Tribes in Ancient India c69: Chapter LXVII. The Kākas, Kharaparikas and Sanakānikas

Tribes in Ancient India c69

Language: English

Chapter LXVII. The Kākas, Kharaparikas and Sanakānikas

c69.2

These three tribal peoples are referred to in the Allahabad Pillar Inscription of Samudragupta, along with the Mālavas, Ārjunāyanas, Yaudheyas, Madrakas, Ābhīras and Prārjunas. Recent researches have ascertained that the better-known among these tribes—i.e. the Mālavas, Yaudheyas, Madras and Ābhīras—inhabited the regions on the western, north-western and south-western fringe of Āryāvarta proper; and it is likely that the Kākas, Kharaparikas and Sanakānikas also occupied this region.

c69.3

So far as is known, there is no other mention of the Sanakānikas, either in literature or in any other epigraphic record except the Udayagiri Cave Inscription of G.E. 82 which mentions a Mahārāja of the Sanakānika tribe. Udayagiri is just two miles to the north-west of Bhilsa, ancient Vidiśā.

c69.4

The name Kharaparika does not occur elsewhere in inscriptions or literature; but Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar¹ finds a probable identification of the tribe with Kharpara mentioned in the Bāṭihāgarh Inscription of the Damoh District of the Central Provinces. The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (LVIII, 47) mentions a tribe called Khara-sāgara-rāśis,² along with the Gandhāras and the Yaudheyas; and the Matsyapurāṇa (CXXI, 56) refers to a country named Kharapatha, watered by the river Nalinī. It is difficult to say whether this people Khara-sāgara-rāśi, and country Kharapatha, had anything to do with the Kharaparikas.

c69.5

¹ I.H.Q., I, p. 258; E.P., XII, p. 46, v. 5.

c69.6

² A variant reading is ‘Svarasāgararāśi’.

c69.7

The Kākas³ are mentioned in the Mahābhārata (VI, 9, 64) where they are associated with the Vidarbhas who were a well-known people occupying tracts of territory in what is now known as the Central Provinces. The territory of the Kākas is sometimes identified with Kākūpur near Bithur,⁴ while Smith suggests an identification with Kākanāda near Sāñcī.⁵

Linked texts (3)

Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit