Tribes in Ancient India c59.4

c59.4

The *Mahābhārata* in other places⁴ refers to Prāgjyotiṣa as a Mleccha kingdom ruled over by a king named Bhagadatta who is always spoken of in respectful and even eulogistic terms. Bhagadatta is styled a Yavana,⁵ probably denoting that he did not belong to the Aryan fold. The *Udyogaparvan* describes him as the son of Naraka, the Prāgjyotiṣa king, and as an ally of Duryodhana.⁶ Among his retinues Bhagadatta counted the Cīnas (the people of China),⁷ and if the Kālayavana of the *Viṣṇupurāṇa* refers to the same king, as Wilson seems to think,⁸ he also ‘assembled many myriads of Mlecchas and barbarians’ among his followers. The *Mahābhārata* mentions him as a king of boundless might (*aparyanta-bala*) ruling over (the country of) Muru and Naraka.⁹