Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c13.s2.116

c13.s2.116

² *Manu*, X. 47. Dr. Surya Kānta suggests the reading (*Law Volume*, II, 134) *cha hāstinam*. In his dissertation he speaks of the possibility of Ambashṭha being a Sanskritized form of a Celtic word meaning 'husbandman, tiller of the ground'. It is also pointed out that the word may be an exact parallel to '*mahāmātra*' inasmuch as '*ambhas*' means 'of large measure', 'an elephant', so that Ambashṭha would mean 'one sitting on the elephant', i.e., a driver, a keeper, a sāmanta, or a Kshatriya. They lived on warfare, presumably as gujārohas, and banner-bearers. A distinction is drawn between *Ambashṭha* and *Ambashṭha*. The last-mentioned expression is considered to be a place-name, based on the plant name *Amba*. For other notes on the subject see *Prabāsī*, 1351 B. S; I, 206; *JUPHS*, July-Dec., 1945, pp. 148 ff; *History of Bengal* (D. U.), pp. 568 ff.