Tribes in Ancient India c73.2

c73.2

The Bhojas were a very ancient tribe, who attained to considerable eminence as early as the period represented by the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*. The term Bhoja is mentioned even in the *Ṛgveda* (III, 53, 7) though many scholars do not consider it to be a tribal name there, and Sāyaṇa also explains it otherwise. According to the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*,¹ the Bhojas were a southern people, a ruling tribe whose princes held the Satvats in subjection. The *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (XIII, 5, 4, 21) seems to imply that the Satvats were located near the Gaṅgā and Yamunā, which was the realm of the Bharatas,² for the defeat by Bharata of the Satvats, and his taking away of the horse which they had prepared for an *Aśvamedha* sacrifice are here referred to. It is likely, therefore, that the Bhojas had spread over Central and Southern India in very early times.