Tribes in Ancient India c32.2

c32.2

In the earliest Vedic literature, no mention is made of Kośala as the name of a people. It is only in some of the later Vedic works, like the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* and the *Kalpasūtras*, that we find Kośala referred to as a country. Kośala is also mentioned in the Pāli Buddhist literature as one of the sixteen great countries (*Mahājanapadas*) of Jambudīpa or India.¹ Pāṇini, too, mentions Kośala in one of his Sūtras.² In the *Atthasālinī*,³ mention is made of Kośala as one of the great Kṣatriya tribes in Buddha's time.⁴