Tribes in Ancient India c21: Chapter XVII. The Daradas
Tribes in Ancient India c21
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Chapter XVII. The Daradas
c21.2
The Daradas were a tribe of N.W. India, well-known both to indigenous and to foreign traditions. They are referred to in the *Mahābhārata* as having joined the Kaurava forces, and as having been defeated by Vāsudeva, along with the Khaśas, Śakas, Yavanas, Trigarttas, Mālavas and others.¹ The *Viṣṇupurāṇa* associates them with the Ābhīras and Kāśmīras ²; while in the *Matsyapurāṇa* ³ the country of the Daradas is linked with Gandhāra, Śivapura, Urja, Aurasa and other districts forming the basin of the Sindhu (= Indus). The Epic and Puranic traditions seem therefore to locate the Daradas in the north-west along the north-west frontier of Kashmīr, and contiguously with the realm of the Khasas in the upper Punjab. They were probably a mountainous tribe, for ‘mountain is the commonest meaning of the word *darad* from which they appear to have derived their name’.
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¹ *Droṇaparvan*, Chap. 10, 18.
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² Wilson's Ed., II, p. 184.
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³ CXXI, 45-51.
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The Greek writers knew this people by various names. Strabo mentions them as Derdai, Pliny as Dardae; while in Dionys. Periêg. (V, 1138) their name is given as Dardanoi. Ptolemy refers to the same people as Daradrai, the additional *r* evidently being inserted by mistake. He locates them east of the Lambatai (= Lampāk or Lamghan) and of Sonestane (= basin of the Swat river), and to the north of the uppermost course of the Indus. The mountains in the country of the Daradas, he says, are of surpassing height.
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The Daradas were an important factor in the history of Kashmīr, and are often referred to in the *Rājatarangiṇī*.
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The country once inhabited by the Daradas still retains clear traces of the ancient name, being known as Dardistan, the district of the Dardo.
Linked texts (4)
- Rājataraṅgiṇī — Kalhaṇa, Sanskrit
- Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Viṣṇupurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit