Tribes in Ancient India c77.124

c77.124

In the Kūrmaniveśa section⁵ of the *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa* the Bhṛgukacchas are located in the south. Evidently this is the correct Sanskrit form of the name which we find in a corrupt form, Bhiru-kacchas, in another section of the same *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa*,⁶ whereas the *Matsyapurāṇa* reads Bharukacchas (CXIII, 50), who are the same people, namely, the Bhṛgukacchas of Sanskrit literature. Bhṛgukaccha, Bharukaccha, Bhirukaccha are all identical with the modern Broach or Bharuch which is the Barygaza of early Greek geographers. All these names survive in the modern Broach, on the mouth of the Narmadā. In early Buddhist literature as well as in the early centuries of the Christian era, the town was reputed to be an important seat of sea-going trade and commerce.