List of 56 Nations

Deshas and capitals

(source as on 18 October 2018: from various puranas, bhagavatam, bhavisya purana, and mahabharat, ramayana etc. and bharat varsha map location directions, some of the capital names changed over ages.)

Desha	Direction Bharat-Varsha	Capital
Panchala	North	Ahichatra (North) (kshetra of snakes) Kampilya (southern) *Mahabharat
Kuninda (or Kulinda) Central Himalayas (located in the modern state of Uttarakhand and southern areas of Himachal in northern India.)	North	Nāgarkot
Kinnara	North	Kinnara
Kosala (uttar)	North	Ayodhya
Matysa (or Machcha tribe)	North	Viratapuri or Viratanagar Associated with Surasenas Founded by King Virata to the south of the Kurus and west of the Yamuna, which separated them from the Panchalas.
Nepa (Nepal)	North	Nepalakaksha
Hara Huṇa	North (foreign)
Kashmira	North west	Srinagara Maharishi Kashyapa or a descendant of this sage lived here.
Madra	North west	Sākala (modern Sialkot in the Punjab province of Pakistan).
Kekeya (also known as Kekaya, Kaikaya, Kaikeya etc. part of Vahika country.) (The Kekayas occupied the land now comprised by three districts of Jhelum, Shahpur and Gujerat,all in Pakistan.)	North west	Rajagriha or Girivraja (as per Ramayana)
Sindhu	North west	Vrsadarbhpura
Kamboja	North west	Rajapura (Rajauri) The Kambojas are also described as a royal clan of the Sakas. as former kshatriyas (Warriors caste) who had degraded through a failure to abide by Hindu sacred rituals.
Kosala (dakshina) (south central) (place of Sri Rama’s mother Kaushalya)	North-central	Sripura
Kasi; Benaras or Banaras	North-east	Varanasi The Matsya Purana calls Kashi as Kausika and Kaushaka
Malla (or Mallarashtra) north of Magadha desha	North-east	# Kusavati (modern Kasia near Gorakhpur) Pava (modern Fazilnagar 12 miles from Kasia) The Mallas are mentioned by Manusmriti as Vratya Kshatriyas. chosen death place of Mahavira and Gautama Buddha.
Kuru (from the Puru dynasty)	North	Indraprastha Hastinapura (delhi)
Kuru (W)	North	Kurukshetra As per Mahabharat, the Kuru - Kshetra (extending till panchala) lay between the rivers Sarasvati and Drsadvati, in eastern punjab. This land has been also called Brahma-vrata in Manusmriti.
Vatsa or Vamsa (branch of Kuru)	North	Kausambi village ‘kosam’ corresponding to territory of Allahabad (today).
Magadha	East	Pataliputra Kusagārapura was bound in the north by the river Ganges, in the east by the river Champa, in the south by Vindhya mountains and in the west by the river Sona. Ancient great country, Magadha desha comprised of the present Patna and Gaya districts of Bihar and its capital originally at Girivaja-Rajagrha (Rajgir) and then Pāṭaliputra (near Patna.
Gaya desha (also called Kikata) south of Magadha desha	East	Gaya
Videha	East	Mithila
Anga (east of Magadha)	East	Champa
Pragjyotisha The word Pragjyotishpura derived from Sanskrit words "Prag", "Jyotisha" and "Pura" meaning 'city of eastern light' otherwise 'city of eastern astrology'.	East	Pragjyotishpura (now Guwahati) In the Kishkindha Kanda of the Ramayana, the kingdom is placed in the west near Mount Varaha on the sea. When Krishna went to Pragjyotisha, Naraka with all the Danavas did not succeed in seizing him there.
Vanga	East	Chandrakanta
Pundra (- Was ruled by Paundra Vasudeva, who imitated Sri Krishna and was killed in battle with Him. based in West Bengal and Bangladesh)	East	Paundra
Kalinga (eastern coast, Orisha)	East	Rajapura
Suhma	East
Odra	East	Katak
Sonita	East	Sonitapura (Aniruddha, Sri Krishna’a son married the daughter of his kingdom)
Utkala (Utpala, Okkal) (jagannatha temple) was located in the northern and eastern portion of the modern-day Indian state of Odisha and also included the districts of Bankura, Purulia and Midnapore districts of West Bengal.	East	Puri
Saraswata	West	Saraswati
Abhira (Comprises parts of Northern Konkan and Nasik region. )	West	Nasik
Surasena (Andhakas and Vrishnis dynasty)	Western/Central	Mathura The country of the Surasenas lay to the east of Matsya and west of Yamuna. This corresponds roughly to the Brij region of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan and Gwalior region of Madhya Pradesh.
Anarta roughly forming the northern Gujarat state of India.	Western/Central	Prabhas
Dwarika	Western/Central	Dwarikapuri
Saurashtra (southern Gujarat) Gurjara or Gurjaradesha or Goparasthra (eastern Rajasthan and northern Gujarat)	Western/Central	Gomantaka The name Surat, a modern city of Gujarat, is derived from the name Saurashtra. one among the many kingdoms ruled by Yadava kings in the central and western India.
Chedi (Jhansi district in Uttar Pradesh) roughly in the Bundelkhand division of Madhya Pradesh regions to the south of river Yamuna along the river Ken.	Western/Central	Suktimati (Sukti)
Kunti (North to Avanti Kingdom)	Western/Central	Kunti Bhoja
Avanti	Western/Central	Mahishamati (southern capital) Ujjaini (northern capital) The country of Avanti roughly corresponded to modern Malwa, Nimar and adjoining parts of the Madhya Pradesh. Both Mahishmati and Ujjaini stood on the southern high road called Dakshinapatha extending from Rajagriha to Pratishthana (modern Paithan).
Malava (West to Avanti Kingdom)	Western/Central	Udayapuri, Madhyamika
Hehaye (also known as Haihaya, Haiheya, Heiheya)	Western/Central	Mahishmati on the banks of river Narmada in present-day Madhya Pradesh.
Dasarna (present madhya pradesh)	Western/Central	Vidisha
Pulinda (the Vindhyan region in Central India)	Central	Pulinda-nagara (located in present-day Jabalpur District of Madhya Pradesh state.)
Vidarbha (northeastern Maharastra)	Central	Kundinapura Sri Krishna’s wife Rukmini from Vidarbha
Anupa	Central	Surpana
Shurapaka (near the Western sea, close to the mouth of river Narmada. identified with modern Sopara, in Palgar district north of Mumbai)	Central/West	Kalyani or Matanga
Konkana (Konkan region (coastal region) of Maharashtra) The ancient Saptakonkana is a slightly larger region described in the Sahyadrikhanda of Skanda Purana, which refers to it as Parashuramakshetra (Area of Parasurama).	Central	Puri
Dandaka (It is roughly the Nashik District, Maharashtra)	Central	Janasthana
Vraji		Vaishali chief city Mithila
Gandhara	north-west	Pushkalavati Puruṣapura (Peshawar) Takshashila In Treta Yuga, before Lord Rama, during the reigns of Muchukunda, the kingdom of Gandhara was founded by the Druhyu prince Gandhara who was the son of King Angara of Druhyu Dynasty. During Ramayana, King Nagnajit a contemporary of Lord Rama was defeated and killed by Rama's brother Bharata and Bharata's 1st son Taksha established Takshasila (Taxila) in Gandhara Kingdom on the banks of river Sindhu and Pushkara established Pushkaravati or Purushapura (Pushkar) in Gandharva tribe on the banks of river Saraswati. In Dvapara Yuga, Gandhara prince Shakuni was the root of all the conspiracies.
Pallava	South	Kanchi/Kanchipuram
Andhra or Andhraka	South	Amravati ((Dharanikota) (Historically, Amaravati was the capital of Satavahanas, the first great Andhra kings who ruled from 230 BC to 220 BC after the downfall of the Mauryan empire.)
Kishkindha (- kingdom of Bali, Sugriva during Ramayana around the Tungabhadra river (then known as Pampa Saras) belongs to Koppal district, Karnataka.)	South	Kishkindha (Mt. Rishimukha)
Pandya	South	Madura (present day Madurai)
Kerala (Chera)	South	Kodungallur (or Makotai) Kollam
Chola or Chola Nadu (region that includes the modern-day Tiruchirapalli District, Tiruvarur District, Nagapattinam District, Ariyalur District, Perambalur district, Pudukkottai district, Thanjavur District in Tamil Nadu and Karaikal District)	South	Cholamandalam Early Cholas: Poompuhar, Urayur, Tiruvarur Medieval Cholas: Pazhaiyaarai, Thanjavur, Gangaikonda Cholapuram
Telinga (present telengana) Kakatiya dynasty	South	Kotalingala (has the Koteswara Siddeshwara Temple.)
Gomanta	South	Gokarna
Karnataka Mahishakha	South	Mahishapuri (mysore)
Mushika (kolaputra)	South	Mushikapuri
Tulunga (Tulu Nadu)	South	Sauparnika
Lanka (present Srilanka)	South	Lankapuri
Sinhala (near lanka)	South	'Anuradhapuri'

Brahmarshi-desha, 'the county of the holy sages,' includes the territories of the Kurus, Matsyas, Panchalas and Shurasenas (i.e., the eastern half of the State of Patiala and of the Delhi division of the Punjab, the Alwar State and adjacent territory in Rajputana, the region which lies between the Ganges and the Jumna, and the Muttra District in the United Provinces).