Tribes in Ancient India c77.151

c77.151

**Kshudrakas** The Sudracae or Oxydrakai of the Punjab are generally held to be the same as Kshudrakas. They were settled between the Hydraotes (Rāvi) and the Hyphasis (Beas) during the age of Alexander as we learn from classical historians. According to Ray Chaudhuri³ they were probably settled in the territory included within the present Montgomery District of the Punjab. They were one of the most numerous and warlike of all the Indian tribes in the Punjab. Arrian in one passage refers to the ‘leading men of their cities and their provincial governors’, besides other eminent men. Megasthenes,⁴ as quoted by Strabo, records that the Persians got mercenary troops from India, namely, the Hydrakes, i.e. the Oxydrakai or Kshudrakas in the Punjab. The Malloi (Mālavas) and the Oxydrakai formed a grand alliance against the army of Alexander whom they opposed tooth and nail at first but finding it an impossible task they are said to have tendered their submission to the Macedonian conqueror by sending a thousand of their troops as hostages. They are alleged to have said that love of independence alone prompted them to oppose the invader.⁵ In the *Mahābhārata*⁶ we find mention of the Kshudrakas.