A vishaya (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: Viṣaya) was a historical administrative unit of India, generally equivalent to a modern

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

. Several other terms for units equivalent to a modern district appear in historical inscriptions, including ''āhāra'', ''rashtra'' (''rāṣṭra''), ''maṇḍala'', and ''deśa''. The exact meaning of these terms varies by the period, the ruling dynasty, and the region. For example: * In the early medieval inscriptions of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

region: ** Paranayi-''vishaya'' is mentioned as a part of the

Samatata Samataṭa (Brahmi script: ''sa-ma-ta-ṭa'') was an ancient geopolitical division of Bengal in the eastern Indian subcontinent. The Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman account of Sounagoura is linked to the kingdom of Samatata. Its territory corres ...

-''mandala'' ** Gokalika-''mandala'' is mentioned as a part of the Kotivarsha-''vishaya'' ** Khadi-''vishaya'' is another name for Khadi-''mandala'' * Some inscriptions mention units with multiple designations, such as '' Gopa-rashtra-vishaya'' and '' Khetak-ahara-vishaya'' (presumably, the territory called "Gopa" was formerly designated as a ''rashtra'' and then re-designated as a ''vishaya''). * Sometimes, a ''vishaya'' referred to a subdivision larger than a district. The governor of a ''vishaya'' was called a ''vishaya- pati'' or a ''vishayadhyaksha''. A ''vishaya'' was often included in a larger subdivisions such as a ''bhukti'' (

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

). It was often divided into smaller units such as a ''bhoga''. In the early medieval inscriptions of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

region, Punyaka-''vishaya'' is another name for Pune mentioned in Rashtrakuta Kingdom copper plate dated 937 CE, which refers to the town as Punya-Vishaya, meaning 'sacred news'.

References

{{India-hist-stub Types of administrative division