Lectures on Ancient Indian Numismatics (Carmichael Lectures, 1921) c6.16

c6.16

We know that the Yaudheyas were an oligarchic tribe and are mentioned in inscriptions as being opposed to Rudradāman about 150 A.D. and to Samudragupta about 330 A.D. They have also been referred to in the Mahābhārata and by Pāṇini.¹ But the question arises : where are they to be located? It is scarcely necessary for me to remind you of Pāṇini's Sūtra *Janapade lup* (IV. 2. 81), according to which the name of a tribe or people serves also as the name of the country occupied by them. Hence when the question is asked : ' where are the Yaudheyas to be located,' it is also meant ' which was the province occupied by them?' Now, the answer to this question can be given only by their coins, *i.e.*, by taking into consideration the localities where the coins have been found. And we know that their coins ' are found in the Eastern Punjab, and all over the country between the Sutlej and Jumna Rivers. Two large finds have been made at Sonpath, between Delhi and Karnal.'² It is this knowledge supplied by numismatics that enabled Sir Alexander Cunningham to identify the Yaudheyas, rightly I think, with the Johiyas settled along both banks of the Sutlej—which part is consequently known as Johiya-bār.