Tribes in Ancient India c7.12

c7.12

Eliot points out that at the time when the Brāhmaṇas and earlier Upaniṣads were composed (circa 800–600 B.C.), the principal political units were the kingdoms of the Pañcālas and Kurus in the region of Delhi.⁴ The Kurus are comparatively seldom mentioned alone, their name usually being coupled with the Pañcālas; and the Kuru-Pañcālas are often expressly referred to as a united nation. Speech is said to have its particular home in the Kuru-Pañcāla land; and the mode of sacrifice of the Kuru-Pañcālas is proclaimed to be the best. The Kuru-Pañcāla Brahmins are famous in the Upaniṣads: for example, in the last kāṇḍa of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa we find mention of the Brahmins of the Kuru-Pañcāla country being invited and given huge largesses by Janaka, king of Videha (cf. Bṛhadāraṇyaka Up., III, I, 1, foll.).