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Tribes in Ancient India c25: Chapter XXI. The Barbaras

Tribes in Ancient India c25

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Chapter XXI. The Barbaras

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The Barbaras, a ‘barbarian’ tribe, are associated in the *Mahābhārata*¹ with the Ambaṣṭhas, Paiśācas, Kulindas, etc., and also with the Yaunas, Kāmbojas, Gandhāras and Kirātas, in a passage which definitely states that these tribes were located in the Uttarāpatha or northern country.² The *Matsyapurāṇa* associates them with the Tuṣāras, Pahlavas, Pāradas, Śakas, Urjas, Aurasas and other tribes whose countries are said to have been watered by the Cakṣu stream of the Ganges before it entered the sea (CXXI, 45-51). The *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa* (LVII, 39) places them in the Sindhu country, and the *Bṛhatsaṃhitā* refers to them as a north or north-west tribe.

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¹ *Sabhāparvan*, Chap. 31, 199, etc.; *Droṇaparvan*, Chap. 119, 14.

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² *Mbh.*, XII, 207, 43. ‘*Uttarāpatha-janmānaḥ kirtayiṣyāmi tān api Yauna Kāmboja Gāndhārāḥ Kirātā Barbaraiḥ saha.*’

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The commentary on Kauṭilya’s *Arthaśāstra* has some interesting remarks on the Barbara country, and its river Srotasī, which was a source of pearls. Alakanda, a city famous for its pearls, stood on this river. There was also a lake named Śrighanta in a corner of the sea of Barbara.³ S. N. Mazumdar sees in Alakanda a remnant of Alexander’s name, and he identifies the city with Alexander’s Haven.⁴ V. A. Smith (*Early History of India*, p. 110, 4th Ed.) points out that the large lake at the mouth of the river where Alexander’s Haven stood (near Karachi) still exists. This lake may be identified with the lake Śrighanta mentioned in the *Arthaśāstra* commentary.

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³ *Arthaśāstra*, Eng. Trsl., p. 86, f.n. 7, 8; p. 90, etc.

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⁴ C.A.G.I., pp. 692-4.

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Mazumdar remarks⁵ that Barbara is mentioned in an Āyurvedic work called *Rājanighaṇṭu*; and Barbarika, evidently a city of the Barbaras, in another Āyurvedic work, *Dhanvantarīyanighaṇṭu*. This Barbarika (the Barbarei of Ptolemy⁶) is evidently the Barbaricum or Barbaricon emporium mentioned in the *Periplus of the Erythraean Sea* (prob. circa 80 A.D.). It was at that time a market town and port, was situated on the middle mouth of the Indus, and included in the Śaka country whose metropolis was Minnagar. Barbarika and Patala (the latter identified by V. A. Smith⁷ with Bahmanābād) formed the two towns of the islands of the Indus delta.

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⁵ *Ibid.*, pp. 694-5.

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⁶ McCrindle’s *Ptolemy*, p. 148.

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⁷ *Early History of India*, 4th Ed., p. 107.

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