Tribes in Ancient India c73.58

c73.58

It is stated in the Purāṇas⁷ that the Sātvats and the Bhojas were branches of the Yadu family who dwelt at Mathurā on the banks of the Yamunā; and the Mahābhārata tells us that Kṛṣṇa removed the Yādava headquarters from Mathurā to Dvārakā through fear of King Jarāsandha of Magadha. In the Viṣṇupurāṇa⁸ we read that Sātvata was born in the family of Kroṣṭhu, son of Yadu. The descendants of Sātvata, son of Mahābhoja, were known as Bhojas.⁹ According to the Matsyapurāṇa,¹⁰ the Bhojas were pious, learned, truthful, valiant and charitable, and were performers of religious rites; but in another passage of this Purāṇa (34, 30) as well as in the Mahābhārata (I, 85, 3533), the Bhojas are relegated to the Mleccha caste. Pargiter thinks,¹¹ however, that this tradition is ‘unintelligible compared with all other traditions, and is probably late, and certainly very doubtful’. As we learn from the Purāṇas,¹² the Bhojas were related to the Haihayas who were a branch of the Yādavas. The Haihayas are said to have comprised five families, the Vītihotras, Śāryātas, Bhojas, Avantis and Tuṇḍikeras. As we have seen, the Bhojas were closely related with the Vidarbhas; and they probably also held sway over Daṇḍaka, the region around Nasik. This is implied by a passage in Kauṭilya’s *Arthaśāstra*¹ according to which a Bhoja named Dāṇḍakya, or king of Daṇḍaka, tried to seduce a Brāhmaṇa girl, as a result of which he perished with his relations and his kingdom.