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The History and Culture of the Indian People v1.c19.s3.t2: 2. The Tribes

The History and Culture of the Indian People v1.c19.s3.t2

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2. The Tribes

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The status, formation, and nomenclature of the various tribes mentioned in the *Ṛigveda* underwent considerable changes during the period under review. Many of the old tribes disappear, pale into insignificance, are merged into others, or are known under new names, and many fresh tribes rise into prominence. The five premier tribes of the Punjab, the Pūrus, Anus, Druhyus, Yadus, and Turvaśas recede into the background. The Pūrus, as already indicated, have along with the Bharatas amalgamated with the Kurus who occupy the territory these two tribes held, and along with their allies, the Pañchālas, are the pre-eminent people in the period. The Bharatas as a tribe disappear, but the fame of their kings is not lost to the texts of this period. Bharata Dauḥshanti and Sātrājita are mentioned as famous kings and performers of the Aśvamedha, and Bharata kings are spoken of as winning victories over the Kāśis and Sātvants and as performing sacrifices on the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā.

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The Kurus along with Pañchālas, Vaśas and Uśīnaras occupied the Madhyadeśa. The Kurus do not appear as a people in the *Ṛigveda*, but Kuru forms part of the name of a king, Kuruśravaṇa, mentioned therein. The *Atharvaveda* (XX. 127. 7-10) speaks of the Kuru king Parīkshit in whose reign the Kuru kingdom flourished exceedingly. Reference is made to his descendant Janamejaya who performed an Aśvamedha at Āsandīvat, probably Hastināpura of later days. The Kuru kingdom roughly corresponded to modern Thānesar, Delhi, and the Upper Gangetic Doāb.²⁴

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The Pañchālas, the close allies of the Kurus as indicated by their joint name, were also a composite tribe. The name does not appear in the *Ṛigveda*, but the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* states that the older name for the Pañchālas was Krivi which is found in the *Ṛigveda*. Weber and Geldner suggest that the Pañchālas represent the five tribes of the *Ṛigveda*; but this is not very probable according to the authors of the *Vedic Index*.²⁵

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We hear very little of the Pañchālas alone apart from the Kurus. Their kings Kraivya and Śoṇa Sātrāsāha are spoken of as having performed the Aśvamedha, and another king Durmukha is said to have conquered the whole earth. One of their kings Prayāhaṇa Jaivali appears as a philosopher king in the Upanishads.

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The Vedic texts do not know of north Pañchāla and south Pañchāla which we come across in the *Mahābhārata* and the Purāṇas; evidently the Pañchālas had extended their country by conquests in post-Vedic times. The territory of the Pañchālas roughly corresponded to the Bareilly, Budaun, Farrukhābād, and adjoining districts of the United Provinces.²⁶

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The Kuru-Pañchālas are the people *par excellence* in the Brāhmaṇa period, and they are referred to as a united nation. At one time the Kuru-Pañchālas are said to have had one king. The mode of sacrifice of the Kuru-Pañchālas is spoken of as the best, and their Brāhmaṇas gained eminence and fame in the period of the Upanishads. The Kuru-Pañchāla kings, the models for others, performed Rājasūyas and set out on their victorious raids in autumn and returned in summer. Speech is said to have been best spoken there, and the Saṁhitās and Brāhmaṇas seem to have taken their definite form among the Kuru-Pañchālas.

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We have seen that the Sṛiñjayas were closely allied with the Tṛitsus in the Rigvedic age. The *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (II. 4. 4. 5) supports this view by stating that the Kurus (who were the successors of the Tṛitsus, Bharatas, and Pūrus in post-Rigvedic age) and the Sṛiñjayas had one Purohita. The *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (XII. 9. 3. 1 ff.) further refers to a historical incident relating to this clan. The *Yajurveda Saṁhitās* refer to the Sṛiñjayas having suffered some serious loss due to some ritual error, though what exactly befell them is not mentioned.

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Vītahavya, mentioned in the *Ṛigveda* (VI. 15. 2, 3) along with Bharadvāja and as a contemporary of Sudās, may have been a king of the Sṛiñjayas. In the *Atharvaveda* (VI. 137. 1), he appears as connected with Jamadagni and Asita; but this legend has probably little value. The Vītahavyas are said to have come to ruin because they devoured a Brāhmaṇa's cow (*AV*, V. 18. 10-11; 19. 1).

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Vaśas and Uśīnaras, as stated earlier, were dwelling in the middle country with the Kuru-Pañchālas. The *Gopatha Brāhmaṇa* which speaks of the Vaśas and Uśīnaras as united (I. 2. 9) regards them as northerners (II. 9). These Uśīnaras according to Weber were the forefathers of the later Kāśis and Videhas.²⁷ The *Kaushītaki Upanishad* (IV. 1) connects the Vaśas also with the Matsyas. The country of the Vaśas, who later came to be known as Vatsas, was situated round about Kauśāmbī, their capital.

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The Śibis were intimately associated with the Uśīnaras. The *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* (VIII. 23. 10) refers to Amitratāpana, a king of the Śibis. *Ṛigveda* X. 179 has been ascribed by the *Anukramaṇī* to Śibi Auśīnara. Śivapura, which has been identified with Śibipura mentioned in a Shorkot inscription,²⁸ is referred to by Patañjali (IV. 2. 2) as situated in the northern country. The Śibis inhabited the Shorkot region in Jhang in the Punjab lying between the Irāvatī and the Chandrabhāgā.

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Matsyas appear in connection with the Vaśas in the *Kaushītaki Upanishad* and with the Śālvas in the *Gopatha Brāhmaṇa* (I. 2. 9). Their king Dhvasan Dvaitavana, who performed the sacrifice at the lake Dvaitavana, is included in the list of Aśvamedhins in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (XIII. 5. 4. 9) According to the *Manusmṛiti* (II. 19; VII. 193) the Matsyas were included in the Brahmarshideśa.

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The Śālvas are mentioned in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (X. 4. 1. 10). The *Mantrapāṭha* indicates their location near the Yamunā, and it is not likely that they were in the north-west in Vedic times. The epic associates the Śālvas with the Kuru-Pañchālas, and they occupied probably what is now the modern Alwar state.

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The name Ikshvāku occurs but once in the *Ṛigveda* (X. 60. 4) where it denotes a prince. The *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* knows Purukutsa as Aikshvāka (XIII. 5. 4. 5), so that some scholars take the Ikshvāku line to have originally been a line of princes of the Kurus, who were on the Sarasvatī in the Vedic period, whereas Ikshvāku is connected with Ayodhyā and the eastern peoples.

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Kosala and Videha do not appear in the earlier Vedic literature, being first mentioned in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (I. 4. 1. 10 ff.) which relates the story of the spread of the Aryan culture. Videgha Māthava, the king of the Videhas, accompanied by his priest Gotama Rāhūgaṇa, is spoken of as carrying the sacrificial fire from the bank of the Sarasvatī over Kosala (Oudh) eastwards across the Sadānīrā, and as establishing a settlement which was known as Videha (Tirhut) after the tribal name of Māthava. The story preserves the tradition that the Videhas received their culture from the west, that Kosala was Brahmanized before Videha, that the country as far as the Sadānīrā was conquered in one sweep, and that the progress was checked for a while after which Videha was founded across the river. The later division of Kosala into the northern and southern is not known to the Vedic literature.

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Para-Āṭṇāra-Hairaṇyanābha, the Kosala king, is spoken of as the performer of an Aśvamedha (*Śat. Br.*, XIII. 5. 4. 4). The close connection between the Kosalas, Videhas, and Kāśis is indicated by the fact that the three had the same Purohita acting for them (*Śāṅkh. Śr. S.* XVI. 29. 5). It appears, however, that the Kosala-Videhas were allied tribes and that there was some difference and rivalry between these and the Kuru-Pañchālas. The Brahmanism was not as strong in Kosala as among the Kuru-Pañchālas. The Videhas rose into eminence later through their philosopher king Janaka who was a leading patron of the Upanishadic doctrines.

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Kāśi, along with Kosala and Videha, came into prominence only in later Vedic age. The Kāśis and Videhas were closely connected on account of their proximity, and Weber suggests that these two together constituted the Uśīnaras.²⁹ This, however, cannot be accepted, as the Uśīnaras dwelt in the middle country. Kāśi and Kosala are also found together. There is the story of the defeat of Dhṛitarāshṭra, king of Kāśis, by Śatānīka Sātrājita, a Bharata king, resulting in the giving up of the kindling of the sacred fire down to the time of the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (XIII. 5.4.19). The relations of these eastern people with the Kuru-Pañchālas appear to have been anything but friendly. Political conflict and cultural difference are said to be the probable causes of the rivalry between the two sets.

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Still farther off from the old centre of Vedic culture were the Magadhas who make their appearance only in later Vedic literature, and are regarded throughout as of little importance. Magadha corresponds roughly to southern Bihār. The name occurs for the first time in the *Atharvaveda* (V. 22.14), where a wish is expressed that the fever may visit the Gandhāris, the Mūjavants, the Aṅgas and the Magadhas, the first two being northern people and the latter, people of the east. In the Vrātya hymn (*AV*, XV. 2. 1-4) the Māgadhas are associated with the Vrātyas. The Yajurveda includes Māgadha in the list of victims at Purushamedha. Zimmer regards Māgadha referred to in the *Atharvaveda* and *Yajurveda* as a member of the mixed caste born of a Vaiśya and Kshatriya. But the fact that the Sūtras and the *Aitareya Āraṇyaka* mention Magadha as a country shows that in the period of the *Yajurveda* and *Atharvaveda*, Māgadha meant a resident of the country and not a member of the mixed caste—an outcaste born of Pratiloma marriage. The authors of the *Vedic Index* account for the fact of Māgadha being a minstrel in later days by assuming Magadha as the home of minstrelsy, bards from which visited more western lands.³⁰ This class has been taken by later Smṛiti texts as belonging to a separate caste, inventing a story of the inter-marriage of castes for their origin. The dislike of the Magadhas, which may go back to the times of the *Ṛigveda*, was probably due to their not being wholly Brahmanized.

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The Aṅgas, unknown to the *Ṛigveda*, are mentioned in the *Atharvaveda* (V. 22) as noted above. There is nothing in the Vedic texts to indicate their location beyond the fact that they were people of the east; but as in later times their settlements were on the rivers Son and the Ganges, it may be presumed that their earliest seat also was in the same region. They have been associated with the Magadhas in some texts. There is no evidence in Vedic literature for Pargiter’s view that the Aṅgas and Magadhas were non-Aryan peoples that came overseas to eastern India.³¹ Oldenberg, however, thinks that these tribes were the earlier Aryan immigrants. Confirmation for this may be found in the Puranic evidence which speaks of the Ikshvākus and Videhas being of the same stock and as inhabiting the country since Rigvedic times.

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The Māgadha is brought into close connection with the Vrātya in the mystical hymn of the *Atharvaveda* where he is celebrated as a type of the supreme power in the universe. The *Yajurveda* includes the Vrātya in the list of victims at Purushamedha (human sacrifice). The Vrātyas were regarded as outcastes, and the *Atharvaveda*, *Pañchaviṁśa Brāhmaṇa*, and the Sūtras describe a certain rite intended to secure for them admission into the Brāhmaṇa fold. The Vrātyas were a nomadic tribe (*Vrāta*) and neither studied the Vedas, nor ploughed the land, nor traded. Their nomad life is further suggested by their going about in rough wagons, with herds of goats, wearing turbans and wielding a particular kind of bow.

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Because the later Dharmasūtras describe the Vrātya as an outsider, a man of mixed origin and of peculiar dress and habits, Roth, Whitney, Bloomfield, Chanda, and others regard the Vrātya as non-Aryan. The early Vedic texts do not support this view. The Vrātyas, though uninitiated, spoke the speech of the initiated. Their speech, though Aryan, had apparently resembled Prakrit rather than Vedic Sankrit, as they softened hard consonants. The Sūtras mention *arhants* and *yaudhas* among the Vrātyas, corresponding respectively to Brāhmaṇas and Kshatriyas in the Brahmanical hierarchy. These particulars, coupled with the fact that they were allowed to become members of the Brāhmaṇa community by performing a specific ritual, evidently show that the Vrātyas were not non-Aryans but were Aryans outside the sphere of Brāhmaṇa culture.

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Their location cannot be indicated with certainty. Their life and habits would suggest them to be nomadic western tribes beyond the Sarasvatī. There are, however, certain indications in the Sūtras which definitely connect the Vrātyas with the Māgadha so that the conclusion that some Vrātyas were dwellers in Magadha is irresistible.

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Vaṅga, from which Bengal proper receives its designation, is not found in early Vedic literature. The *Aitareya Āraṇyaka* (II.1.1) mentions Vaṅgas, Vagadhas, and Cheras as birds, which probably means that they were non-Aryans speaking languages not intelligible to the Aryans. Vagadha in the text appears to be a misreading for Magadha, as both were neighbours. Vaṅgas were residents of Vaṅga or Eastern Bengal. The name also occurs in the *Baudhāyana Dharma-sūtra*.

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The tribes mentioned above occupied the first two of the five divisions, viz. the Middle and Eastern regions, mentioned in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*. In the *Dakshiṇadiś*, or the Southern region, Satvants alone are mentioned in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*. But besides them there were Vidarbhas, Nishadhas, and Kuntis.

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The Satvants have been mentioned as the name of a people belonging to the south who were the subjects of the Bhoja kings. These people were subjected to regular raids by the Bharatas, and the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (XIII. 5.4.21) refers to the defeat of the Satvants by king Bharata who took away their horse prepared for the Aśvamedha. The *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (VIII. 5.4.11)) further indicates that these Satvants lived near Bharata's kingdom, i.e. near the Gaṅgā and Yamunā. They seem to have moved farther south by the time of the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* which places them in the southern region beyond the Madhyadeśa, probably beyond the river Chambal (Charmaṇavatī).³² The Purāṇas corroborate the close relation of the Bhojas and Satvants who have been spoken of as the offshoots of the Yadu family.

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Vidarbha is known through its king Bhīma, mentioned in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* (VII. 34) as having received instruction about the substitute for the Soma from Parvata and Nārada. The Vidarbha kingdom was said to be famous for its special breed of hounds, which killed tigers (*Jaim Up. Brā.* II.440). Vidarbha, as is well known, corresponds to modern Berār. Lassen places Vidarbha along the Sātpurā hills to the north-west of Berār.³³ The Upanishads refer to Bhārgava, a sage of Vidarbha, as a contemporary of Aśvalāyana and to Vaidarbhī Kouṇḍinya. Kuṇḍina, the capital of Vidarbha, has been identified with the modern Kauṇḍinyapura on the bank of the Wardhā in the Chāndur *tāluk* of Amraoti.³⁴

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The *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (III. 3.2.1, 2) mentions the term Naishidha as an epithet of Naḍa, a king of the south. The later form of the name is Naishadha. The Nishadhas, residents of the Nishadha country, were quite distinct from the Nishādas with whom they are often confounded. “Nishāda” was a general term used for a non-Aryan tribe, whereas the Nishadhas, in all probability belonged to the Aryan fold. King Nala of Nishadha is a celebrated figure in the *Mahābhārata* and the *Purāṇas*. The location of the Nishadha country is not known with certainty, though it may be assumed to be contiguous to Vidarbha.

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Under the Pratīchyas or Westerners come the Nīchyas and Apāchyas, as also Bāhīkas and Ambashṭhas. The Nīchya occurs as the designation of certain tribes of the Punjab and Sind. Nothing is known about the Apāchyas. The Bāhīkas are spoken of as people of the west of the Punjab in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (I.7.3.8) which refers to their calling Agni by the name of Bhava, as distinct from the Prāchyas who called it Śarva. The Ambashṭhas, corresponding to the Abastanoi of Arrian, who were settled on the lower Asiknī in Alexander’s time, are referred to in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* (VIII. 21). Their king is stated to have been consecrated with the Aindra Mahābhisheka. They were probably in the Punjab in Vedic times.

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Finally we come to the Udīchyas or Northerners, among whom are the Uttarakurus, the Uttaramadras, Mūjavants, Mahāvṛishas. Gandhāris, Bāhlikas, Keśins, Kekayas, and Kāmbojas.

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The Udīchya dialect was celebrated for its purity; hence Brāhmaṇas flocked to the north for purposes of study. The northern dialect resembled that of the Kuru-Pañchāla, and the superiority of the Brāhmaṇas of the north is indicated by the victory of one of their spokesmen over a Kuru-Pañchāla Brāhmaṇa in a debate. The celebrity enjoyed by the north in academic matters is further corroborated by the fact that Taxila became a famous seat of learning, and classical Sanskrit was first developed in Kāshmīr.³

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The Uttarakurus, along with the Uttaramadras, are located beyond the Himālayas. Though regarded as mythical in the epic and later literature, the Uttarakurus still appear as a historical people in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* (VIII. 23) which states that one Jānantapi Atyarāti was anxious to conquer the country of the Uttarakurus, called the land of the gods. Zimmer places the Uttarakurus in Kāshmīr to the north of Kurukshetra, and probably they were an offshoot of the Kurus.

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The Madra people were divided into two sections, the Uttara (Northern) Madras and the Southern Madras or the Madras proper. The Uttaramadras alone appear in early Vedic literature, and they dwelt, as already stated, beyond the Himālayas, probably in the land of Kāshmīr. The mention of Madragāra Śauṅgāyani as an ancient Vedic teacher shows the Madras as experts in Vedic learning.

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a fact which is confirmed by the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* which states that sages of Northern India repaired to the Madra country to study the Vedas. The *Bṛihadāraṇyaka Upanishad* refers to Kāpya Patañchala as living among the Madras. The territory of the Southern Madras roughly corresponds to Sialkot and its adjoining districts in the Central Punjab which were known as the Madradeśa as late as the time of Guru Govind Singh.³⁶ In Buddhist times the Madras dwelt between the Chenāb and Rāvi.

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The Mūjavants have been mentioned in the *Atharvaveda* along with the Mahāvṛishas, Gandhāris, and Bāhlikas as dwelling far away and to whom fever is to be relegated. The *Yajurveda* also speaks of the Mūjavants as a distant people. If the people took their name from Mūjavant, a mountain in the Himālayas, which seems to be quite likely, they were a hill-tribe in the Himālayas.

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The Mahāvṛishas appear to be northerners in the vicinity of the other tribes along with whom they are mentioned, though their exact location cannot be ascertained. The *Chhāndogya Upanishad* places king Raikva-parṇa in the Mahāvṛisha country, and the *Jaiminīya Upanishad Brāhmaṇa* mentions Hṛitsvāśaya as the king of the Mahāvṛishas.

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The Gandhāris, referred to in the *Ṛigveda*, are mentioned also in the *Atharvaveda* (as already stated) and in the Śrauta Sūtras. They appear apparently as a despised people in the *Atharvaveda*. In later times, however, the angle of vision of the people of the Madhyadeśa changed, and Gandhāra became the famous resort of scholars for instruction in the Vedas and Vidyās. The *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* (VII. 34) mentions Nagnajit, a king of Gandhāra, among Vedic teachers who propagated the Soma cult, which shows that Gandhāra was not excluded from Vedic Aryans. From the various references to Gandhāra in Indian literature it appears that the boundaries of the country varied at different periods in its history.

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The Bāhlikas, mentioned along with the three foregoing peoples, were a contiguous northern tribe, their name also suggesting "the outsiders." Roth and Weber were inclined to place this tribe in Irān, but there is no need to assume any Irānian influence, for we find that Bāhlika is the name of a Kuru prince (*Śat. Br.*, XII. 9. 3. 3).³⁷

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Keśin is the name of a tribe found in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (XI. 8. 4. 6) where their king is said to be studying how to avert a bad omen at the sacrifices. They were probably a branch of the Pañchālas.³⁸

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The *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (X. 6. I. 2) and the *Chhāndogya Upanishad* (V. 11. 4) mention Aśvapati, king of the Kekayas, as a man of learning who instructed a number of Brāhmaṇas. The Kekayas in later days were settled in the north-west between the Sindhu and the Vitastā, and probably occupied the same territory in the Vedic age. According to the Puranic tradition the Kekayas were descended from Anu,³⁹ which is confirmed by the fact that the Anus of the *Ṛigveda* dwelt in the same territory in which we find the Kekayas.

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The earliest mention of Kāmboja occurs in the *Vaṁśa Brāhmaṇa* of the *Sāmaveda* where a teacher Kāmboja Aupamanyava is referred to. The sage Upamanyu, mentioned in the *Ṛigveda* (I. 102. 9), is in all probability the father of this Kāmboja teacher. From the fact that Kāmboja Aupamanyava is stated to be a pupil of Madragāra, Zimmer infers that the Kāmbojas and the Madras were close neighbours in north-western India. The speech of the Kāmbojas is referred to by Yāska as differing from other Aryans, and Grierson sees in this reference the Irānian affinities of the Kāmbojas;⁴⁰ but the fact that Kāmboja teachers were reputed for their Vedic learning shows them to have been Vedic Aryans, so that Kāmboja was an Aryan settlement. Later on Kāmbojas settled to the north-west of the Indus, and were the Kambujiyas of the old Persian inscriptions.

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There is some difference of opinion as to the location of the Kāmbojas. Rhys Davids places them to the extreme north-west of India, S. K. Aiyangar and P. N. Banerji in a country near Sind, Raychaudhuri in the Rāwalpindi and Peshāwar districts, Smith along the mountains of Tibet or Hindu Kush, and Eliot in Tibet or its border.⁴¹ The latest attempt at locating the Kāmbojas is by Jayachandra who, after discussing the problems afresh, identifies Kāmboja with Badakhshān and the Pāmirs, and Motichandra has further supported the identification.⁴²

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There are various other minor tribes mentioned in Vedic texts, but we know very little of them.⁴³

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Finally, we come to the semi-Aryan, non-Aryan and barbarous tribes. The *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* mentioned the Andhras, Puṇḍras, Śabaras, Pulindas and Mūtibas as being Dasyus, i.e. outcasts living on the borders of the Aryan settlements. These people are said to be born of the fifty eldest sons of Viśvāmitra through their father's curse on their refusal to accept the adoption of Śunaḥśepa. They were thus outside the Aryan fold. The Andhras, Śabaras and Pulindas are known from the *Mahābhārata* to have been tribes of the Deccan.

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The Andhras originally lived between the Krishnā and the Godāvarī.⁴⁴ Andhras in modern times are the Telugu-speaking people of the Deccan.

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The Puṇḍras, whose name occurs also in the Sūtras, have been located in Bengal and Bihār by the *Mahābhārata*. They were situated in North Bengal and gave their name to their capital town Puṇḍravardhana. The Puṇḍras are probably the ancestors of the Puros, an aboriginal caste in Bengal.⁴⁵

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The exact location of the Śabaras is not known. They can be identified with the Suari of Pliny and the Sabarae of Ptolemy and are probably ancestors of the Savaralu or Sauras of the Vizagapatam hills, the Savaris of the Gwalior territory and the savages on the frontiers of Orissa.⁴⁶

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The name of Pulindas does not appear in the parallel list given in the *Śāṅkhāyana Śrauta-sūtra*. They are found along with the Andhras at the time of Aśoka. Their capital, according to the *Mahābhārata*, probably lay to the south-east of the Bhilsa region.

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The territory of the Mūtibas has not yet been located. Raychaudhuri thinks it not altogether improbable that the Mūchipas, a variant of Mūtibas, are the people who appear in the *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa* under the designation of Mushika, and locates the latter on the banks of the river Musi on which Hyderābād now stands.⁴⁷

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The name Mlechchha, found in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa*, is used in the sense of a barbarian in speech who uses *“he’lavo”* for *“he’rayah.”* This shows that these barbarians were Aryan speakers who employed a Prākṛit form of speech.

v1.c19.s3.t2.49

The Nishāda mentioned in the later Saṁhitās and Brāhmaṇas appears to be, not the name of any particular tribe, but the generic term for non-Aryan tribes who were not under Aryan control. Nishādas have been distinguished from the other four Varṇas. Weber considered the Nishādas to be settled aborigines. The Smṛitis explain the Nishādas as the off-spring of a Brāhmaṇa father and a Śūdra mother. The epics represent the Nishādas as having their settlements in the Vindhya and Sātpurā ranges, and it seems that during the post-Ṛigvedic period also they inhabited mountainous tracts.

v1.c19.s3.t2.50

The Ṛigveda repeatedly refers to the attacks on the aborigines. They are called *Kṛishṇa-tvach* (black skins) metaphorically. Kuyavāch (evil speaking), a demon slain by Indra, probably personifies the barbarian opponents. Mṛidhravāch (speaking insultingly) is also similarly used for denoting barbarians in the Ṛigveda. If Balbūtha, called a Dāsa, were the son of an aboriginal mother or an aboriginal himself, his reference as giving gifts to the singer indicates the establishment of friendly relations between the Aryans and Dāsas.

v1.c19.s3.t2.51

The above review of the Aryan settlements would make it clear that the period of the later Saṁhitās, Brāhmaṇas, Upanishads, and Sūtras is characterized by a spirit of adventure and expansion, and the advancing Aryans were spreading in every direction, colonizing the east, south, and north. The Gangetic Doāb was completely occupied by the Aryans and the adventurous Bharatas and Videghas led expeditions along the Yamunā, the Sarasvatī, and the Sadānīrā. Towards the east Kosala, Videha, Magadha, and Aṅga came under Aryan occupation during this period. In the north and the northwest, we come across the Uttarakurus and the Uttaramadras, Bāhlikas, Mahāvṛishas, and Mūjavants, showing the expansion along Kāshmīr and the Himālayas. Towards the south the Vindhya appears for the first time in the *Kaushītaki Upanishad* (II. 8), and the Kuntis and Vītahavyas seem to have penetrated further south, and the Narmadā and Vidarbha also were within the Aryan fold.

v1.c19.s3.t2.52

The disappearance of the Sarasvatī referred to in the *Pañchaviṁśa Brāhmaṇa* (XXV. 10. 6) is an important geographical landmark in this period. The main centre of the life of the period is Kurukshetra in the country of the Kuru-Pañchālas, bounded by the Khāṇḍava on the south, Tūrghna on the north, and Pariṇāh on the west. It is noteworthy that the sphere of civilization is gradually shifting eastward and its localization in the region to the east of the land of five rivers is an accomplished fact. The Punjab and the West not only recede in importance, but the tribes of the west are looked upon with disapproval in the *Śatapatha* and *Aitareya Brāhmaṇas*. There has been a change and regrouping of tribes of the Rigvedic period, and many new tribes emerge during this period. The Bharatas do not occupy the premier position, but are merged in the Kurus who, with their allies the Pañchālas, are the tribe *par excellence*. With Vaśas and Uśīnaras, the Kuru-Pañchālas occupy the Madhyadeśa. The Uttarakurus and the Uttaramadras lay to the north beyond the Himālayas, and Satvats to the south. To the east Kosala, Videha, Magadha, and Aṅga rise into prominence. The Andhras, Puṇḍras, Mūtibas, Pulindas, and Śabaras, as also the Nishādas, are the outcast tribes which were not fully Brahmanized.

v1.c19.s3.t2.53

The territory comprised within the sphere of Aryan influence down to the period of the Upanishads may thus be roughly described as the whole of India to the north of the Narmadā, and some regions even to the south of that river.

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