Padmavati was at first identified with some unknown city in Berar by HH Wilson, far to the south of the Narmada, and afterwards with Bhagalpur on the Ganga. Cunningham referred to information from the Vishnu Purana which indicated the reign of nine Nagas in Padmavati, Kantipuri and Mathura, and tried to locate the site within some moderate distance of Mathura.

He, therefore rejected Wilson’s identifications and identified Padmavati with the town of Narwar, situated about 150 miles to the south of Mathura. He based his conclusion on the discovery of the Naga coins at Narwar, and on its situation in the vicinity of the four rivers as referred by Bhavabhuti, since the river Sindhu of the drama was identified to be the same as river Sindh on which Narwar is situated.

Para was identified with river Parvati which flows about 7 km north of Sindh and river Lavana with river Lun or Nun which rises near Paniar and falls into Sindh at Chandpur-Sonari. River Madhumati was identified with present Mohwar or Madhuwar which meets Sindh about 12 km above Sonari.

The identification of these four rivers in the immediate neighborhood of Narwar with that of the drama made him conclude that Narwar was the ancient Padmavati. Cunningham also surmised that Nalapura may also have been a synonym of Padmavati as Nala or the water lily is frequently used as an equivalent of Padma or the Lotus.

Cunningham’s identification, however, though much nearer the truth than Wilson’s, still missed the exact place: for the discovery of the Naga coins could prove nothing more than that Narwar formed part of the Naga territory. While he lost the precise details of the geographical position of Padmavati, he is entitled to the credit of having rightly identified the four rivers Sindhu, Para, Lavana and Madhumati in Bhavabhuti’s description, with the modern rivers Sind, Parbati, Nun and Mahuar respectively.

To be continued........