The clearest literary reference to the ancient Mushika kingdom appears in the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata, where the text situates the realm beneath Ezhimala and along the Arabian Sea coast.
Within a sweeping catalogue of Bharatavarsha’s peoples, the epic names the Dravidas, Keralas, Prachyas, Mushikas, Vanavashikas, followed by Karanatakas, Mahishakas, Kuntalas, Cholas and others, thereby placing the Mushikas firmly in the southern geographical world recognized by the scripture.
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This placement not only confirms the historical existence of a northern Malabar polity but also aligns the kingdom’s geographic identity with the epic’s broader mapping of ancient Indian territories.
