Tribes in Ancient India c20.3

c20.3

They are probably alluded to for the first time in the *Rgveda* (VII, 18, 7) where the Śivas, doubtless the same people as the Śibis, are grouped together with four other minor tribes, viz. the Alinas, Pakhtas, Bhalānasas and Viśānins, who were all defeated by the combined army of King Sudās.¹ But whatever the fate of the other four tribes after their defeat, the Śivas seem to have maintained their independent existence for some considerable time, for they are referred to not only by the Greek geographers and historians of Alexander’s time, but also by the Scholiast on *Pāṇini* (IV, 2, 109). Their King Śivi, son of Uśīnara, is mentioned in *Baudhāyana’s Śrauta Sūtra* (III, 53, 22). There can hardly be any doubt as to the identity of the *Rgvedic* Śivas with the Sibai or Siboi of the Greeks ² who dwelt between the Indus and the Akesines (= Asiknī of the *R.V.*; mod. Chandrabhāgā or Chenab) in Alexander’s time.