Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c10.2

c10.2

WE will now endeavour to determine approximately the period when the Âryas settled in Daṇḍakâraṇya, and trace the relations between the civilized Âryan community of the north and the southern country at different periods of Sanskrit literature and at well-known dates in Indian history In the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, which is anterior to the whole of the so-called classical Sanskrit literature, the sage Visvâmitra is represented to have condemned by a curse the progeny of fifty of his sons to "live on the borders" of the Âryan settlements, and these, it is said, "were the Andhras, Puṇḍras, Śabaras, Pulindas, and Mûtibas, and the descendants of Visvâmitra formed a large portion of the Dasyus "¹ Of these the first four are spoken of as people living in the south, the Puṇḍras in the Râmâyaṇa, and the other three in the Purâṇas² From the later literature, the Pulindas and Śabaras appear to have been wild tribes living about the Vindhyas³ Ptolemy places the former along the Narmadâ The Andhras, who in these days are identified with the Telugu people, lived about the mouth of the Godâvarî or perhaps farther to the north If these were the positions of the tribes in the time of the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, the Indian Âryas must at that time have been acquainted with the whole country to the north of the Vindhya and a portion to the south-east of that range.