Banavasi : The Capital of Konkaṇa

Perhaps the most intriguing point about Banavāsi is Burgess’s report on the inscriptions in Buddhist rock temples at Karle. It refers to Vaijayanti as“a town on the coast of Konkan”,and conjectures that it is probably theGreek Byzantion. (Burgess& Pandit, 1881:Inscriptions from the Cave Temples of Western India, 28) This is a clear reference to Periplus of The Erythrean Sea(60 CE). Periplus lists the market towns in Dachinabades (Dakṣiṇāpatha); after passing Suppara (Sopara) and Calliena (Kalyan), it mentions Semylla (Chaul), Palaepatmae (Balipatnam), Byzantium, Togarum (Devgad) and Aurannaboas (Malvan). (Schoff, 1912 :The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea, 43). Banavāsi, a market town on the coast ? Banavāsi is definitely not on the coast; but it proves the integrity of Banavāsi with the coastal region. Could it be that it was the capital of Kōnkaṇawhich extended to the coast ? Was that the reason why Hwen Thsang referred to it as Kōnkaṇa-pura ?