Tribes in Ancient India c6.17

c6.17

The Aitareya Brāhmaṇa (VII, 34) mentions Nagnajit, a king of Gandhāra, among the Vedic teachers who propagated the Soma-cult, —so it is evident that Gandhāra was not excluded from Vedic ‘Aryandom’. In the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (VIII, 1, 4, 10) also we find King Svarjit Nāgnajita or Nagnajit of Gandhāra referred to,—though in this case his opinion on a point of ritual is treated with scant respect as he was merely a Rājanya-bandhu, i.e. belonging to the princely order, and not a Ṛṣi. But this King Nagnajit is mentioned with great regard and respect in later literature from the great Epic onwards,² and in a technical book on painting he is quoted as the originator of that art.³