Tribes in Ancient India c32.22

c32.22

It is in the Epic period that Kośala emerges into importance. The scene of action of the *Rāmāyaṇa* is in Kośala, the princes of which country carried Aryan civilisation to the south as far as the island of Ceylon. Pargiter observes that it is remarkable that in the *Rāmāyaṇa* the friendliest relations of Kośala were with the eastern kingdoms of Videha, Aṅga and Magadha, the Punjab kingdoms of Kekaya, Sindhu and Sauvīra, the western kingdom of Surāṣṭra, and the Dākṣiṇātya kings, for these are especially named among the monarchs who were invited to Daśaratha’s sacrifice, and no mention is made of any of the kings of the middle region of N. India except Kāśī.⁸ Pargiter is of the opinion that it was under King Dilīpa II and his immediate descendants that the country acquired the name of Kośala.¹