Tribes in Ancient India c77.76

c77.76

Similar statements are also found in the *Vāyu* and the *Bhāgavata Purāṇas* as well as in the commentary of Śrīdhara. E.g.: ‘Kikaṭeṣu Gayā puṇyā puṇyam Rājagṛham vanam | Cyāvanasyāśramam puṇyam nadī puṇyā punaḥpunaḥ’ (*Vāyu*, 108, 73). ‘Buddho nāmnāñ-janasutaḥ Kikaṭeṣu bhaviṣyati’ (*Bhāgavata*, I, 3, 24). ‘Kikaṭeṣu madhye Gayāpradeśe’ (Śrīdhara). Kikaṭa thus was an impure country but later Brahmanical sources seem to have regarded some of its localities at least as holy, e.g. Gayā, Rājagṛha and the hermitage of the sage Cyavana. Later authorities seem to hold the Kikaṭa country identical with Magadha. Thus in Hemacandra’s *Abhidhānacintāmaṇi* we find: ‘Kikaṭa-Magadhāhvayāḥ’. According to Prof. A. B. Keith² if the Kikaṭas of the *Ṛgveda* were, as has been suggested, really located in Magadha, the dislike of the country goes back to the *Ṛgveda* itself. The causes most probably have been the imperfect Brāhmanisation of the land and the predominance of aboriginal blood, which later in history rendered Magadha the headquarters of Buddhism.