Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c16.33

c16.33

Further, kings and brahmans sometimes had the same names as peoples and places. Thus there were a people called Aśmaka,⁸ yet it was also the name of a king of Ayodhyā⁹ and of a brahman.¹⁰ Aṅga was the name of a country and people (East Bihar), and of the king after whom it was said to have been called, and also of the reputed author (Aurava) of *Rigveda* x, 138. *Aja*, king of Ayodhyā, had the same name as a people. *Puṣkara* was the name of (1) a son of Rāma’s brother Bharata, (2) Nala’s brother in the ‘Story of Nala’, (3) a town, the modern Pokhar, (4) one of the mythical continents, and (5) many other persons. *Kuru*, the Paurava king, had the same name as the people, the northern Kurus who dwelt beyond the Himalayas. Such similarity in name must not confuse what is wholly different. Thus king Kuru had nothing to do with the northern Kurus, and to connect him with them merely because of their common name is on a par with saying that Aṅga Aurava mentioned above was an Aṅga; or that Aśmaka king of Ayodhyā was an Aśmaka; or that the brahman Kirāta was one of the rude Kirāta folk.