Tribes in Ancient India c19.10

c19.10

Both Ptolemy and the *Periplus* stress the close association of the Ābhīras and the Surāṣṭras. The *Periplus* mentions the country of Aberia (doubtless identical with Ābhīra) and its seaboard Syrastrene (= Surāṣṭra); while Ptolemy speaks of Abiria (= Aberia = Ābhīra) as having been included in Indo-Scythia, by which was meant practically the whole of the country along the lower course of the Indus. Indo-Scythia in Ptolemy’s time was divided into three parts, viz. Syrastrēnē (Surāṣṭra), Patalene (= Skt. Pātāla), and Abiria (Skt. Ābhīra),—Abiria being identified with the region east of the Indus, above the insular portion formed by its bifurcation.²