Tribes in Ancient India c45.15

c45.15

Rhys Davids points out that the country is mentioned together with Avanti, in the same way as Aṅga is with Magadha, and its position in the list of *Mahājanapadas*, between Śūrasena and Avanti, it makes it appear probable that when the list was drawn up, Aśmaka was situated immediately north-west of Avanti. In that case, the settlement on the Godāvarī was a later colony, and this is confirmed by the fact that there is no mention of Potana (or Potali) in the list.⁴ Further, Asaṅga in his *Sūtrālaṅkāra* mentions an Aśmaka country in the basin of the Indus; and we have already noted that the Greek writers knew of a people called the ‘Assakenoi’ in eastern Afghanistan.