Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c30.107

c30.107

Tradition or myth thus directly indicates that the Ailas (or Aryans) entered India from the mid-Himalayan region, and its attitude towards the NW. frontier lends no support to any invasion from that quarter.⁷ These are very noteworthy facts. Myth suggests the country Ilāvṛta in the north as the region from which they came. Purūravas's name Aila occurs in the Rigveda and appears to be more ancient than the fable of Manu's daughter Ilā,¹ which seems to have been devised in order to explain that name, for such explanatory tales were common (p. 75). The suggested connexion between Ila and Ilāvṛta may be ancient and may merit credence.² In this regard it may be noted that Sudyumna, the male form of Ilā, is said to have been a Kimpuruṣa and ultimately departed to Ilāvṛta. The Kimpuruṣas were placed in that same north region;³ so that myth connects the Saudyumna stock with that land, and in some Puranas with the Northern Kurus (p. 297). If then the Ailas did not enter India from the north-west, we must, in considering tradition and the conclusions it suggests, put away all ideas drawn from that hypothesis.