Tribes in Ancient India c19.17

c19.17

The tribe seems to have had another settlement in the South or Dakṣiṇāpatha. According to the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa,¹ the Ābhīras are classed with the Puṇḍrakas, Keralas, Kaliṅgas, Pulindas, Andhras, Vidarbhas, Kuntalas and others, all of whom are said to be Dakṣiṇāpatha-vāsinah, or dwelling in the southern country. The Vāyupurāṇa also records the same tradition (Chap. 45, 126), and describes the Ābhīras, Ātabyas, Śabaras, Pulindas, Vaidarbhas and Daṇḍakas as ‘Dakṣiṇāpatha-vāsinah’.