Aparanta, or Aparantaka (meaning "Western border") was a geographical region of ancient

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It corresponded to the northern part of the

Konkan The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...

region on the western coast of India. English civil servant-turned-historian J. F. Fleet believed that the Aparanta region included

Kathiawad Kathiawar () is a peninsula, near the far north of India's west coast, of about bordering the Arabian Sea. It is bounded by the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest and by the Gulf of Khambhat (Gulf of Cambay) in the east. In the northeast, it i ...

, Kutch, and Sindh, beside Konkan. However, historical records make it clear that the extent of Aparanta was much smaller. The Junagadh inscription of Rudradaman mentions that during

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

's reign, a ''Yonaraja'' (literally; Ionian, or Greek, King), Tushaspha was the governor of Aparanta. A Buddhist text, the Mahavamsa states (xii.5) that at the conclusion of the

Third Buddhist Council The Third Buddhist council was convened in about 250 BCE at Asokarama in Pataliputra, under the patronage of Emperor Ashoka. The traditional reason for convening the Third Buddhist Council is reported to have been to rid the Sangha of corruption ...

(c.250 BCE), a ''Yona'' (Greek) ''Thera'' (monk) Dhammarakkhita was sent here by the emperor Ashoka to preach

Dhamma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...

and 37,000 people embraced

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

due to his effort (''Mahavamsa'', xii.34-6). According to Buddhist scholar A.K. Warder, the Dharmaguptaka sect originated here.Indian Buddhism by A.K. Warder Motilal Banarsidass: 2000. pg 278
/sup> Aparanta is regarded as an umbrella term for ''

Shurparaka Shurparaka (; also spelt Surparaka) was a kingdom founded by Bhargava Rama (also known as Parashurama) near the Western sea, close to the mouth of the river Narmada in India. It is mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. Parashurama gave this kingdom t ...

desha'' for Konkan, to include in the North and Gomantaka in the south with the river ''Kundalika'' to serving as a dividing line in between the two.

Notes

Ancient Indian geography Historical Indian regions History of Palghar district {{India-hist-stub