Tribes in Ancient India c11.29

c11.29

The Madras, according to the *Arthaśāstra* of Kauṭilya (p. 455), were a corporation of warriors, and enjoyed the status of *rājās* (*rājaśabdopajīvinaḥ*). The *Mahābhārata*⁴ tells us that it was a family custom of the Madras to receive a fee from the bridegroom when they gave their daughters in marriage. The marriage proposal was first made by the bridegroom’s party to the bride’s party. When Pāṇḍu, the Kuru prince, won the hand of Kuntī, the daughter of a Bhoja king, in a Svayaṃvara (the ceremony of a woman’s choosing her husband), Bhīṣma wished him to take a second wife as well. Bhīṣma accordingly set out with a retinue and coming to the city of the Madra king named Śalya of the Vāhlika dynasty, asked the king to give his sister in marriage to Pāṇḍu. Śalya told him of the custom of receiving a fee; Bhīṣma consented and having given the Madra king much wealth as fee for the bride, he brought her to Hastināpura, where the marriage ceremony was performed.⁵