Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahabharata: Upayana Parva c6.56

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.