Tribes in Ancient India c63.25

c63.25

Avanti was one of the most flourishing kingdoms of ancient India, mentioned in the *Aṅguttara Nikāya* as one of the sixteen ‘mahājanapadas’ of Jambudvīpa.¹ From the first, Avanti became an important centre of the new doctrine which we now call Buddhism, and may have been the scene of elaboration of Pāli, the sacred language of the Buddhists.² Several of the most earnest adherents of the Dhamma were either born or resided there: Abhaya Kumāra,³ Isidāsī,⁴ Isidatta,⁵ Dhammapāla,⁶ Sona Kuṭikaṇṇa,⁷ and especially Mahākaccāyana.⁸