Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahabharata: Upayana Parva c6: III

Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahābhārata: Upāyana Parva c6

Language
English

Contents

III

c6.1

After the conquest of the four quarters by the Pāṇḍava brothers the proper atmosphere for the *Rājasūya* sacrifice was created. The rulers from all the quarters of India including Duryodhana were invited to attend the *Rājasūya*. One could easily conjure up the vision of such a function by witnessing the installation ceremony of a Hindu ruling chief of some standing. There are Yajñas to which the Brāhmaṇas throng, then there are processions in which all the wealth of the state is paraded, then there are *darbars* in which the Sardārs and Jagīrdārs make presents to their overlord. This ceremony in the ancient times must have been presented with the pomp and show many times multiplied. As reported by Duryodhana, the tribute payers simply thronged at the gates of Yudhiṣṭhira, and such was the court etiquette that even the people of standing could gain admission with difficulty. A touch of barbaric splendour was added by the presence of semi-barbaric tribes of the Himālayas, the Hindūkush and beyond. There were also the Santals, the Kirātas, and the Śbaras from the eastern and central India. Vying with them were the long established states of the Panjāb and other parts of India who had brought horses, elephants, shawls, precious stones, gold, silver, furniture etc., as gifts. As is natural Duryodhana the scion of an ancient but impoverished family was fired with jealousy at such display of wealth. The report of the Rājasūya assembly which he made to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, his father, is of great import from the point of view of the historical geography of India. In the following pages an attempt will be made to determine the locations of various states with a full description of the presents which they brought :— Vāṭadhāna (M.B., II, 45, 24). Literally the word vaṭā means made or consisting of the Banyan or Indian fig tree or its wood. In the Mahābhārata Ādiparva (I, 61, 58) the name has been derived from an eponymous king Vāṭadhāna who was of the same Krodhavaśa group as the eponymous kings of Vāhlīkas, Madras and Sauvīras, etc. (I, 61). In the Udyogaparva (V, 5, 24) it is mentioned that they had assembled on the side of the Kauravas. In the Sabhāparva (II, 29, 7) their country is mentioned to be Madhyamikā which has been indentified with Nagari near Chittor in southern Rajputānā, though their presence should not conclude that they were the original inhabitants of the place. At another place (M.B., II, 45, 24) the Vāṭadhāna Brāhmaṇas (Brāhmaṇa Vāṭadhānāḥ) said to be engaged in the profession of rearing cattle (gomantaḥ) had assembled collectively in hundreds (śata-sanghśaḥ) with innumerable gifts at the palace of Yudhiṣṭhira. The word śatasaṅgha is probably significant pointing to the existence of more than one Vāṭadhāna republican community. It may be pointed out here that Alexander in his campaign (Arrian VI, 7) on the Rāvī personally lead his army against a city of the Brāhmaṇas, which has been identified by Cunningham with the old ruined town and fort of Atari which is situated twenty miles to the west-south-west of Tulumba, and on high-road to Multan, from which it is thirty miles distant.⁶⁶ Diodorus (XVII, 53) again speaks of the country of the Brāhmaṇas and a city called Harmatelia in connection with Alexander's campaign in Sind. The city has been identified by Cunningham as Brahmanābād which was situated on the old channel of the Indus forty seven miles to the north-east of Haidarābād, the Pātalā of the ancients. The original form of Harmatelia has been restored by Cunningham as Brahma-sthala.⁶⁷

c6.2

⁶⁶ Cunningham, *The Ancient Geography of India*, pp. 261-64.

c6.3

⁶⁷ *Ib.*, 306-318.

c6.4

Pargiter in his commentary on the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (LVII, 38) places the country of the Vāṭadhānas on the east side of Satlaj southward from Firozpur.⁶⁸ But the probability is that they had more than one state under them, and we may, if the Brahmin republics of the Alexandar's campaign were also Vāṭadhānas, place them in southern Panjāb, lower Sind, and Southern Rajputānā. Manu's (X, 21) condemnation of the Vāṭadhānas is understandable as they were following the duties of a Kṣatriya in-so-much so as they owned states and the Śūdras as they tended cattles—the duties directly in contravention to the mode of life laid down for the Brāhmaṇas in Hindu religion.

c6.5

⁶⁸ Pargiter, *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa*, p. 312.

c6.6

Kamboja (*Sabhāparva*, 24, 22; 45, 19-20; 47, 3-4)

c6.7

The identification of the Kamboja country is of great importance, and before we take this up on the strength of literary and linguistic evidences it would be not out of place here to take up the various notices of Kamboja in literature.

c6.8

There is no doubt that Kamboja was a very ancient country. As pointed out by Zimmer⁶⁹ in the Vamśa Brāhmaṇa,⁷⁰ Kamboja Aupamanyava is a pupil of Madragāra.⁷¹ This according to the authors of the *Vedic Index* point to a possible connection of the Madras or possibly Uttaramadras with the Kambojas who had probably Iranian as well as Indian affinities.⁷² No opinion has been expressed about their location.

c6.9

⁶⁹ *Alt Indische Leben*, p. 102.

c6.10

⁷⁰ *Indische Studien*, IV, 371.

c6.11

⁷¹ *Vedic Index*, Vol. I, pp. 84-85.

c6.12

⁷² *Ib.*, Vol. I, p. 138.

c6.13

Yāska (II, I, 3, 4) speaking of dialectic forms of Sanskrit says that *śavati* in the sense of "going" is used only in the language of the Kambojas while its derivatives *śava* is used in the language of the Āryas. *Śavati* does not occur in Sanskrit but is a good Iranian word. There is old Persian *śiya*, and the Avesta *śav*, *śavaite*, to go, Cf. Persian *śudan*, *Skṛcyav*. 'In other words,' as Grierson puts it, "the Kambojas were a barbarous tribe of North-western India who spoke Sanskrit with an infusion of Eranian words, to which they gave Indian inflexions, or else spoke a language partly Indo-Aryan and partly Eranian."

c6.14

The derivation of the word racked the brain of the Pandits in ancient times as well. Continuing with Yāska (II, 1, 4)—*Kambojāḥ Kambalabhojāḥ Kamanīyabhojā vā Kambalaḥ Kamanīyam bhadati*—Kambojas are Bhojas with woollen shawls or handsome Bhojas etc., (wearing the Kambala to avoid cold adds the commentator). These fanciful derivations of the initials *kam* in Kamboja show the efforts of the ancients to solve the riddle. We shall have to come to this *kam* later on.

c6.15

But before Grierson had shown the grammatical peculiarities of *śavati* as mentioned in Yāska Dr. Kuhn took up the question of Kambojas.⁷³ He quotes a *gāthā* from a Jātaka (Fausboll, VI, 210) which establishes beyond reasonable doubt that the Kambojas were of Iranian extraction. The *gāthā* is quoted below with the commentary :—

c6.16

⁷³ *Das Volker Kamboja bei Yaska*, p. 213, in the *Avesta, Pahlavi and Ancient Persian Studies in honour of the late Shams-ul-Ulama Dastur Peshotanji Behramji Sanjana*, Strasbourg & Leipzig, 1904. This article has been summarised by Mr. G. K. Nariman in J.R.A.S. 1912 pp. 255-257.

c6.17

कीटा पतङ्गा उरगा च भेका, हन्त्वा क्रिमि सुञ्फति मक्खिका च एतो हि धम्मा अनरियरूपा कंबोजकानं वितथा बहुन्नम् ।

c6.18

"मच्चो सुञ्फनिति एतेसेपि कंबोजरट्ठवासीनं बहुन्नं अनरियनं धम्मा ।

c6.19

"Those men are counted pure who kill frogs, worms, bees, snakes or insects as they will,—

c6.20

These are your savage customs which I hate,—

c6.21

Such as Kamboja hordes might emulate."⁷⁴

c6.22

⁷⁴ *Jātalla*, Tr. VI, p. 110.

c6.23

With the Iranians the destruction of Ahramanic creatures was a duty. Mr. Nariman on the strength of Nepalese tradition⁷⁵ identifies Tibet with Kamboja.⁷⁶

c6.24

⁷⁵ Foucher, *Iconographic bouddhique*, p. 134.

c6.25

⁷⁶ J.R.A.S., pp. 256-257.

c6.26

In the *Aṅguttara Nikāya* (I, p. 213; IV, 222, 256, 261) Kamboja is mentioned with Gandhāra as one of the sixteen *Janapadas*. In the *Paramathadīpanī* on the *Petavatthu* (P. T. S. ed. p. 113) Dvārakā occurs with Kamboja. This a very important reference to which we shall revert in connection with the proper identification of Kamboja.

c6.27

In Aśoka's inscription Kamboja is placed with Yona, Gandhāra, Laṭhika and Pitanaka (Dhauli, V, 4—योनकंबोज गंधालेस लठिकपितेनकेसु एवा पि अने आपलंता भटिमयेसु, II, p. 87) Kamboja also appears at Girnar (V, 5. योन कम्बोजगंधारानं); at Mansera, the Yonas and Kambojas (XIII, 10 योनकम्बोजेषु) are coupled. In the Mathurā Lion Capital inscription of the chief queen of Mahākṣtrapa Rajula (early 1st century A.D.) Sten Konow reads the local name of the queen as Kamuia meaning the Kambojan.⁷⁸

c6.28

⁷⁷ Hultsingch, CII, I, p. 87.

c6.29

⁷⁸ CII, II, p. 36.

c6.30

In the *Mahābhārata* (*Sabhāparva*, 24, 22) they are placed with the Daradas, and in the *Udyogparva* (III, 186, 30) they are found in the company of the Śakas, Pulindas and the Yavanas, and in the *Bhīṣmaparva* (IX 373) they are found with the Cinas. According to Manu, they were Kṣatriyas who became degraded through the extinct of sacred rites (*Manusmṛti*, X, 43-44); their evil customs are referred to in the *Śantiparva* (CCVII, 7560-61). In the *Harivaṃśa* (XIII, 763-64; 775-83) it is said that they were degraded by Sagara and ordered to shave their whole head after the fashion of the Yavanas:—

c6.31

अर्थे शकानां शिरसौ मुण्डयित्वा विसर्जयत—यवनानां शिरः सर्वे कंबोजानां तथैव च—पारदा मुक्तकेशाश्च पल्लवाः श्मश्रुधारिणः निःस्वाध्यादवषट्काराः कृतास्तेन महात्मना ।

c6.32

It is obvious that the Hindus who by religion were ordained to have Śikhā or a top-knot looked askance towards those who had all their hair shaved; ‘shaved like Yavanas (*Yavanamuṇḍa*), shaved like Kamboja (*Kambojamuṇḍa*),’ were contemptuous terms in vogue since the days of Pāṇini (*Gaṇapātha* on *Mayūravyanisakādi* II, 1, 72).

c6.33

Another distinguishing feature of the Kamboja country is its horses. In the *Sabhāparva* (II, 45, 20; 47, 4) the Kamboja horses are mentioned. The horses which the people of Kamboja brought as presentation to Yudhiṣṭhira (M.B. II, 47, 4) numbered three hundred, they were varigated, spotted or speckled with black (*kalmāṣaiḥ*) or of Tittira breed (Tittira is the name of a country as well, M.B., VI, 2084, 3975) which were fattened on the fruits of Salvadora Persica (*pīlu*) and the nuts of Terminala Catappa (*Ingudaiḥ*). Their snouts are compared with the parrot’s beak (*śukanāsikaiḥ*).

c6.34

In the *Jātaka* stories the Kamboj mules (*Kambojaka assatara*, J. IV, 654, G. 242) are mentioned. In the *Mahāvastu* (ii, 185) the superb horses of Kamboja (*Kambojaka asvavara*) are praised. In the *Sumangala-vilāsini* (Vol. I, p. 124) Kamboja is spoken as the home of horses (*Kamboja assānam āyatanam*). In the Jain *Uttarādhyana Sūtra* it is said that a trained Kamboja horse excelled all horses in speed and no noise could frighten it (*Jain Sūtras*, S. B. E., Part II, p. 47). The importance of the Kamboja horse was also recognised in the *Arthaśāstra* (tr. p. 148, 3rd. ed.).

c6.35

Besides the mares, the Kamboja people sent as presents to Yudhiṣṭhira cows and chariots (*rathayosidgurāśrasya*) (M. B., II, 45, 20) in good number and three hundred camels (II, 45, 20; 47, 4). They also sent as presents clothes made of sheep's wool and lynx furs decorated with gold (*aiḍānscailānvārṣadarṣāñjātarūpapariṣkṛtān*) (M. B., II, 47, 3), shawls and skins (*prārārājinamukhyāśca* (Ib.)). At another place the Kambojas are said to have presented very valuable blankets (*parārghyānapikambalān*) and the black, grey and red skins of the *Kadali* deer (*Kadali-Mṛgamokāni*) (M.B., II, 45. 19). The *Kadali* skin is described in the *Arthaśāstra* (pp. 80-81) as of rough quality and two ft. long; its another quality the *Candrottara Kadali* which was only one third of its length had variegated moon-like spots. The smallness of the skin indicates that the *Kadali* skins were probably of a species of very small deer or some rodent.

c6.36

By the foregoing details it must have been evident by this time that the Kambojas were important people, but strange as it may look the Indologists are not at all unanimous in the location of this country. Lassen doubtfully places Kamboja in the south of Kāshgar and east of modern Kāfiristān (Ind. Alt., Map). According to Rhys Davids⁷⁹ it was a country in the extreme north-west of India with Dvārakā as its capital. Vincent Smith⁸⁰ seems to place it among the mountains of Tibet and Hindūkush perhaps in agreement with the view of Mr. Foucher who quotes for his identification the Nepalese tradition.⁸¹ Sylvain Levi as we shall see later on identifies it with Kāfiristān (J. A. 1923), Prof. H. C. Rāychowdhury,⁸² on the strength of a passage from the *Karṇaparva* (VIII. 4, 5) places Rājapura as contiguous to Kamboja. He identifies Rājapura of the *Karṇaparva* with the Rājapura of Yuan Chwang⁸³ placed in the south or south-east of Kashmir. Thus we can see that willow-the-wisp Kamboja has been shifting grounds from Tibet to Afghānistān and even south of Kashmir. Prof. Jayacandra⁸⁴ however has discussed the question afresh and he has on the basis of very strong evidences identified Kamboja with Badakshān and the Pāmīrs. He takes up the theory of Pro. Raychowdhury first and shows that the Kamboja country which according to Prof. Raychowdhury was the ancient name of the present Chibhāl country in the south or south-east of Kashmir and also Hazara District reaching to the western confines of Kāfiristān, could not represent Kamboja as the ancient names for this joint tract was Uragā or Urasā (the Arasces of the Alexandrian historians) for Hazara and Abhi-sāra for the modern Chibhāl. He then takes up the references from Yāska which assigns *śavati* in the sense ‘to go’ to the language of the Kambojas and shows that the Ghalcha language of the Pamirs and the countries on the head waters of the Oxus mostly contain the root *śavati* in the sense ‘to go’. He also quotes the *Mahābhārata* to show that Kamboja and Vāhlīka were often used as *Dvandva* compound and therefore their countries were contuminous. As in our opinion Prof. Jayacandra has hit at the right identification his arguments need a little more elucidation and support.

c6.37

⁷⁹ *Buddhist India*, p. 184.

c6.38

⁸⁰ *Early History of India*, p. 134.

c6.39

⁸¹ *Political History of India*, pp. 94-95.

c6.40

⁸² *L' Iconographique bouddhique*, p. 134.

c6.41

⁸³ Watters, I, p. 284.

c6.42

⁸⁴ *Bhārat bhūmi aur uske nivāsī*, pp. 297-305 Samvat 1987.

c6.43

We have already seen that most of the Indologists are convinced of the Iranian connections of the Kambojas, that leaves out Chibhāl country out of consideration. The consensus of opinion also seems to be in favour of locating Kamboja in the north-west of India. That the country was situated in the north even as late as the early seventh century is evident from the campaign of Muktāpīḍa Lalitāditya of Kashmir (695-732 A.D.). After conquering Avanti Lalitāditya entered the region of north (*Rāja-taraṅgiṇī*, IV. 163). After defeating the Kambojas he deprived them of their horses (*Ib.*, IV. 165). The Tukhāras also abandoned their horses and fled (*Ib.*, IV. 166). Immediately after them the Bhauṭṭas and Daradas are mentioned and as the location of the Bhauṭṭas of Baltistān and Bolor and Dardistan is practically certain, the Kambojas could only be placed in Kāfiristān, Balkh-Badakshān and the Pamirs. There is another very important reference in Buddhist literature which should settle the location of Kamboja. As already mentioned in the *Paramatthadīpanī* (P. T. S., p. 113) a commentary on the *Petavatthu* the name of Dvāraka occurs with Kamboja. Naturally our mind is diverted to the famous Dvārakā in Kāṭhiāwār and we begin feeling the absurdity of the reference. But there is very little doubt that the Dvārakā of the *Paramatthadīpanī* could be identified with the country of Darwaz—the exact Persian translation of Dvārakā in the north of Badakshān. Rhys Davids very nearly hits the nail when he describes Dvārakā as the capital of Kamboja, this is however not definite. The Tambyzoi (Ptolemy, VI. 11, 6) which Ptolemy places south of the Oxus is explained by M. Lévi as Kamboja only the initials going alteration—a distinguishing feature of the Austro-Asiatic languages. He has shown the exact parallel of the same phenomena occurring in the far east in the same words as Kemboja and Semboja⁸⁵. Another very important reference in this connection is found in Idrisī, a medieval Arab geographer. After describing the beauties of Badakshān, the fertility of its soil, its fruits, its good breed of horses and mules and its richly coloured precious stones and the musk brought from Wakhān he mentions that Badakshān bordered on Qanauj (قنوج) a dependency of India.⁸⁶ There cannot be any doubt that the Qanauj of Idrisī is a mistake for Qabauj-Kamboj. The misplacing of the dots in the manuscripts of Idrisī's Geography is a common occurrence. Thus Bāmian is invariably written as Nāmian⁸⁷ and also Kāshān is written as Nāshān.⁸⁸ Apparently in the time of Idrisī the extent of the territory of the Kambojas had much decreased as Badakshān is mentioned as a separate state. Now the problem rises where to place the Kamboja of Idrisī: The pointer is towards Kafiristan—its Indian relationship pointing to the suzerainty of the Shāhis of Kābul.

c6.44

⁸⁵ J.A., 1923, p. 54.

c6.45

⁸⁶ *La Geographic de al-Edresi*, Tr. Jaubert, Vol. I, pp. 478-79.

c6.46

⁸⁷ *Ib.*, pp. 456, 474 etc.

c6.47

⁸⁸ *Ib.*, pp. 462.

c6.48

The extent of the Kamboja country in ancient times could be fixed up perhaps by the countries which now speak Galchah languages—the speakers of Wakhī Shighnī, Sarīkolī, Zebakī, Sanglīchī or Ishkāshmī, Munjānī, Yūdghā and Yāghnobī perhaps represent the ancient Kāmbojas and Paramakāmbojas. In this connection it should be remembered that the members of the Galchah speaking group of languages are mainly confined to the Pāmīr country about the head-waters of the Oxus and are bounded on the west by Badakshān which probably in former times⁸⁹ also spoke Eastern-Iranian.

c6.49

⁸⁹ *Linguistic Survey of India*, Vol. X, pp. 456-57.

c6.50

As mentioned in the *Raghuvamśa* (IV. 70) jewels were among the renowned products of the country.

c6.51

Marco Polo (1272—73) speaks of the azure and rubies of Badakhshān which had become famous in the form of Balas.⁹⁰ Captain Wood in his journey to the source of the Oxus heard of the ruby mines twenty miles off Ishkāshm in the district called Gharan on the right bank of the Oxus river⁹² and he personally visited the lapis lazuli mines in the Kokcha Valley.⁹³ The silver mines of Badakhshān were also famous. In the Arab times there were rich silver mines at Anderab and also mines at Wakhān⁹⁴.

c6.52

⁹⁰ *Ib.*, p. 456.

c6.53

⁹² *Ib.*, p. 206.

c6.54

⁹³ *Ib.*, p. 171.

c6.55

⁹⁴ W. Barthold, *Turkestan down to the Mongol invasion*, pp. 65, 67. 1928.

c6.56

It is interesting to note that there is an agricultural community in the Panjāb which is known as Kamboh, though it is difficult to say what relation they bear to the ancient Kambojians. There are various traditions current among the Kambohs about their original home; some hold that they hailed from Kashmir, some trace their origin to Garh Ghazni; some say that their ancestors sided with the Kurus in the great Mahābhārata battle, the majority with their chief Sodaksha were killed and the remnants settled at Nābhā; some hold that the word is a compound made of Iranian Kai and Anboh and therefore the tribe has descended from the Kai dynasty of Iran etc.⁹⁵ It is remarkable that most of the traditions point to the trans-Indus origin of the tribe and their Iranian connections. Perhaps they are the modern representatives of the ancient Kambojians of Pamirs.

c6.57

⁹⁵ Rose, *A Glossary of the tribes and castes of the Panjab and N.W.F.*, Vol. II, pp. 443-44.

c6.58

Kārpāsika (M.B. II, 47, 7). It is a very rare word and as far as my information goes only appears once in the Mahābhārata. The historicity of the place however is fully established by its reference in an inscription at Sāñchī. In the inscription No. 143, the gift of one Araha from Kārpāsī-grāma is mentioned.⁹⁶ The rarity of the word which is not repeated in Sāñchī inscriptions perhaps points to the great distance of the Kārpāsika country and the difficulties of communication between India and that country.

c6.59

⁹¹ Wood, *loc. cit.*, p. XXXIII.

c6.60

⁹⁶ The Monuments of Sanch, Vol. I, p. 314.

c6.61

As the *Mahābhārata* is silent as regards the direction and situation of this country let us examine in detail whether any other source speaks about the country. Happily the author of *Fan yu tsa ming*, a Sanskrit-Chinese lexicon⁹⁷ of Li-yen (713, died between 789-95) comes to our rescue. For Kip-in or Kapiśa, the modern Kāfiristān Li-yen gives the Sanskrit equivalent Karpiśaya, the correct form of which according to Bagchi should be Kapiśaya,⁹⁸ no reasons, however, have been assigned by him for correcting this reading which in our view is correct—the Karpiśaya and Kapiśa being two different spellings of the same word. A fuller account of Ki-pin is needed to determine its identification with Kārpāsika.

c6.62

⁹⁷ Prabodhchandra Bagchi, *Deux lexiques Sanskrit-Chinois*, Tome II, pp. 340-45, Paris 1930.

c6.63

⁹⁸ *Ib.*, p. 347.

c6.64

It was a belief of the older Sinologists that Ki-pin in the time of Han and Wei period denoted Kashmir, and in T'ang period it was identified with Kapiśa⁹⁹ or the country drained by the northern tributaries of the Kabul river. In the T'ang period there can be no doubt that Ki-pin and Kapiśa denoted the same locality.¹⁰⁰ Sten Konow has examined in detail the identification of Ki-pin in Han and Wei periods specially by Lévi¹⁰¹ who bases his argument on certain Chinese works which identify Ki-pin with Kashmir. His argument may be summed up as follows: In the old annals which distinguish Ki-pin from Kao-fu or Kabul could be a rendering of the Indian word Kapira comparable with Ptolemy's Kaspeiria (VII, 1, 42) and Kaspeiraioi which may represent Kaspira—Kashmira. After producing impressive arguments based on old Chinese documents and the examination of Fahien's route to India which refers Ki-pin as lying towards the west of Kashmir, Sten Konow comes to the conclusion that Ki-pin did not imply different geographical designations at two different periods but only denoted Kāfiristān.¹⁰² If as M. Lévi believed the original Indian word for Ki-pin was Kapira then it has some connection with Kārpāsika which did not indicate Kashmīr as it is mentioned elsewhere as a separate geographical entity in the *Upāyanaparva* (M.B., II. 48.13).

c6.65

⁹⁹ Sten Konow; for reference, see *Ep. Ind.*, XIV, p. 90, 91.

c6.66

¹⁰⁰ Chavannes, *Documents sur les Tou-Kie ((Turcs) occidentaux*. p. 52, 1903. St. Petersburg.

c6.67

¹⁰¹ J.A., IX, VI, pp. 371 ff.

c6.68

¹⁰² *Ib.* IX, VI, p. 91.

c6.69

Another interesting point brought out by M. Lévi¹⁰³ is the equation of Kapiśa-Kamboja. Kapiśa¹⁰⁴ is changed to Ka-bu-śa by the Tibetan translator of the Mahāmāyurī.¹⁰⁵ This change of Kapiśa to Kabusa raised the question which M. Lévi has discussed, whether Kapiśa and Kamboja are not the same. In Kapiśa and Kamboja he finds an effort to render the spelling of a strange word which he analyses as Ka = a = p = s'. In both the cases Kam = Kam : b = j. there seems to have been an aspirate in the middle f and z which has been left out in Sanskrit. In the Greek name of Kambyses—Ka (m) bujiya the aspirate is changed to sibilant. But Solinus, the copyist of Pliny¹⁰⁶, calls the Capisa of Pliny as Caphusa, which the Delphine editors have altered to Capissa. Here two points should be marked, firstly the change of *i* to *u* as in the Tibetan transcription already described and the maintenance of the aspirate *ph* which disappears in the Greek spelling of Ka (m) bujiya-Cambyses. Is it an effort on the part of Solinus to render the spelling of a word with infix *ph* which has disappeared by the Sanskritisation of Kapiśa, Kamboja and also Kārpāsa (ika)? The form Kaphusa for Kapiśa which seems to be equivalent to Kārpāsa could be explained. Kārpāsa is equal to Kāpus as in Marathi with the disappearance of ancient *pha* from both the forms substituted by the labial *p*; the Greek form however, maintains the ancient aspirate *pha*. The two aspirates appear clearly in the title of Kadphizēs when progress brought the Kuṣāṇas from Kuei-Chuang to the district of Kao-fu (Kabul) in Chinese transcription. The title of Kadphizēs is symmetrical to the title of Taksiles under which the king of Takṣaśilā was known to the historians of Alexander.¹⁰⁷ Both are *tadrāja*.¹⁰⁸ The name of Kadphizēs in Kharoṣṭhī is spelt as Kaphasa or Kapasa¹⁰⁹ on his coins found at Taxila and Lévi's interpretation of his belonging to Kapiśa is quite sound.¹¹⁰

c6.70

¹⁰³ *J.A.* II, 1923.

c6.71

¹⁰⁴ *Capisa quam diruit Cyrus*, Pliny VI, 92.

c6.72

¹⁰⁵ *J.A.* II, p. 52. 1923.

c6.73

¹⁰⁶ Cunningham, *The Ancient Geography of India*, p. 22.

c6.74

¹⁰⁷ *J.A.* II, 1923, p. 52.

c6.75

¹⁰⁸ Pāṇini, IV, 1, 174.

c6.76

¹⁰⁹ *A.S.I.*, 1912-13, pp. 44, 51.

c6.77

¹¹⁰ For other spelling of the name see C.I. p. LXVI.

c6.78

Another alteration of Kapiśa Kamboja M. Lévi quotes from the *Rāmāyaṇa*. In the Kashmīr recension¹¹¹ the reading is *Ārattam Kapiśam Bālhīm* (IV, 44, 27) which in Kṣemendra's *Rāmāyaṇamañjarī* (IV, 252) become Āraṭṭa, Bālhī, Kamboja.

c6.79

¹¹¹ Weber, *Rāmāyaṇa*, p. 25 note.

c6.80

In connection with M. Lévi's theory that the Kamboja and Kapiśa are the same one may offer by the way of suggestion only the occurrence of the initials Kam in Kāmdesh, Kamah a river etc. Kamdesh in Kafir language is called Kāmbrom.¹¹² The upper region of the Bashgol Valley is Katirgol (Lutdeh in Chitrali and Kamtoz in Pushtu), the middle portion is Mumān (Madugāl in Chitrali) and the lower part Kām (Kamdesh in Chitrali and Kamoz in Pushtu¹¹³). Kām in Bashgolī and Kamoz in Pushtu seem to point to the connection of Kāfiristān with ancient Kamboja.

c6.81

¹¹² Robertson, *The Kafirs of Hindukush*, p. 21, London, 1896, F. 7

c6.82

¹¹³ *Ib.*, p. 71.

c6.83

Thus before us is placed a suggestion that Kapiś-Kamboja denoted the same geographical unit. To this may also be added Kārpāsika which on account of its rare appearance seems to be clinging to some original form phonetically very near to the Sanskritised form Kārpāsika when more common form as Kapiśa and Kamboja were being commonly used. One thing which has been made clear in the *Mahābhārata* is that though Kāfiristān might have formed a part of Kamboja republic, its separate geographical name as Kārpāsika is maintained. Later on however there was no difference between Kamboja and Kapiśa, as Idrisi's Qanauj, a dependency of the Hindu Kings of Kabul could not be anything else but Kāfiristān. There is another thing which deserves our attention. Does the word Kāfir in Kāfiristān denote the usual contemptuous term in Arabic for the non-believers or does it signify the land of the Kapirs or some such original form from which the word Kārpāsika originated? Or is it possible that as Kaniṣka has become Kanerka so Kapiśa has changed to Kāfir¹¹⁴ (Walters, *loc. cit.*, Vol. I, p. 124)? If Ki-pin transcribes some original name as Kapir as suggested by Lévi, then it is probably Kāfiristan and not Kaspeiro which is nearer to it philologically.

c6.84

The gift of the Kāfir country to Yudhiṣṭhira at the time of the Rājasūya were also in keeping with the tradition of their country (M. B., II, 47, 7). They are addressed as Śudras who brought with them hundred thousand of slave girls, resident of the Kārpāsika country, who were brown-eyed, slender-waisted (*Śyāmāstanvyo*), whose hair grew luxuriantly and who were bedecked in golden ornaments. They also brought the goat-skins, and deer-skins worthy of even the Brāhmaṇas. It is no wonder that the Kāfirs are introduced as bringing slaves. Slavery till very recently was very common among the Kāfirs in whose country the women were regularly sold as chattels. The gift of the goat-skins throws light on the produce of the land. Even till recently, and there is no reason to believe, that the things have changed for the better, the boys and poor men of Kāfiriṣtān only wore goat-skins. It was used by the great majority while raiding or hunting or when herding or watching their flocks. The goat-skin is a shapeless wrapper girdled at the waist by a leather strap. It only partially covers the neck and the chest and reaches half down the thighs.¹¹⁴

c6.85

¹¹⁴ Robertson, *loc. cit.*, pp. 508-9.

c6.86

No description of the Kapiśa country without the Kāpiśāyanī Surā¹¹⁵ to which Pāṇini has devoted a whole Sūtra is complete though it is not mentioned among the gifts to Yudhiṣṭhira. Till very recently wine was prepared in Kāfiristan out of grapes. The grape juice was obtained by an extremely simple press. It was then allowed to ferment in a goat-skin. The new wine was extremely uninviting, but when kept two or three years it was clear and strong.¹¹⁶

c6.87

¹¹⁵ Pāṇini, IV, 2, 99.

c6.88

¹¹⁶ Robertson, *loc. cit.*, pp. 558-59.

c6.89

Citraka (M.B. II, 46, 21). No direction is given. From the Buddhist literature (Aṭṭhasālinī, p. 350) we find a Cittala mountain which is also mentioned in the Visuddhimagga (p. 292).¹¹⁷ It may be identified with the modern Chitral State in Dir, Swat, and Chitral Agency with an area of 4500 sq. miles. It comprises the whole of Kashkār-bala or Upper Kashkār, i.e., the Tirich Valley, which runs northwards from Tirich-mir for 60 miles until it joins the Turikho Valley; thence the combined stream runs south for 40 miles through the Mulkho Valley and joins the Kho Valley below Mastuj. On the north stands Hindukush range, on the west Badakshān and Kāfiriṣtān, on the south Dir, and on east the Gilgit Agency, Mastuj and Yāsin.¹¹⁸

c6.90

¹¹⁷ B. C. Law, *Early Geography* . . . p. 41.

c6.91

¹¹⁸ *Imp. Gaz.*, X, p. 301.

c6.92

Kukura M.B., II, 46, 21; 48, 14, 15. At one place (M.B. II, 48, 14) they appear with the Ambaṣṭhas, Tārkṣyas, Vastrapas, Pahlavas and at the other (II, 48, 15) with the Śauṇḍikas and Śakas.

c6.93

Kukuras were a very ancient tribe forming a component of the great Vṛṣṇi confederation. In Megasthenes¹¹⁹ a very uncommon description of the tribe is given. They are described as a tribe living in the mountains and having heads like dogs, they were clothed in the skins of wild beasts, whose speech was barking; and who being armed with claws, lived by hunting and fowling. Apparently the story has been fabricated from the word Kukura meaning "dog". Pliny (VII, ii, 14-22) also repeats the same story. They are also mentioned in the inscription of Vāsiṣṭhīputra Puḷumāyi issued in his 19th regnal year¹²⁰ where they are placed with Aparānta.

c6.94

¹¹⁹ *Ancient India*, p. 79.

c6.95

¹²⁰ *Nasik Cave Inscription*, No. 18, *Arch. Sur. of Western India*, Vol. IV, pp. 108-9.

c6.96

Probably they could be identified with the great Khokhar or Khokhur tribe of the Panjāb. They are found between the Jāṭs, Rājputs, Arāiṇs, and Cuḥrās. They are most numerous along the valley of Jhelum and Chenab and specially in Jhang and Shāhpur districts. They are also found, though in smaller number on the lower Indus and Satlaj, especially in Lahore, also along the foot of the hills from the Jhelum to the Satlaj. The Khokhars of Gujarāt and Siālkot have a tradition that they were at first settled at Gaṛh Kharāna of which they were dispossessed by Timūr. In Akbar's time they were the principal tribe in Dasūya Paragana in Hoshiyārpur, and they now give their name to the Khokharain to a tract which contains some fifty villages in all but three of which are in Kapūrthalā State on the border of Dasūya Tahsīl.¹²¹

c6.97

¹²¹ Rose, *loc. cit.*, Vol. I, p. 539.

c6.98

The origin of the Khokhars is obscure. In the Jhelum district they claim Rājpūt descent from Bharat and Jasrat.¹²² Some other Khokhars connect themselves with Persian Kings, specially Dahak whose descendants according to the Khokhar tradition were called Nāgbansīs. They also give their traditional history and mention a long list of kings as their ancestors.¹²³ What was their exact situation in the second century B.C. cannot be said. But if their traditional relationship with the Vṛṣṇis is taken for granted then they may perhaps be placed in Hoshiārpur district which is the probable findspot of a solitary bilingual coin of the Vṛṣṇi republic. In the first century B.C. or even earlier they seem to have moved to the Lower Sind and Kach and Kāthiāwād.

c6.99

¹²² *Ib.*, pp. 539-40.

c6.100

¹²³ *Ib.*, pp. 541-543.

c6.101

Kāraskara. M.B. II, 46, 21. They are also mentioned in the *Baudhāyana Dharma Sūtra* (I, 2, 14). Baudhāyana prescribes expatiation after a visit to the countries of the Araṭṭas, the Kāraskaras, the Puṇḍras, the Sauvīras, the Vaṅgas, the Kaliṅgas and the Prānūnas. They also appear in the *Baudhāyana Śrautasūtra* (XX, 13 (14), *Āpastamba* (XXII, 6, 18) and the *Hiraṇyakeśī Sūtras* (XVII, 6). Pāṇini was also acquainted with their existence. *Kāraskaro Vṛkṣah* (VI, 1, 156) means a tree growing in the country of the Kāraskaras. The Kāraskaras may probably be identified as a section of the Chitrālis living in Kashqār Valley. As Citrakas probably represent Chitrālis, we have to assume the existence of two states within the boundaries of modern Chitral in ancient times.

c6.102

Lohajaṅgha: M.B., II, 46, 21. Again no information is available with regard to their provenance.

c6.103

Apparently they are distinguished from the Lohas who are mentioned with the Paramakāmbojas and the Ṛṣikas (M.B., II, 24, 24). They also seem to be different from the Lohitas with their ten Maṇḍalas whose country Arjuna conquered after Kashmīr (M.B., II, 24, 16) and which probably was ancient Leh as pointed out by Stein.¹²⁴ They may be identified with the people living in the Logar Valley in the south of Kabul whose principal city Locharna is mentioned by Ptolemy.⁵ The word Roh was applied to some Afghan tribes who migrated to India and gave Rohilkhand or Bareilly district this nme.

c6.104

¹²⁴ *Rājatarangiṇī*, III, 10; Stein, *Ib.*, Vol. II, p. 523.

c6.105

⁵ Cunningham, *Anc. Geo.*, p. 44.

c6.106

Bharukaccha : M.B., II, 47, 8. The people of Broach brought for presentation the Gandhāra horses. Apparently they must have been dealing in them. Bharukaccha the modern Broach in Gujarāt situated on the estuary of the Narbada was famous since the days of the Indo-Greek commerce, and is the same as Barygaza of the Greek navigators. Gandhāra is of course the region about Peshawar.

c6.107

The Trans-Indus people. M.B. II, 47, 9-10. In this couplet a very crisp and to the point description of the states of Lāsbelā and Kalāt in southern Baluchistān is given. "And the Vairāmas, Pāradas and Vaṅgas (variant *Abhīrāḥ*) with the Kitavas, they who lived on the crops that depended on the occasional rainfall or the rain, they who lived in the trans-Indus country and were born in the land of sea-shore gardens'' brought to Yudhiṣṭhira presents which will be described later on.

c6.108

Stein who explored the wilderness of Makrān in recent years¹²⁶ stands testimony to the truthfulness of the climatic conditions of the country as mentioned in the *Mahābhārata*. He explored Kalāt that once formed the part of ancient Gedrosia, now under the control of Baluchistān administration. It was the scene of Alexander's march through the torrid wastes of Gedrosia. The major part of the Kalāt State is occupied by the barren mountain ranges stretching from north-east to west in parallel arcs, and gradually decreasing in height; "The southernmost of them conveniently designated as Makrān coast range overlooks the desolate shores of the Arabian sea. There are scattered small settlements of fishing folks, supported here and there by little patches of precarious cultivation making their living in ways not essentially very different from the primitive Ikhthyophagoi, whom Alexander's troops met on their passage through these arid wastes. The valleys formed by the numerous torrents beds which break up this range offered nowhere chance for even semipermanent occupation except in Kulānch to the north of the road to Pasni where small villages carry on agriculture wholly dependent on the capricious rainfall of the coast."¹²⁷ To the north this coastal range is flanked by the long stretched valley of Kej river continued westward by the Nihing valley and to the north-east the open drainless basin of Kolwa, it forms the economic back-bone of Makrān. There are strings of oases along the banks of the Kej with feeds and date groves, irrigation is made by Kārēzes or subterraneous canals and by cuts (Kaur-jo) taking off from large pools in the river bed. These retain water, even after the rain floods from the mountains, always heavy but very uncertain.¹²⁸ The Dasht valley or the tract where the waters of Kej and Nihing find their way to meet the sea at the bay of Gwāṭar is important as wide stretches of alluvial soil are to be found on both sides of the river where it breaks through Gokprosh hill chain. Here the cultivation is carried out by rain water collected by embankment. The Central Makran range and Rakshashān Valley likewise offer a little place for cultivation.¹²⁹

c6.109

¹²⁶ Stein, *An Archaeological tour in Gedrosia*, *Arch. Sur. of India*, Memoir No. 48, Calcutta, 1931.

c6.110

¹²⁷ Stein, of *Ib.*, p. 8.

c6.111

¹²⁸ *Ib.*

c6.112

¹²⁹ Ib., pp. 9-10.

c6.113

Jhalawan contains the mountainous regions stretching from the north to the south which divides the lower Indus Valley from Khāran and Makrān. In the valleys dividing the ranges there gather rivers which all carry their drainage either into the sea like Hingol, Porali and Hab or else to Indus. But it is only at the time of rain-floods these rivers contain water along their whole course and these, too, only for very brief periods.¹³⁰

c6.114

¹³⁰ Stein, of Ib., p. 12.

c6.115

The climate is arid and the majority of the population leads a nomadic life. The springs and Kārēzes are more widely distributed than in Makrān, yet only less than one fourth of the total cultivated area receives irrigation. The rest is entirely dependent on the chance of adequate water being secured from the rare floods which in favourable years descend in the torrents and river beds are being caught by the poorly constructed embankments from the slopes above the fields.¹³¹ In Sarawan the physical features are akin to Jhalawan.

c6.116

¹³¹ Ib., p. 13.

c6.117

The State of Lāsbelā on the southern coast of Baluchistān is bounded on the north by the Jhalawan division of Kalāt State; on the south by the Arabian Sea; on the east by Kīrthār range, which separates it from Sindh and on the west by the Hālā offshoot of the Pab range. Its eastern part is mountainous, the centre consists of a triangular level plain with its base on the sea; on the west the State has a strip of coast stretching from port Ormāra. The Porāli carries a small permanent supply of water. The Hingol is another river which falls into the sea within the State limit. The coast line extends for about 250 miles and possesses two road-steads in Sonmiani and Ormāra.¹³² Its climate is like Makrān.

c6.118

¹³² Imp. Gaz., Vol. XVI, pp. 144-45.

c6.119

It was in such physical conditions that the races already mentioned inhabited.

c6.120

The first tribe inhabiting these waste-lands were Vairāmakas (M.B., II, 47, 10) who are also mentioned in the Mahāmāyūrī¹³³ (48, 1). But beyond the fact that they were a trans-Indus people and that their home was in the land where the rainfall was very scanty (M.B. II, 47,9) nothing is known about them in Indian literature. Fortunately enough in the identification of the Vairāmakas the Greek sources come to our help. For this we must get ourselves acquainted with Alexander's homeward march to Carmania through southern Baluchistān and his campaign against the country of Oroeitei (Arrian. Arab. VI, 21-22). On crossing the river Arabios Alexander marched throughout the night in a desert country, and then after being joined by the main body of the troops he penetrated the country further and came to the capital of the Oroeitei named Rambakia, which was the largest village in their domain, and as usual defeated the barbarians, and pleased with the situation of the village decided to colonise it and for that purpose left Hēphaistion behind. Now all the classical authors place the two barbarian races called Arabii or Arabitoe and Oroeitei, Oritoe, Oraitai, Horaitai as they are variously spelt to the west of the Indus. Arrian (Indika, 22) calls the country of Arabii as the last part of India towards the west and Strabo (XV, 21) calls it a part of India, but both exclude Oroeitei, though Curtius (Vita. Alex. IX, 10, 33) includes it in India. These Oroeitei, whose capital was Rambakia, have been identified by Holdich as the Hots of Makrān with their head-quarters at Tump, and by Mockler with the utii of the army of Xerxes.¹³⁴ The home of the Arabii is located on the river Arabios, the modern Porāli, which flows through the district of Las into the bay of Sonmiani, 50 miles from Karāchī.¹³⁵ Cunningham derives the name Oroeitei from the river Aghor¹³⁶ and Rāmbāgh on the Aghor river a place of Hindu pilgrimage with the association of Rama, with Rambakia, the capital of the Oroeitei in the time of Alexander. The western boundary of the Oroeitei is placed by Nearchus¹³⁷ at a place called Malana which Cunningham identifies with the bay of Malan, to the east of Rās Mālān of the present day. Holdich¹³⁸ locates the sight of the ancient Rambakia at Khairkot situated the north-west of Liari commanding the Hala pass. Whatever may be the exact position of Oroeitei in all probability they lived in that part of Baluchistān which is known as Lasbela State, perhaps between Porāli and Hingol.

c6.121

¹³³ J.A., II, 1915, p. 94.

c6.122

¹³⁴ Baluchistan Gaz., VII, 94.

c6.123

¹³⁵ Cunningham, *loc. cit.*, pp. 349-50.

c6.124

¹³⁶ *Ib.*, pp. 353-354.

c6.125

¹³⁷ *Ib.*, 354-355.

c6.126

¹³⁸ Holdich, *loc. cit.*, pp. 150-51.

c6.127

Rambakia also lay on an important trade route. A route from the south of Kandhār passed through Rambakia and thence by road or river Porali to Oraea (in Sonmiani Bay), whence India could be reached by sea or through low mountains.¹³⁹ Leaving aside the previous identifications it seems probable that Rambakia is the Greek form of the Sanskrit Vairāmaka, a race living to the west of the Indus. The substantival form of the Vairāmaka must have been Virāma. The Greek spelling of the word simply resulted by the simple transposition of the initial vi in the Sanskrit spelling into the middle of the Greek spelling. In Sanskrit literature the Oroeitei seem to have been only known by the name of their capital which is quite correct in view of Pāṇini's tadrāja rule. The Oroeitei according to the *Cambridge History of India* were of the Dravidian stock.

c6.128

¹³⁹ Warmington, *loc. cit.*, p. 24.

c6.129

¹⁴⁰ *Cambridge History of India*, Vol. I, p. 380.

c6.130

Pārada. M.B., II, 47, 61, 10, 48, 12. The Pāradas are mentioned twice in the *Upāyanaparva*. Once they are placed to the west of the Indus (M.B., II, 47, 9) and the second time their connection with the Bāhlīkas or Bactrians is indicated. They are also mentioned by the *Mahāmāyūrī*¹⁴¹ (95, 2), Varāhamihira (*Bṛhatsaṃhitā*, XIV, 21) places them with the Vokkāṇas and Rāmaṭhas among the peoples of the west. In the *Rāmāyaṇa* (IV, 44, 13) they are placed with the Yavanas and Śakas before the Bāhlīkas. They are also mentioned in the *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa* (LVII, 37). In the *Harivaṃśa* (XIII, 763-64; XIV, 775—83) they are said to have been degraded by the king Sagara who made them wear long hair and that they were Mlecchas and Dasyus (*Ib.*, CXV, 6440—42). Manu (X, 43-44) says that they were Kṣatriyas who became degraded because of the extinction of sacred rite. Ptolemy’s Paradēnē (VI, 21, 4) which signified all the interior country in Gedrosia could be equated with the Pāradas mentioned in the *Upāyanaparva* (M.B., II, 47, 9). Nearly all the trace of the Pāradas has however disappeared from Makrān. In the centre of Panjgur oasis however a little above Chitkān is situated the Pardān-damb, the remains of which proved to consist of three successive stone embankments solidly constructed of large unhewn. The name Pardān and its ancient archaeological remains may perhaps connect the place with the ancient Pāradas.¹⁴²

c6.131

¹⁴¹ J.A. II, 1915, pp. 103-104.

c6.132

¹⁴² Stein, *An Archaeological tour in Gedrosia*, p. 45.

c6.133

Their association with Bāhlīkas or Bactrians shows (M.B., II, 48, 12) that here probably they could be identified with the Parthians, a Śaka tribe, the forerunners of the Saka migration of 130 B.C., who after nomadizing first in the plains south-east of Caspian, invaded and conquered Parthava, the modern Khurāsān (Herzfield, *The Archaeological History of Iran*, pp. 53-4). If the Pāradas are the Parthians then their presence in Gedrosia could be explained by the long association of the country with the ancient Iran of Darius¹⁴³ (522—486 B.C.) and Xerxes (486—465).

c6.134

¹⁴³ Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, p. 334.

c6.135

Vaṅga (M.B., II, 47, 10). The variant readings are Tuṅgāśca and Ābhīrāḥ. At first it seems that Vaṅgāśca, the reading taken as correct by the editors is wrong, and the correct reading should have been Ābhīrāḥ, as the Ābhīras living in the mountainous regions and subsisting on fish (M.B., II, 29, 9), the equivalent of the Greek Ichthyophagoi of the Makrān coast, are known. But on maturer consideration the reading Vaṅga seems to be right. In the seventh century according to Yuan Chwang¹⁴⁴ the Lang-Kie (ka)—Lo whose Sanskrit form Langar has been found by Julien and Lankar by Watters¹⁴⁵ lived on the Makrān coast. The country according to Yuan Chwang was very rich in precious substances, and naturally therefore its people brought jewels for presentation to Yudhiṣṭhira (M.B., 47, 10). Nothing is known about its precious wealth to-day for the country has never been surveyed for its possible mineral wealth. In the typical Meds who live between Gwāṭar and Sonmiani, there are Meds proper who are fishermen, the Koras seafaring men and a third section of unknown descent called Lāṅga.¹⁴⁶ The alteration of the initials in Lāṅg and Vaṅga, can be explained on the well known principle of Munda Khmer languages. As the initials Aṅga and Vaṅga were alternating in Eastern India, and Kēmboj and Semboj in Cambodia in French Indo-China and Java the same thing was happening on another extreme corner of India—the Makran coast. This could be explained on the basis of the existence of a substratum of Austric language in Bengal and also in as far a country as Makran.

c6.136

¹⁴⁴ Watters, II, pp. 257-58.

c6.137

¹⁴⁵ Ib. p. 257.

c6.138

¹⁴⁶ Baluchistan Gaz., VII, p. 106.

c6.139

Kitava (M.B. II. 47, 10). They seem to have been a very important tribe of Makrān, and if their identification with the Kej be corect, then their importance may be gauged by the fact that in the medieval period their name became a synonym for the whole of Makrān—Kej-Makrān. The Kej Valley lies between Kolwa and Mand and the valley of Buleda. This is the Kej Makrān of the Arab geographers. It is hemmed in all sides by high ridges. In the central portion there is a large irrigated area and but in the eastern and western portions dry cultivation is carried out.

c6.140

Mockler (J.A.S.B., 1895, pp. 30-36) has quoted a number of authorities, both Arab and Persian, to show that a people named Kufs or Kufij inhabited the mountains to the south of Kirman, to the south-east of which the low-lying country was inhabited by Baluchis. He has identified an aboriginal tribe in South Kirman who call themselves Kufish with the ancient Kufs of Bilādhuri, Tabari and Ibn-Haukal. It is yet to be decided whether Kofish, Kōfic, Kufij, Kūs, Kūj, or Koj, Kūi, Kec, Koc, Kij, Kej, Kiz, Kesh, Kash and Kush, the son of Ham, are similarly the variations of the same name or not (Ib. p. 35). To this list may also be added the Kitava of the Mahābhārata. Kitava or Kaitavya are invariably mentioned with the Ulūkas (M.B., I, 177, 20; 56, 23) who no doubt represented the Kulūtas or the people of modern Kulu Valley—the form Kulūta occurring in the Sabhāparva (II, 24, 4) in which the learned editor has noted the variants Ulūta, Ulūka, and Kaulūta. Here as well the change of the initial occurs on the well-known principles of the Munda-Khmer languages. Their companions the Kitavas or Kaitavyas therefore should represent the people of modern Suket. What relation they bore to the Kitavas of Makrān it is difficult to say, probably they represented the same ethnic group.

c6.141

¹⁴⁷ In the Arthaśāstra (p. 101) however the honey as well as the juice extracted from the grapes are called madhu.

c6.142

Their gifts to Yudhiṣṭhira (M.B. 41, 10-11) represented fully the products of the trans-Indus country. They brought goats and sheep (*ajāvikam*), cattle and gold (*gohiraṇyam*), camels and asses (*kharoṣṭram*) wine manufactured from fruits (*phalajam madhu*), and the various kinds of jewels.

c6.143

Camels and donkeys and sheep and goats are reared in Makrān which enjoys a considerable reputation as a camel breeding country. Camel breeding is passion with the Baluchis. Kulanch is one of the best breeding grounds in Makrān. Dasht is famous for its riding camels.¹⁴⁸ The Kharan camel has also a great reputation in Baluchistān. It is bigger than the Makrān camel and is particularly good over the rocky country. There are fewer varieties the best and the commonest being dastal which has its forelegs white from the foot to a little below the shoulder.¹⁴⁹

c6.144

¹⁴⁸ *Baluchistan Gaz.*, VII, pp. 181-2.

c6.145

¹⁴⁹ *Ib.*, Vol. VII, A, pp. 99-101.

c6.146

The wine from Makrān which came to Yudhiṣṭhira’s court was manufactured from the fruits, probably from the dates,¹⁵⁰ though Panjgur grapes are famous and very cheap at the height of the season.¹⁵¹ The trans-Indus people also brought woollen blankets and shawls which probably included *namdas* or felt for which Kharan is famous.¹⁵² The rugs of Makrān however are of inferior quality.¹⁵³

c6.147

¹⁵⁰ *Ib.*, p. 165.

c6.148

¹⁵¹ *Baluchistan Gaz.*, VII, p. 165.

c6.149

¹⁵² *Ib.*, Vol. VIIA, p. 116.

c6.150

¹⁵³ *Ib.*, Vol. VII, p. 222.

c6.151

Prāgjyotiṣa: M.B., II, 47, 12—14. In some passages Prāgjyotiṣa is called a Mleccha Kingdom (M.B., II, 47, 12) ruled over by Bhagadatta who is spoken with respect. Prāgjyotiṣa was placed in the north (M.B., II, 23, 19-19), but was also considered to be in the east (*Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa* VII, 44). There must have been mountains near his kingdom as it is called Śailālaya (*Strī-parva*, XXIII, 644). Bhagadatta recruited his troops (M.B., II, 23, 19) from the Kirātas, Cinas and the soldiers who dwelt on the sea-coast. He is said to have lived with the confederacy of the kings on the Bay of Bengal (M.B., V, 4, 11). The country of Prāgjyotiṣa is represented by Assam, and probably some part of Northern Bengal.

c6.152

Bhagadatta, the King of Assam presented to Yudhiṣṭhira fleet horses (M.B., II, 47, 13), and the vessel made of *aśmasāra* (M.B., II, 47, 14) which is probably amethyst and is probably the same as *aśmagarbha* which with *musāragalva* is mentioned as a semi-precious stone in the *Divyāvadāna* (II, p. 51, 11., 24-25). In modern times the Indian sources of amethyst is Ceylon, though the rivers of India sometimes yield amethyst in the form of pebbles. In Pliny's time India, however, was the most renowned source producing four kinds of amethyst, purple, inferior sapphire-coloured, very pale and wine red.¹⁵⁴ The claim of jadeite as *aśmasāra* also cannot be excluded. Jade is known as *musāragalva* with its Sanskrit form *masāragarbha* (other forms *musāragalla*, *musāragalva*; Pāli *ma(u)sāragalla*) and Burma, in the neighbourhood of Assam which represents the ancient Prāgjyotiṣa, is the chief source of the supply of jadeite.

First 152 of 514 passages. Read on

Linked texts (47)