Tribes in Ancient India c59.2

c59.2

If the story of Kṛṣṇa’s fight with the demons Muru and Naraka, as told in the *Viṣṇupurāṇa*,¹ the *Mahābhārata*,² and the *Hari-vamśa*,³ can be interpreted as having an ethnological significance, then undoubtedly the Prāgjyotiṣas were a people of non-Aryan extraction. The Epics definitely describe the country of Prāgjyotiṣas as an *Asura* or *Dānava* kingdom ruled over by the demons, Naraka and Muru, with whom the leaders of Aryanism were in frequent conflict. The Pauranic description of Naraka, the *Asura* leader, attributes to him immense power and a strength that baffled and perplexed even Indra. The environs of his capital city called Prāgjyotiṣapura were defended by nooses constructed by the demon Muru. Of course, the Aryan leader, Kṛṣṇa, is described as having got the better of the fight with the demons, which may be interpreted as one of the exploits in the history of the spread of Aryan influence in the east.