The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c17.109

v1.c17.109

We have seen that, in the period of the Rigveda, the centre of the civilisation was tending to be localised in the land between the Sarasvatī and the Dṛishadvatī, but that, though this was the home of the Bharatas, other tribes including the famous five tribes dwelt in the Punjab, which had in all probability been the earlier home of the Indians. In the Brāhmaṇa period, as the period under review may conveniently be called, the localisation of civilisation in the more eastern country is definitely achieved, and the centre of the life of the day is Kurukshetra, bounded by Khāṇḍava on the south, Tūrghna on the north, Pariṇah on the west. In contrast with the frequent mention of the eastern lands the Punjab recedes in importance; and its later name, Pañchanada, 'land of the five streams,' is not found until the epic period. The tribes of the west receive disapproval both in the Çatapatha and the Aitareya Brāhmaṇas. In the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa a geographical passage ascribes to the Middle Country, the later Madhyadeça, the Kurus and Pañchālas with the Vaças and the Uçīnaras, to the south the Satvants, and to the north beyond the Himālaya the Uttara-Kurus and the Uttara-Madras. On the other hand, while the west recedes in importance the regions east of the Kuru-Pañchāla country come into prominence, especially Kosala, corresponding roughly to the modern Oudh, Videha, the modern Tirhut or N. Bihār, and Magadha, the modern S. Bihār. Still further east was the country of the Aṅgas, the modern E. Bihār. In the south we hear of outcast tribes in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, probably tribes who were not fully Brāhmanised: their names are given as the Andhras, who appear as a great kingdom in the centuries immediately before and after the Christian era, Puṇḍras, Mūtibas, Pulindas, and Çabaras, the last named being now a tribe living on the Madras frontier near Orissa and showing, in its language, traces of its Muṇḍā origin. In the south also was Naishadha.