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Tribes in Ancient India c28: Chapter XXIV. The Ambaṣṭhas

Tribes in Ancient India c28

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Chapter XXIV. The Ambaṣṭhas

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The Ambaṣṭhas ¹ as a tribe existed at least as early as the time of the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*, when they were probably settled in the Punjab; and they can be traced up to the present day in parts of Bengal and Bihar, whither they migrated in later times. In the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* (VIII, 21-3), King Ambaṣṭhya (= ‘of Ambaṣṭha’) is mentioned as having been consecrated with the Aindra Mahābhiṣeka along with nine other kings. The *Mahābhārata* ² mentions the Ambaṣṭhas along with the Śivis, Kṣudrakas, Mālavas and other north-western tribes. In the *Bhīṣma* (Chap. 20, 10) and *Droṇa* (Chap. 119, 14) *Parvans*, the Ambaṣṭhas are referred to as having taken part in the Kurukṣetra war, on the side of the Kurus; while in the *Karṇaparvan*,³ Śrutāyuḥ, the valiant Kṣatriya, who was killed by Arjuna, is described as a king of the Ambaṣṭhas. The Ambaṣṭhas were also once defeated by Nakula, the fourth Pāṇḍava, along with the Śivis, Trigarttas and Mālavas ⁴; and Śrutāyuḥ was among those who did homage to Yudhiṣṭhira after the defeat.⁵

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¹ According to Goldstücker, the older denomination of the tribe was probably Ambaṣṭha, not Ambaṣṭha.

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² II, 52, 14-15.

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³ Chap. 5, 18.

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⁴ *Sabhāparvan*, Chap. 32, 7.

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⁵ *Ibid.*, Chap. 52, 14-15.

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In the Purāṇas, the Ambaṣṭhas are represented as Āṇava Kṣatriyas, and are said to have originated from Suvrata, son of Uśīnara; they were thus intimately related to the Yaudheyas and the Śivis,⁶ and were settled on the eastern border of the Punjab.⁷ The country is mentioned in the Bārhaspatya *Arthaśāstra*,⁸ where it is associated with Sind (*Kāśmīra-Hūṇa-Ambaṣṭha-Sindhavaḥ*); while the tribe is included in the list derived by Colonel Wilford ⁹ from the *Varāha Saṃhitā*.

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⁶ Pargiter, *Ancient Indian Historical Tradition*, p. 109.

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⁷ *Ibid.*, p. 264.

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⁸ Ed. F. W. Thomas, p. 21.

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⁹ *Asiatic Researches*, Vol. VIII, pp. 344, 346.

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The Purāṇas seem to represent the Ambaṣṭhas as Kṣatriyas, descended as they were from Uśīnara; and, as we have seen, the *Mahābhārata* refers to their King Śrutāyuḥ as ‘the best of Kṣatriyas’. But the evidence of Smṛti literature seems to point to their mixed origin. According to the *Gautama-Dharmasūtra* (IV, 16), children born of wives of the next, second or third lower castes become Sabarnas, Ambaṣṭhas, Ugras, Niṣādhas, Dauṣyantas or Pāraśaras. The Ambaṣṭhas would thus be descendants of Brāhmaṇas by Kṣatriya, Vaiśya or Śūdra wives. In the *Ambaṭṭha Sutta*,¹ an Ambaṭṭha (= Ambaṣṭha) is called a Brāhmaṇa; but, according to the Jātakas,² the Ambaṣṭhas were farmers, while Manu describes them as a people who practised the art of healing.³ S. N. Mazumdar thinks⁴ that ‘they were a tribe of Brahma Kṣatriyas’ (i.e. Brahmins by descent but warriors by profession); while Ray Chaudhuri⁵ is of the opinion that they were a ‘tribe who were at first mainly a fighting race, but some of whom took to other occupations, viz. those of priests, farmers, and, according to the Smṛti writers, physicians’.

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¹ Dīgha, I, p. 88; *Dialogues of the Buddha*, I, p. 109. ² *Jātaka*, IV, No. 363. ³ *Manu*, X, 47: ‘*Ambaṣṭhānāṃ cikitsitam*’. ⁴ *C.A.G.I.*, notes, p. 670. ⁵ *P.H.A.I.*, 4th Ed., p. 207. ⁶ *McCrindle’s Invasion of Alexander*, pp. 292ff. ⁷ *Ibid.*, p. 252. ⁸ *McCrindle, Ancient India as described by Ptolemy*, Majumdar’s Ed., pp. 311-12. ⁹ *Indische Alterthumskunde*, pp. 159, 161. ¹⁰ They are described as such in Bharata Mallika’s commentary on the Bhaṭṭikāvya.

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The Ambaṣṭhas are the same as the Abastanoi (Arrian), Sambastai (Diodoros), Sabarcae (Curtius) or Sabagrae (Orosius) of Alexander’s historians.⁶ In Alexander’s time the tribe was settled on the lower Akesines (Asiknī), and had a democratic government, and an army consisting of 60,000 foot, 60,000 cavalry and 500 chariots.⁷ The Ambaṣṭhas are referred to by Ptolemy as Ambastai, a tribe which is described as settled in the east of the country of the Paropanisadai,—Paropanisadai being ‘a collective name for the tribes that were located along the southern and eastern sides of the Hindukush’.⁸ Lassen⁹ thinks that the Ambastai may have been connected in some way with the Ambastai, another tribe mentioned by Ptolemy as dwelling ‘along the country of the Bettigoi’ and the mountain range of the same name (i.e. southern portion of the Western Ghats).

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The Ambaṣṭhas seem to have migrated in later times to some place near the Mekala hill which is the source of the Narmadā (see Mekala chapter). In the Kūrmavibhāga of the Bṛhatsaṃhitā (XIV, 7) they are associated with the Mekalas who dwelt on the Mekala hill; and the mention of Mekalāmuṣṭa (which is in all probability a misreading for Mekalāmbaṣṭha) in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (LVIII, 14) would seem to prove that the two were neighbouring tribes. The tribe seems to have migrated eastwards as well, however, for even today a class of Kāyasthas known as Ambaṣṭha Kāyasthas can be traced in Bihar; while the Vaidyas of Bengal claim to be designated as Ambaṣṭhas.¹⁰

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