Tribes in Ancient India c5.34

c5.34

The Kāmbojas appear to have been one of the early Vedic tribes. The earliest mention of them occurs in a list of ancient Vedic teachers given in the *Vamśa Brāhmaṇa* of the *Sāmaveda*, where we find one of the teachers to be Kāmboja Aupamanyava, i.e., Kāmboja, the son of Upamanyu (*Vamśa Brāhmaṇa*, edited by Pundit Satyavrata Sāmaśramī). We are told that the sage Ānandaja received the Vedic learning from Śāmba, son of Śarkarākṣa, and also from Kāmboja, son of Upamanyu. It is interesting to note that he received this instruction from two teachers, whereas one teacher only was the usual rule. From the order in which the names are given, Śāmba appears to have been his first teacher, and the Kāmboja teacher must have been approached later, perhaps because he was distinguished for special pre-eminence in Vedic learning. We lay stress on this fact because it shows that the Kāmbojas, in early Vedic times, must have been a Vedic Indian people, and not Iranian, as has been supposed by several scholars. From the list of teachers we also find that both the teachers of Ānandaja had received their education in Vedic lore from the same sage, viz., Madragāra Śauṅgāyani, whose name shows that he belonged to the Madra people.¹ This connection between the Madras and the Kāmbojas is natural, as they were close neighbours in the N.W. of India.