History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c22.s1.26

v1.c22.s1.26

Between Kashmir and Nepal there were then and there are even now many minor hill states in the Himalayan region. The chief inhabitants of this region were the Khasas or Khaśas mentioned even in the Manusmriti as one of the Vrātya Kshatriyas. This people are certainly Mongolian in race and at one time must have had their own kings in these regions. The Aryans, however, viz. Brahmins and Kshatriyas migrated into these regions probably about the time of the Greek or Śaka or Kuṣān invasions of the Panjab and the Kshatriyas founded Aryan kingdoms which have subsisted almost to this day. As has often been said these Himalayan dynasties of kings are very long lived like meat or fruit preserved in ice. These dynasties in the cold regions of the Himalayan mountains continued undecayed and undisturbed for centuries and many of them subsist to-day. They have also preserved old manners and traditions very faithfully and we can often go to the Himalayas for the purpose of ascertaining old customs which once prevailed in India. Some information relating to these states is given below from Cunningham's Archæological Survey Report (Vols. V and IX)