Tribes in Ancient India c42.2

c42.2

The Kuntalas are twice mentioned in the *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa* list of tribes, once in connection with the peoples of Kāśī and Kośala (LVII, 33), which means that they were a Madhyadeśa tribe, and elsewhere (LVII, 48) along with the Aśmakas, Bhogavardhanas, Naiṣikas, Andhras, etc., which suggests that they were a people of the Deccan. The *Bhīṣmaparvan* of the *Mahābhārata*, however, seems to locate the people in three different regions. One verse (IX, 347) seems to locate them in the Madhyadeśa, while another (IX, 367) in the Deccan which is also upheld by a reference apparently to the same people in the *Karṇaparvan* (XX, 779). A third reference in the *Bhīṣmaparvan* (IX, 359) suggests location of the tribe somewhere in the western region. Cunningham points out (*A.S.R.*, XI, 123) that the country of the Kuntalas of the Madhyadeśa should be identified with the region near Chunar which he calls Kuntila. Whatever be the merit of the identification, the Kuntalas of the Madhyadeśa do not seem to have attained to any historical eminence. The Kuntalas of the west also have hardly any place in history. But the Kuntalas of the Deccan appear to have risen to considerable importance in historical times as will be evident from subsequent details.