Tribes in Ancient India c27: Chapter XXIII. The Ārjunāyanas and the Prārjunas
Tribes in Ancient India c27
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Chapter XXIII. The Ārjunāyanas and the Prārjunas
c27.2
The Allahabad Pillar Inscription of Samudragupta (fourth century A.D.) (i, 22) refers to a host of tribes—Mālavas, Ārjunāyanas, Yaudheyas, Madrakas, Ābhīras, Prārjunas, Sanakānīkas, Kākas, Kharaparikas, and others—that obeyed the imperial commands and paid all kinds of taxes. Research has ascertained that all these tribal states were located along the north-western, western and south-western fringes of the N. Indian kingdom of Samudragupta. The Mālavas, Yaudheyas, Madrakas and Ābhīras are more or less wellknown, but very little is known about the other tribes.
c27.3
The names of the two tribes, Ārjunāyanas and Prārjunas, apparently have some connection with the name of the Epic hero, Arjuna, though this is not certain. The Allahabad Pillar Inscription, as we have seen, connects the Ārjunāyanas with the Yaudheyas, which is significant, inasmuch as the Ādiparvan (95, 76) of the Mahābhārata gives the name of one of Yudhiṣṭhira's sons as Yaudheya; so that the connection of the Yaudheyas and Ārjunāyanas appears to be warranted by the Epic.
c27.4
The author of the Bṛhatsaṃhitā also connects these two tribes, and locates them both in the northern division of India. Ray Chaudhuri¹ locates the Yaudheyas in the Bharatpur State of Rajputana; and the Ārjunāyanas may have occupied a contiguous position. The Ārjunāyanas are also known from coins, which do not, however, give any clue to their geographical location.
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¹ Political History of Ancient India, 4th Ed., p. 458.
c27.6
Vincent Smith² places the Prārjunas in the Narasimhapur district of the Central Provinces, but a more plausible location is Narasimhagarh in Central India,³ inasmuch as three other tribes which are coupled with the Prārjunas, the Sanakānīkas, Kākas and Kharaparikas, seem to have occupied regions more or less within the bounds of Central India.
c27.7
² J.R.A.S., 1897, p. 892.
c27.8
³ I.H.Q., Vol. I, p. 258.
Linked texts (2)
- Bṛhatsaṃhitā — Varāhamihira, Sanskrit
- Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit