Tribes in Ancient India c50.2

c50.2

The Magadhas occupied a prominent position in very ancient times. Though the *Rgveda* does not mention them as such, yet Vedic literature generally contains innumerable references to them as a people. In the *Atharvaveda Samhitā*,¹ the Māgadha is said to be connected with the Vrātya as his Mitra, his Mantra, his laughter and his thunder in the four quarters. In the *Lātyāyana Śrauta Sūtra* ² (which belongs to a school of the *Sāmaveda*), Vrātya-dhana or the property of the Vrātya is directed to be given either to a bad Brahmin or to a Brahmin of Magadha; but the *Pañcavimśa Brāhmana* (XVII, 1, 16), which also belongs to the *Sāmaveda*, does not say anything on the point.