Tribes in Ancient India c8.5

c8.5

In the later Vedic Saṃhitās and the Brāhmaṇa literature, the Pañcālas are frequently referred to, and often combined with the Kurus. The *Kaṭhaka Saṃhitā* (XXX, 2) speaks of the Pañcālas as being the Vaṃśa or people of Keśin Dālbhya, and says that, as a result of certain rites performed by him, they were divided into three parts. The same Saṃhitā (X, 6) refers to the celebration of the Naimiśīya sacrifice in the country of the Kuru-Pañcālas. Here a discussion between Vaka-Dālbhya and Dhṛtarāṣṭra Vaicitravīrya is narrated, but there is nothing to justify Weber's conjecture of a quarrel between the Pañcālas and the Kurus. In the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*, the Pañcālas are mentioned along with the Kurus as one of the peoples in the *Madhyamā dik* or midland. Similarly, the Kuru-Pañcālas are mentioned in the Kāṇva recension of the *Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā* (XI, 3, 3,). In the *Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa*, the Kuru-Pañcālas are mentioned many times, and in the *Gopatha Brāhmaṇa* (I, 2, 9), they are referred to as a dual group beside other similar groups, such as the Aṅga-Magadhas, Kāśī-Kośalas, Śālva-Matsyas, etc. The *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* assures us that ‘speech sounds higher here among the Kuru-Pañcālas’,¹ and also informs us that the kings of the Kuru-Pañcālas performed the *rājasūya* or royal sacrifice. The *Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa* (I, 8. 4, I, 2) says that the kings of the Kuru-Pañcālas marched forth on raids in the dewy season and returned in the hot season.² The *Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad* (IV, 1) also speaks of the Kuru-Pañcālas, and in the *Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad* they are repeatedly mentioned,—as, for instance, when we read ³ that the Brāhmaṇas of the Kurus and the Pañcālas flocked to the court of Janaka, king of Videha. A Vedic teacher, Pañcāla-Caṇḍa by name, is mentioned in the *Aitareya* and the *Sāṅkhāyana Āraṇyakas*,⁴ and most probably this sage belonged to the Pañcāla country, as his name suggests.