Dasharna
Open-knowledge reference entry
Dasharna (Sanskrit:दशार्ण Daśārṇa) was an ancient Indian janapada (realm) in eastern Malwa region between the Dhasan River and the Betwa River. The name of the janapada was derived from the Daśārṇa, the ancient name of the Dhasan River. The janapada was also known as Akara and Rudradaman I in his Junagarh rock inscription referred to this region by this name. Kalidasa in his Meghaduta (Purvamegha, 24-25) mentioned the city of Vidisha as the capital of Dasharna. Other important cities of this janapada were Erakina and Erikachha. According to the Mahabharata, the queen of king Virabahu or Subahu of Chedi kingdom and the queen of king Bhima of Vidarbha (the mother of Damayanti) were daughters of the king of Dasharna.
King Ashadhamitra of Dasharna
A brick inscription from Erich, which commemorates the excavation of a tank, informs us about a king of Dasharna, Ashadhamitra as well as his ancestors. In this inscription, Ashadhamitra, who styled himself as a Senapati is named as the son of Senapati Mulamitra (who was also the king of Dasharna), the grandson of Senapati Aditamitra and the great-grandson of Senapati Shatanika. Recently, a coin of Ashadhamitra has been discovered where he described himself as an Amatya and the king of Dasharna.
“Dasharna” enters the record as open-knowledge reference entry. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Dasharna, Open-knowledge and entry can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Dasharna” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Dasharna, Open-knowledge and entry provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16954477. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Dasharna”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Dasharna primary sources, Dasharna archive and Dasharna research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dasharna”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Dasharna” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.