Tribes in Ancient India c32.12

c32.12

In the *Cambridge History of India*,⁹ we read that the Kośalans were almost certainly of the Aryan race, in the main at least. They belonged to the solar family, and were supposed to have derived directly from Manu through Ikṣvāku. A family of princes bearing this name is known from Vedic literature, and it is quite possible that the solar dynasties of Kośala and other kingdoms to the east of the middle country were descended from this family. If so, Ikṣvāku must be regarded as an eponymous ancestor; and as his superhuman origin had been explained, a myth founded on a far-fetched etymology of his name was invented, viz. that he was so called because he was born from the sneeze of Manu.¹ Vedic literature points out that the Ikṣvākus were originally a branch of the Purus.² Kośala is known to the Buddhists as the land of the Kośala princes,³ tracing their descent from Ikṣvāku. The descent of those ruling princes of Kośala from Ikṣvāku is borne out by the genealogies in the *Rāmāyaṇa* as well as the Purāṇas.⁴ Buddhaghoṣa narrates an anecdote giving a fanciful origin of the name of Kośala, from ‘kuśala’ (well, healthy, in good condition).⁵