Tribes in Ancient India c77.157

c77.157

In *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa*⁴ the Cīnas are mentioned. In the *Mahābhārata* we find them taking part in the Bhārata war as allies of the Kurus along with the king of Prāgjyotiṣa and the Kirātas of North-Eastern India. But the reference here is probably to those Chinese people who had settled somewhere from the north-west to the east along the Indian side of the Himalayas. Thus in one place in the *Mahābhārata*⁵ they are associated with the Kāmbojas which shows that they were settled in the north-west, while in another⁶ they are mentioned among the soldiers who followed Bhagadatta, king of Prāgjyotiṣa, i.e. roughly modern Assam. Other references in the *Mahābhārata*⁷ seem to indicate that they were settled not very far from the sources of the Ganges. They appear as a well-known and highly respectable people.¹ Their country was famous for a particular breed of horses.² The *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa*³ mentions the Cīnas. A people called the Apara-Cīnas (Western Cīnas) is mentioned in the *Rāmāyaṇa*.⁴