Tribes in Ancient India c56.2

c56.2

The land of the Suhmas is mentioned for the first time probably in the *Āyāraṅga-sutta*, one of the oldest sacred books of the Jainas. It is stated therein that Mahāvīra ‘travelled in the pathless countries of the Lāḍhas, in Vajjabhūmi and Subbhabhūmi’, where he was very rudely treated by the people. This Lāḍha¹ is doubtless identical with what later came to be known as Rāḍha, and Subbhabhūmi with the country of the Suhma people. The Suhma country was thus a portion of the more comprehensive region which was later known as Rāḍha. According to the Epics and the Purāṇas, the Suhma country is distinguished from Vaṅga and Puṇḍra, the two other important divisions of Bengal. The Epic account of Bhīma’s eastern conquests makes the country of the Suhmas distinct from Vaṅga and Tāmralipta. In the *Daśakumāracaritam* (Chap. VI), Damalipti or Tāmralipti (mod. Tamluk in Midnapur) is described as having been a city of the Suhmas, while according to the *Matsyapurāṇa* (Chap. 114) Suhma and Tāmralipti were different countries. The Jain *Prajñāpāṇā* includes Tāmalitti in Vaṅga (see chapter on the Vaṅgas).