Tribes in Ancient India c31.29

c31.29

Purūravas is mentioned in the Rāmāyaṇa¹¹ as king of Kāśī. Mitradeva said to the nymph Urvaśī: ‘Go to Purūravas, king of Kāśī. He will be your husband’. In the same kāṇḍa (59, 19), Puru, son of Yayāti, is represented as residing in Pratiṣṭhāna and ruling over the kingdom of Kāśī. We are told in the Ādikāṇḍa (13th sarga) that Vaśiṣṭha asked Sumantra to invite many pious kings, including the king of Benares, together with one thousand Brahmins, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas and Śūdras. In the Kiṣkindhyākāṇḍa (40th sarga) we read that Sugrīva sent the monkey king Vinata to Kāśī, among other countries, in quest of Sītā.