History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c8.s1.11

v1.c8.s1.11

These Aryan settlers in Berar and the Deccan were Aryans of the Lunar race i. e. of the second race of Aryan invaders who came through the Gangetic basin and who principally occupied the hot lands of the Madhyadeśa to the south of the Ganges and the Jumna. We have this tradition preserved in the story of Śrīkrishna given in the Harivamśa which is certainly the oldest Purāna extant. The Harivamśa says that when Śrīkrishna fled from Mathura against the threatened invasion of the city by Jarāsandha he was asked to go to the four countries in the Deccan which were founded by four sons of Yadu. These four sons of Yadu by Nāga wives it is said had founded four kingdoms one in Māhishmatī, another on the tableland of Sahyādri, a third in Banavāsi and the fourth in Ratnapura on the southernmost sea. This tradition clearly indicates that the people who settled in the Deccan and southwards along the west coast were people born of Aryan fathers and Dravidian mothers. With regard to the Bhojas of Berar, the Mahābhārata says that Rukmī was king of the Dākshinātyas and was a Bhoja king. Thus Puranic tradition clearly indicates that the Bhojas and the Rattas were born of Aryans of the Lunar race. Foreign evidence also substantiates the same theory. In the Periplus, this part of the country is described as Ariake or the country of the Aryas, a name given probably on set purpose to distinguish it from Damarike i. e. the country of the Dravidians immediately to the south of it.