An ancient city on the banks of the Ganga. It is the same as modern day Kanauj. Vishwamitra was the son of the king of this place – Gadhi.

Brahma had a son named Kusha. He had four sons with Vaidarbhi – Kushamba, Kushanabha, Asurtharajas, Vasu. Kusha asked them all to rule as per Kshatriya dharma. Each of them built a city for themselves. Kushamba’s city was named Kaushambi, Kushanabha’s Mahodayapura, Asurtharajas’ Dharmaranya and Vasu’s Girivraja. Of these, Mahodayapura later came to be known as Kanyakubja as per Ramayana Balakanda Sarga 2.

Kushanabha and an apsara named Ghritachi had a 100 daughters. Once, in their youth, when they were roaming around in the gardens, Vayu became infatuated with them. But they didn’t encourage him, so he cursed them and made them hunchbacked. (kubja) Thus the place came to be known as Kanyakubja. When they returned to the palace, the king asked them what had happened and they narrated the entire story. During that time, a sage named Chooli used to meditate in the forest nearby. Somada, a gandharvi and the daughter of Urmila used to worship him and they had a son named Brahmadatta. He married all the 100 maidens and they transformed to their earlier selves as soon as he touched them. Kushanabha then conducted a putrakameshti yajna for a son. Brahma appeared, and thus Gadhi was born to him. Gadhi later became the father of one son and one daughter. The son was Vishwamitra and the daughter Satyavati. Satyavati later married Richika and Vishwamitra began ruling Kanyakubja as per Ramayana Balakanda Sargas 32-35.

There was amssive lake in Kanyakubja. There Vishnu revealed maya to Narada. See Narada for details.

As per Mahabharata Vanaparva Chapter 87 verse 17, Vishwamitra and Indra consumed Soma here.