali-yuga to spread once more the dharma of the varṇas and āśramas.

The land of the first yajña

Brahmā tells Nārada that when he came forth from the navel-lotus of Śrī Hari, the antaryāmī of the Virāṭ Purusha, he could see no materials for yajña except the limbs of that Purusha. From those limbs alone he gathered, in order: the paśus, the yūpa posts, the samidhs, the darbha grass, this yajña-bhūmi (glossed Āryāvarta), the time of yajña with the qualities of the seasons beginning with vasanta, the yajña vessels, the grains beginning with wheat, the oily substances beginning with ghee, the foods with their rasas, the metals beginning with gold, the clay for the kapālas, the water, the mantras of the Ṛk, the Yajus and the Sāman, the four kinds of ṛtvik work, the names of the rites beginning with Agnishṭoma, the āhuti-mantras beginning with svāhā, the dakshiṇās beginning with cows, the vratas beginning with Payovrata, the names of the devatās in order, the kalpa-sūtras, the saṅkalpa, the manner of the rite, the Vishṇukramas, the meditations beginning with the udgītha-upāsana, the prāyaścittas, and the offering of the rite to Parameśvara. With these he worshipped Parameśvara in the form of the Yajña Purusha by that very yajña.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 6

The kingdoms of Ikshvāku’s sons

Śuka tells Parīkshit that Ikshvāku was born from the nose of Manu as Manu sneezed, and had a hundred sons, the eldest of them Vikukshi, Nimi and Daṇḍaka. Of the hundred, twenty-five ruled as kings in the eastern part of Āryāvarta, twenty-five in the western part, three in the middle region, and the other forty-seven in the remaining directions.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 6

Paraśurāma’s dakshiṇā

After he had ended the kshatriyas, Paraśurāma worshipped Śrī Hari with yajñas and gave the directions to the ṛtvijas as dakshiṇā: the east to the hotā, the south to the brahmā, the west to the adhvaryu and the north to the udgātā; the intermediate directions to the other ṛtvijas; the middle portion to Kaśyapa; Āryāvarta to the upadrashṭā, who sets right what is excess or lacking in the yajña; and the land beyond the middle portion to the sadasyas who watch the yajña. Then he took the avabhṛtha bath in the river Sarasvatī and was freed from all pāpas.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 9, Chapter 16

The dharma restored after Kali

Śuka tells Parīkshit that Devāpi, the brother of Śantanu, and Maru of the Ikshvāku line are now in the village of Kalāpa, with great yoga-power. Bhagavān Śrī Kalki will give them his upadeśa, and at the end of the Kali-yuga they will come here (to Āryāvarta, says the bracket) and spread the dharma of the varṇas and āśramas as it was in the Kṛta-yuga of the past.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapter 2

Sources

• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 6; Skandha 9, Chapters 6, 16; Skandha 12, Chapter 2