Tribes in Ancient India c8.14

c8.14

The name Pañcāla has given rise to much speculation, it being supposed that the first part, Pañca (‘five’), has something to do with five tribes that were merged together into a united nation. The evidence in favour of this hypothesis is not very clear. It has been suggested that the five peoples are the five tribes of the *Ṛgveda*, but, as the *Vedic Index* (I, 469) points out, the suggestion is not very probable. The problem of the origin of the name Pañcāla and its probable connection with Pañca, five, struck the authors of the Purāṇas. Many of them traced the name to five princes, whose names vary slightly in different works. In the *Bhāgavatapurāṇa*, 9th Skandha, Chap. 21, we learn that King Bharmāśva, born in the family of Duṣmanta, had five sons, Mudgala, Yavīnara, Vṛhadviśa, Kāmpilya, and Sañjaya. As these five sons were capable of guarding the five countries, they were named Pañcāla (alam = sufficient for, capable of). Then in the *Viṣṇupurāṇa*, Chap. 19, Aṅka 4, we are told that Haryaśva, born in the family of Kuru, had five sons, Mudgala, Srīñjaya, Vṛhadisu, Pravīra and Kāmpilya. He was under the impression that his five sons were competent to protect five provinces, and they became famous as Pañcālas. The *Vāyupurāṇa* (Chap. 99) tells us that Ṛkṣa, born in the family of Dvimīḍha, had five sons, Mudgala, Srīñjaya, Vṛhadisu, Yaviyāna and Kāmpilya. The provinces of these five afterwards became famous as Pañcāla. Similarly, in the *Agnipurāṇa* (Chap. 278) we read that Vāhyāśva, born in the family of Kuru,¹ had five sons, Mukula, Srīñjaya, Vṛhadiṣu, Yavīnara and Krimila, who were known as Pañcālas. In the *Saṃhitopaniṣad Brāhmaṇa*, there is a reference to the Prācya Pañcālas.²