Tribes in Ancient India c32.40

c32.40

Most of the Purāṇas ⁹ state that Ikṣvāku had a large number of sons who divided the whole of India amongst themselves. The *Viṣṇupurāṇa* says that Ikṣvāku had a hundred sons of whom fifty, with Śakuni at their head, became the protectors of N. India, and forty-eight established themselves as rulers over S. India.¹⁰ The *Vāyupurāṇa* says that it was not the sons of Ikṣvāku who divided the country among themselves, but the children of Ikṣvāku’s son Vikukṣi. Though the number of Ikṣvāku’s immediate descendants as given in the Purāṇas is obviously fanciful, yet it seems worthy of credence that the family sprung from Ikṣvāku spread their rule far and wide over India, as many of the ruling families of India trace their descent to him.