The "Dipavamsa" mentions a territory called Mahisa, describing it as "Mahisa-ratta" ("Mahisa country"). The "Mahavamsa" describes this region as a mandala, calling it "Mahisha-mandala". The 5th century Buddhist scholar Buddhaghosa terms this territory variously as "Rattham-Mahisham", "Mahishaka-mandala" and "Mahishmaka". John Faithfull Fleet theorized that Mahishmati was the capital of this region, which was named after a tribe called "Mahisha". This appears to be same as "Mahishaka", which is described as a southern kingdom (that is, south of the Vindhyas and the Narmada) in the "Bhishma Parva" of the "Mahabharata".