Tribes in Ancient India c77.63

c77.63

The Māhiṣakas or Māhiṣikas are referred to in the Purāṇas⁵ as a people of the south. They are mentioned in the same context in the *Sabhāparvan* list⁶ of the *Mahābhārata*. Undoubtedly they are the same people as the Māhismakas of the *Aśvamedhaparvan*⁷ of the *Mahābhārata*, and were the inhabitants of the ancient region Māhiṣmatī mentioned also in the *Mahābhārata*.⁸ Māhiṣmatī seems to have been situated on the river Narmadā between the Vindhya and the Rikṣa and can safely be identified with the modern Mandhātā region, where there was a river called Māhiṣiki mentioned in the *Rāmāyaṇa*.⁹ According to one passage in the *Harivaṃśa*,¹⁰ the founder of Māhiṣmatī seems to have been Mucukunda, according to another¹¹ Māhiṣmat. According to the Purāṇas,¹² Māhiṣmatī was founded by a prince of the Yadu lineage. Bhandarkar says that Avanti Dakṣiṇāpatha had its capital at Māhiṣmatī or Pāli Māhissati. The Purāṇas style the first dynasty of Māhiṣmatī as Haihaya,¹³ whereas the *Mahāgovinda* Suttanta mentions Māhissati as the capital of the Avantis, and refers to their king Vessabhu. But the *Mahābhārata* distinguishes between Avanti and Māhiṣmatī.¹