Tribes in Ancient India c59.5

c59.5

According to the *Mahābhārata*, Prāgjyotiṣa was situated in the northern region of India¹; but the *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa* places it in the eastern region, together with the Brahmottaras (or Suhmottaras), Pravijayas (perhaps Prāvṛseyas), Bhārgavas, Jñeyamallakas, Madras, Videhas, Tāmraliptakas, Mallas and Magadhas; or together with the Candreśvaras, Khaśas, Magadhas, and Lauhityas.² The mountainous regions called Antar-giri, Vahir-giri, and Upa-giri in the *Mahābhārata*³ appear to comprise the lower slopes of the Himalayas and the Nepalese Terai; and it is not unlikely that the Prāgjyotiṣas lived contiguously, as Bhagadatta is called Śailālaya (‘one whose abode is in the mountains’).⁴ According to the *Abhidhānacintāmaṇi*, Prāgjyotiṣa was the same as Kāmarūpa,⁵ though in the *Raghuvamśa* the Prāgjyotiṣas and Kāmarūpas are described as two different peoples. Generally speaking, the two countries came in later times to be regarded as one and the same. In the *Kālikāpurāṇa*,⁶ for example, the capital of Kāmarūpa is called Prāgjyotiṣapura, which has been identified with Kāmākhyā or Gauhāṭī. The *Raghuvamśa* seems to locate Prāgjyotiṣa beyond the Brahmaputra,⁷ but Kālidāsa’s knowledge of distant geographical locations is not always satisfactory. For all practical purposes, Prāgjyotiṣa may, therefore, be identified with the whole of Assam proper, along with Northern Bengal as far as Rungpur and Cooch Behar, which is the territory comprised by Kāmarūpa, according to the *Yoginītantra*.⁸