Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahabharata: Upayana Parva c6.s1: Upāyanaparvan (Chapter 48)

Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahābhārata: Upāyana Parva c6.s1

Language
English

Upāyanaparvan (Chapter 48)

c6.s1.1

The tribes described in the M.B., II, 48, 2-3 lived on the river Śailodā (M.B., II, 48, 2) which is represented as flowing between the Mt. Meru and Mandara. The *kīcaka* bamboos growing on her banks as poetically expressed afforded shelter to those tribes. The location of Śailodā is of great importance for the identification of various tribes living on its banks. It is also mentioned in the *Rāmāyaṇa* (*Kiṣkindhākāṇḍa* XLIV, 75—79). Śailodā or Śailodakā according to the *Matsya Purāṇa* (CXX, 19—13) rises at Mt. Aruṇa which is situated to the west of Kailāśa, and which flows into the Western Sea. In the *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa* (LV, 3) Śītodā (Śailodā) is placed on the west of the Mt. Meru. The situation of Meru-Mandara is however uncertain Pargiter has placed Śailodā in western Tibet (*Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa*, p. 351). The bearing however takes us to the north and to the Karakorum or Mustagh skriting to the north of which is the Chinese Turkestan. At the point where Shyok River descends to the south, facing it towards the north the Raskam or Yarkand flows through the same mountain. The Yarkand River which is also called Zarafshan and which is called Sito²⁰⁹ by the Chinese, flows closely at the northern foot of the Karakoram dividing it from the Kun-lun mountains. To the east of Yarkand River is Tibet and to the west Pamirs. Perhaps, though one can never be sure this Si-to represents the Śailodā of the Mahābhārata. If our identification be correct than Meru becomes Karakoram and Mandara the Kun-lun ranges.

c6.s1.2

²⁰⁹ According to Cosmos, the Sītā is the modern Jaxartes (JASB, 1839, p. 282). It rises in the plateau south of Issyk-kul lake in the Thatan-Shan. Jaxartes is also called Sir-Daria, and Sir is evidently a corruption of Sītā according to Dey. Sītā is also idetnified with the river Yarkand or Zarafshan. They, however, prefer Sītā's identification with Jaxartes (Nundo Lal Dey, The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India, p. 187, 2nd ed. Lond., 1927).

c6.s1.3

Khaśa: (M.B., 48, 3.) The Khaśas are well known to the student of Sanskrit literature. In Nepal the Gurkhas are designated as Khasa and their language is Khasa or Parbatiyā. In the south and west of Kashmir the hill regions are occupied by Khaśas. Their settlement extended as shown by numerous passages of the Rājatarangiṇī in a wide semi-circle from Kaṣṭawār in south-east to the Vitastā Valley in the west. The hill states of Rājapurī and Lohāra were held by the Khasa families. The Khasas are identical with the present Khakha tribe to which most of the petty chief in the Vitastā Valley below Kashmir and in the neighbouring hills belong.²¹⁰ According to M. Sylvain Lévi²¹¹ Khasa or Khaśa does not indicate any particular tribe, but a number of semi-Hinduised tribes inhabiting the Himālayas. But in Central Asia the name has a special significance. The Lalitavistara mentions Khaśa writing which was in vogue between the countries of Dardistān and China on the upper course of the Indus, and the frontiers of China proper. Jñānagupta who translated the life of Buddha between 589—618 glosses the word Khasa with Chou-le, *i.e.*, Kashgar. In the Tang period the equivalence of Khaśa and Chou-le is uniformly admitted.²¹² Khasa in the *Upāyanaparva* are qualified by the adjective *ekāśana* (variant *ekāsana*) which probably means that they were settled as opposed to other wandering tribes.

c6.s1.4

²¹⁰ Stein, Rājatarangiṇī, tr. Vol. II, p. 430.

c6.s1.5

²¹¹ BEFEO, Vol. IV, p. 556.

c6.s1.6

²¹² *Ib.*, p. 557, also see J. A., Jan.-Feb., 1915, p. 102.

c6.s1.7

Jyoha : (M.B., II, 48, 3.) Nothing is known about the Jyohas who were equally well settled in the same region as Khaśas. However it is interesting to note that a large *pargana* in Almora Tahsil with its northern boundary as Tibet is named Johar and is chiefly inhabited by the Bhoṭias.²¹³ Nothing is known about the origin of the name Johar, perhaps it was from very early times occupied by the migrating Jyohas who gave their name to the Tahsil, but this cannot be said with any certainty in the absence of other proofs.

c6.s1.8

²¹³ *Almora District Gaz.*, p. 249.

c6.s1.9

Dīrghaveṇu : (M.B., II, 48, 3.) The Dīrghaveṇus as opposed to the Khaśas and Jyohas lived in a dispersed condition as the adjective *pradarāḥ* suggests. Perhaps they were a wandering tribe. Nothing further is known about them.

c6.s1.10

Paśupa : M.B., II, 48, 3. They were possibly a wandering tribe of herdsman, akin to the modern Kirghiz.

c6.s1.11

Kuṇinda : (M.B., II, 48, 3.) Apparently they were a very widely diffused tribe as they are also mentioned in the Tarai forests near Haradwār (M.B., III, 141, 25) where they lived in hundreds of groups (*Kuṇindā-śata-saṃkulam*). Apparently the forest country of Subāhu abounding in elephants and horses was a veritable haven of the aboriginal tribes because here rubbing shoulders with the Kuṇindas also lived Kirātas and the Tangaṇas (*Ib.* III, 141, 25). The Kuṇindas, also Kulindas are referred to several times in the epics and the Purāṇas (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Pargiter, p. 316). In Arjuna's expedition to the north the first power which he met and defeated (M.B., 23, 13-14) were the Kuṇindas. Vāgbhaṭṭa in his Kāryānuśāsana, which is copied by Hemcandra (Kāryānuśāsana, 127) gives the name of a mountain as Kalindendra (Himālaya-Jalandhara-Kalindendra-Kila . . . parvatāḥ). It is curious to note that the form given by Ptolemy (VII, 1, 42) Kulindri (nē), presents the same alteration between Kuṇinda and Kulinda. He places the Kulindrinē above the source of Beas, Satlaj and Yamunā and the Gaṅgā. Bṛhatsaṃhitā (XIV) gives variations of the same name. Kern has adopted the reading Kauṇindra in preference to Kaulinda and Kaulindra. In the newly edited parvans of the Mahābhārata from the Bhandarkar Institute, Poona, though the editors have adopted Kuṇinda as the correct text Kulinda as a variant has always been noted down (M.B., II, 23, 13; 48, 3; III, 141, 25). At another place in the Digvijayaparva (M.B., II, 23, 14) the alteration between Kulinda and Pulinda are noted. Kulinda, Pulinda—an ethnic pair, are differentiated by the initial K and P. This process is unknown to Indo-European or Dravidian but a characteristic of Austric languages.²¹⁴

c6.s1.12

²¹⁴ S. Lévi, J.A., 1923, p. 30.

c6.s1.13

Pulindas are mentioned in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa (VII, 18) as a class outside the influence of the Aryans and placed with the Āndhras, Puṇḍras, Śabras and Mūtibas. They are also found in the Rock Edict XIII of Aśoka as a people on the frontier. Pulindas occupied the middle portion of the Deccan (Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, (VII, 47), where apparently they had a city named Pulindanagara which was conquered by Bhīma (M.B., II, 26, 4). Their kingdom was situated in the massif of the Vindhya (Bṛhatkathā Ślokasaṃgraha, IV, 22). In the Buddhist literature they were considered as low people (nīcakula), barbarous (mleccha) and a frontier tribe (pratyantajanapada) (Mahāvyutpatti, 188, 15). In the *Arthāśāstra* (3rd Ed., p. 45) the Pulindas with Vāgurikas (trappers), Śabaras, Cāṇḍālas and other wild tribes were expected to keep watch over the state. Ptolemy (VII, 1, 64) describes the Poulandai by the epithet *agriphogai* "those who lived on wild fruits". Their location is well defined. They lived in the interior of Lāṭa, in Bharukaccha, in Ujjain and the source of Godawarī, *i.e.*, on the high land of Satpura, Vindhya and Aravalli.

c6.s1.14

There is as yet another alteration of Kulinda-Pulinda in Bhūlinga. Pliny (VI, 20) names the latter as Bolingae among the people living far from Indus. Ptolemy (VII, 1, 69) places the Bolingai to the east of the Vindhya on the right bank of the Son River. Pāṇini's gaṇapāṭha takes notice of Bhauliṅgī several times (II, 4, 59; IV, 1, 41; IV, 1, 173). They formed one of the components of the Śalva federation (*Candravṛtti*, II, 4, 103). Śalvas according to Pargiter (*Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa*, p. 349) lived in the neighbourhood of Kuru and Trigarta at the western foot of the Aravallis.

c6.s1.15

So far we have studied the Kuṇinda (Kulinda), Pulinda, and Bhuliṅga trimuvarate who belonged to the same ethnic stock. The Kuṇindas, however, have left us coins. On these coins only the form Kuṇinda appears. Their coins may be divided into two groups one about the first century B.C. and the second three centuries later. The first variety bears the legend *rājñaḥ* (*raṇa*) *Kuṇindasa* or (*sya*) *Amoghabhūtisa*; the second type gives the title Siva only. The Kuṇinda coins have been found in the district Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana and Jwālamukhī in the Panjab, and Saharanpur in the United Provinces. The distribution of these coins shows that the Kuṇindas occupied a narrow strip of land at the foot of the Siwālik Hills between the Jamuna and the Satlaj and the territory between the upper courses of the Beas and the Satlaj.

c6.s1.16

²¹⁵ Allan, A *catalogue of the Indian Coins in the British Museum*, p. cl, London, 1936.

c6.s1.17

Taṅgaṇa : (M.B., II, 48, 3.) The Taṅgaṇas are mentioned with the Kirātas and Kuṇindas as inhabiting the Tarai region in the kingdom of Subāhu (M.B., III, 141, 24-25) in the mid-Himālayas. They are mentioned at another place (M.B., III, 48, 21) as a western people and linked with the Jāguḍa, Ramaṭha, Strīrājya and Muṇḍa. In the *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa* (LVII, 41) they are named as Tuṅgaṇas, though the *Vāyupurāṇa* (XLV, 120) knows them as Taṅgaṇas. Like other hill tribes they fought with stones and were skilled in slinging stones (*Droṇaparva*, CXXI, 4835-47). Ptolemy (VII, 11, 13) speaks of the domain of the G (T) angnoi as lying over along the Ganges on its eastern side and further to the north and through whose domain flowed the river Sarabos. The reading has been changed to Tanganoi by St. Martin (*Etudes* . . . pp. 327-328), and this correction is probably based on the authority of the *Mahābhārata* mentioning the Taṅgaṇas in the mid-Himālayan region. They perhaps occupied the regions along the eastern bank of the Upper Ganges. Their territory probably stretched from the Ramgaṅgā River to the Upper Saryu which is the Sarabos of Ptolemy. Their situation cannot be precisely defined in this region, as none of their cities Sapalos, Heorta and Rhappha has been identified. But there cannot be any doubt that the Taṅgaṇas also occupied the Kāshgar area in Central Asia if our identification of the Śailoda River is correct. The Tungans of Central Asia came to limelight when their rebellion in Sin-Kiang Province of China was suppressed by the Chinese Government. It seems that they are the descendants of the ancient Taṅgaṇas mentioned in this area.

c6.s1.18

Parataṅgaṇa : (M.B., II, 48, 3.) It seems that ethnically the Parataṅgaṇas or Further-Taṅgaṇas were connected with the Taṅgaṇas. Some very pertinent clues about their location are found in the *Anabasis* of Arrian (IV, 22). After capturing the rock of Choriene Alexander went himself to Bactria, but despatched Krateros with 600 of the companion cavalry, and a force of infantry consisting of his own brigade and that of Polysperchon and Attalos and that of Alketas against Katanēs and Austanes the only chief left in the country of Paraitakenai, the other forms of the name Paraitakai is also noted (Arrian III, 19; Strabo, XVI, 836). In a footnote²¹⁶ McCrindle explains that the country of Paraitakenai was located in a part of the mountainous country between the upper course of the Oxus and the Jaxartes. *Parai* in Paraitakenai as a Greek effort to pronounce the Sanskrit *parvata* is not convincing. The people are clearly the Parataṅgaṇas of the Mahābhārata. It is interesting to note that a tribe of the same name occupied a part of Media (Herodotus, I, 10). The lower Helmand Valley was also known as Paraitakene before it became Sacastene.²¹⁷ Kippert's 'Asia' identifies Karategin with Paraitakenai though Yule is not sure of the identification.²¹⁸ Henry Yule proved that the great silk route to China from the Oxus to the Alai which passed through the valley of Komedai through which ascent towards Imaos is said to have led—could be no other than Karategin, the valley of Surkhab. The Kara tegin and the Surkhab Valley and its eastern continuation, the triangle of the Alai offer in fact the easiest line of communication from the Oxus to the Tarim basin.²¹⁹ Kara tegin is inhabited by the people of Turkish stock since early times, though they were being slowly ousted out by the Tajiks from Darwāz and from tracts to the west when Stein visited them.²²⁰

c6.s1.19

²¹⁶ McCrindle, *The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great*, p. 57.

c6.s1.20

²¹⁷ Tarn, *loc. cit.*, p. 95.

c6.s1.21

²¹⁸ J. Wood, *loc. cit.*, pp. LXX-LXXI.

c6.s1.22

²¹⁹ Stein, *On the Ancient Central Asian Tracks*, p. 293, Lond., 1933.

c6.s1.23

²²⁰ *Ib.*, 327.

c6.s1.24

Pipīlika gold : (M.B., II, 48, 4.) The Khaśas, Jyohas, Dīrghaveṇus, Paśupās, Kuṇindas, Taṅgaṇās and the Parataṅgaṇas (M.B., II, 48, 3) presented to Yudhiṣṭhira heaps of *pipīlika* gold measured by *droṇas* (jars)—the gold which was presented (*varadattam*) to them by the Pipīlikas. Another variant *uddhṛtam yat* may mean that the gold was dug from the earth by the Pipīlikas. The mention of *pipīlika* gold at once brings the recollection of the ant-gold of the Greeks, Romans, Turks and Arabs, etc. Herodotus (III, 102—105) says that the gold-digging ants belonged to Kaśmīr and Afghānistān. Megasthenes (*Fragment*, XXXIX) places them on the eastern border of Derdai or the Darada country. Strabo (XV, 1, 44) and Pliny (VI, 22; XI, 36), mention the Daradas despoiling gold from ants; Aelian (*de Nat. An.*, III, 4) makes the river Kampylinus the limit of the ant country. *Pipīlika* gold has been been defined as Tibetan gold. The gold district in Tibetan history was known as Sarthol, and Thok Jalung, Rudok, Thok Nianmo and Thok Sarlung, etc., the chief gold producing centres are situated in the same district.²²¹ One view holds that probably the Tibetan gold miners could be identified with the gold ants. According to Herodotus (III, 102—105) the ant-gold country was a desert; Strabo (XV, 1, 44) makes them live on mountain plateaus. This is true of the country where gold is mined in Tibet. It is only in fact in the country north-east of the branch of Indus called Singh-gi-Khamba that the gold fields mentioned above are found. And in this respect Singh-gi-Khamba reminds the way in which the river Kampylinus is mentioned by Aelian (*de Nat. An.*, III, 4).

c6.s1.25

²²¹ *Ind. Ant.*, IV, pp. 232—235.

c6.s1.26

The Tibetan mines are situated at 16,330 ft., and as the cold is intense the miner at Thok-Jalung wear fur. They not only work underground, but their small black tents made of a felt-like material manufactured from the hair of the Yak are set in a series of pits, seven or eight feet below the ground surface with steps leading down into them. Megasthenes (Strabo XV, 1) mentions that the ants excavated the earth in winter which they heaped at the mouth of the pits like moles. The same statement is repeated in Pliny (XI, 36). It is a remarkable fact observed at Thok-Jalung that in spite of the severity of cold and snowy blizzards the miners prefered to work in winter as the frozen soil then stands well.²²² The Tibetans often wear Yak-skin with the horns intact,²²³ this explains the presence of ants born in the temple of Hercules at Erythrae (Pliny XI, 36).

c6.s1.27

²²² Ind. Ant., IV, p. 230.

c6.s1.28

²²³ Ib., p. 231.

c6.s1.29

It has also been suggested that the name of ant-gold arose from a confusion of the name of a Mongolian tribe with the Mongolian word for ant-Shirai-ghol and Shirgol.²²⁴ The name 'ant-gold' came with the gold and the name is known to the Mongolian and Tibetan sagas, and that it was the Siberian gold.²²⁵ According to Tarn²²⁶ the name of the ant-gold was derived from the folk-tales in which the ant-king and his subjects to help the hero collect for him a mass of little grains of something he cannot collect himself and in support of his argument he quotes two ant stories.²²⁷ This mythical name was given by the middleman to conceal the true origin of gold. His strong opinion²²⁸ that the Indians did not know gold mining is however entirely unwarranted by facts, as the Arthaśāstra (pp. 89, ff) not only mentions the various sources of gold, but prescribes elaborate formulas for its refinement.

c6.s1.30

²²⁴ B. Laufer, Die Sage von der goldgrabenden Ameisen, T'oung Pao, XX, 1908, p. 451.

c6.s1.31

²²⁵ Ib., p. 429.

c6.s1.32

²²⁶ Tarn, loc. cit., p. 107.

c6.s1.33

²²⁷ Francke, Asia Major. I, 1924, p. 67.

c6.s1.34

²²⁸ Tarn, loc. cit., p. 108.

c6.s1.35

It is difficult to say whether the ant-gold came from Tibet or Siberia, as the argument on both sides are quite strong. The gold measured by jars (M. B., II, 48, 4) however proves that it was in the form of dust and not bars. It also proves that it was probably obtained from the river washings or from the pits dug in the soil containing gold dust. In any case the Khaśas and other tribes seem to have been the middlemen in selling the gold to India.

c6.s1.36

The other mountain tribes, besides Khaśas etc., brought black and white Yak tails (M.B., II, 48, 5).²²⁹ Mirza Muhammad Haidar in his *Tārikh-i-Rashīdī* (16th century) while describing Tibet says that the Tibetan traders along with other merchandise consisting of Chinese goods, musk, borax, porcelain, gold and shawls, also brought Yak-tails²³⁰ (*qūṭās*).

c6.s1.37

²²⁹ Ind. Ant. XXXI, pp. 443-444.

c6.s1.38

²³⁰ Raverty, *Tibbat three hundred years ago*, JASB, 1985, p. 9.

c6.s1.39

Those mountaineers (*pārvateyāḥ*) (M.B., II, 48, 7) also brought honey (*kṣaudra*) obtained from the Himalayan flowers which was very tasteful (*bahu svādu*) (M.B., II, 48, 5) and the garland made of Ambu flowers (a kind of Andropogon) from the Uttara Kuru country (*Ib.*, 48, 6) and the powerful herbs from the north of Kailāsa.

c6.s1.40

The Uttara Kurus who play a somewhat mythical part in the Mahābhārata and later literature, are still a historical people in the Vedic period. In the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* (VIII, 141) they are located beyond the Himālayas (*pareṇa Himavantam*). Zimmer places the Uttara Kurus in the Northern Kashmir the view with which Keith and Macdonell agree.²³¹ In the *Bhīṣmaparva* (VII, 1-14) the Uttara Kuru country is said to be inhabited by the Siddhas. The trees bear sweet fruits and are always laden with fragrant flowers. They also yield milk, food, clothes and ornaments. The ground is covered with precious stones and golden sand. All the seasons are charming. The tanks are always brimming with the crystal-clear water. The men and women are of pure birth and exceedingly handsome. They are free from diseases and live for eleven thousand years. The Uttara Kurus are also mentioned by the Greek historians (Meg. Frag. XXIX; Strabo, XV, 1, 57). Ptolemy (VI, 16 2 and 5) seems to have believed in its actual existence. The description of the Uttra Kuru country, ‘the Paradise on Earth’ perhaps created the Hyperboreans of the Greeks. It is difficult, however, to point out the location of the Uttara Kurus, even if they were historical, as their idealistic situation created by mythology has wiped out their histrocity.

c6.s1.41

²³¹ *Vedic Index*, Vol. I, p. 84. The Caurī made from the Yak tail was one of the five emblems of the royalty (*rāja kakudāni*) the other being sword, umbrella crown and shoes.

c6.s1.42

Kirātas: (M.B., II, 48, 8). The word Kirāta is connected with the name Kirāti, Kirati and Kirānti which imply a native of Kirantdes on the mountainous country lying between Dudkosi and Karkī rivers in Nepal. The term includes the Khambu, Limbu, and Yakhā tribes, and the Danuār, Hayu and Thami also claim to be Kiranti.²³² It is perhaps this section of the Kirātas, whom Bhīma conquered, basing his operations from the Videha country or the modern Tirhut division, of Bihār (M.B., II, 26, 13). A very interesting description of the Kirātas and their territories is given in the Upāyanparva (M. B., II, 48, 8). They are mentioned as living on the northern slopes of the Himālayas (ye parārdhe himavatah) from where the sun rises (sūryodaya airan): they lived by the side of Vāriṣa bordering on the sea coast (vāriṣena samudrānte) and who were also supposed to be the Lauhityas (Lauhityamabhitaśca ye). From the above description it is clear that the members of the kirāta tribe lived on the slopes of the Himalayas in the north, this abode of theirs being also mentioned in the Āranyaparva (III, 141, 25). In the second instance they are represented as living in a mountainous region in Eastern India; they are the Kirātas of Nepal. In the third instance they are shown living in the Vāriṣa region bordering on sea. Vāriṣa could probably be identified with the modern Bārisāl, a sub-division of Backergunje District in Eastern Bengal. It is situated on the south-east corner of Bengal with an area of 1,110 miles and is a tract intersected by numerous rivers and water-channels. It is not far from the sea board.²³³ In the fourth instance they are represented living on the Lohita *i.e.*, that the modern Brahmaputra in Bengal and Assam. A better description of the distribution of Tibeto-Burman race it would be difficult to find in the works of a modern ethnologist.

c6.s1.43

²³² Risley, *Castes and Tribes of Bengal*, Vol. I, p. 490.

c6.s1.44

²³³ *Imp. Gaz.*, VII, p. 19.

c6.s1.45

The Kirātas are represented as wearing skins (*carmavāsasaḥ*) (M. B., II, 48, 8), they lived on the tubers and fruits (*phalamūlāśanā*); the *Rāmāyaṇa* represents them (*Kiṣkindhākāṇḍa*, XI, 30) as wearing thick topknots.

c6.s1.46

The Kirāta's presents to Yudhiṣṭhira fully represented the products of their country. They brought skins, precious stones and gold (*carmaratna-suvarṇānām*) (M.B., II, 48, 9)—the gold which was picked from the mountains (*nicitam parvatebhyaśca*) (Ib., II, 48, 11)—the sandalwood, aloewood, loads of zeodary (*candanāguru kāṣṭhānām bhārān kālīyakasya ca* (Ib., II, 48, 9), and heaps of aromatics (*gandhānāmaiva rāśayaḥ*). Assam was the home of aromatic woods as pointed out by the *Arthaśāstra*, and this fact is fully supported by the *Mahābhārata*.²³⁴ The gold and the precious stones must have come from Lower Burma, the Khryse Khora or 'Golden land' of Ptolemy identified with the hinterland of the Lower Burma.²³⁵

c6.s1.47

²³⁴ Moti Chandra, *Cosmetics and Coiffeur in Ancient India*, Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, 1940, pp. 83-88.

c6.s1.48

²³⁵ Gerini, *Researches on Ptolemy's Geography of Eastern Asia*, pp. 64-65.

c6.s1.49

The Kirātas brought the slave girls of their own race (*Kairātikānām dāsīnām*) (M.B., II, 48, 10) and the birds and animals from the far-off lands (*dūrājā mṛgapakṣiṇaḥ*) to serve as pets—an Indian form of amusement mentioned in the *Jātakas*²³⁶ as well.

c6.s1.50

²³⁶ *Jātaka*, I, pp. 140; 175; II, p. 132; III, p. 97, 429 etc.

c6.s1.51

Kāyavya : M.B., II, 48, 12. The variant Kāvakhya is also noted. The Kāyavyas or more correctly the Kāvakhyas were probably the race who gave Khāwak Pass its name. Probably the race inhabited the Panjshir and Ghorband valleys which pass edging the foot of the Hindukush and take us right to the Khāwak pass towards the east.

c6.s1.52

Darada : M.B., II, 48, 12. They are the people of modern Dardistān a term which was coined first by Leitner.²³⁷ In Dardistan he includes all the country lying between Hindukush and Kaghan. Leitner not only included in the term the Daradas, the race inhabiting the mountainous country of Shinaki, but also Chilasis, Astorias, Hunza and Nagar people, Chitralis and the Kaffirs. In ancient Sanskrit literature, however, the term seems to have been restricted, as the names of the countries of the Chitralis, Kaffirs, Hunza are mentioned seperately. The term was restricted probably to the Darad speaking people—the Shīna speaking people of Gilgit, Gurez, Chilas and the Indus and Swāt Kohistan.²³⁸ According to Biddulph²³⁹ the word Darad has originated from Persian *dūd* ‘a beast of prey or from *darīndah* fierce’. The name may have come to be used as an ethnological term in the same way as *dahu* ‘a robber’ gave its name to Dahistān and Dahae tribe and as Kaffir, Cossack and Kirghiz are now applied to different Asiatic tribes. The term Darad is not known in Chitral.

c6.s1.53

²³⁷ *The languages and races of Dardistan*. Part II, pp. 45-48 Lahore, 1877.

c6.s1.54

²³⁸ *Linguistic Survey of India*, Vol. VIII, Pārt II, p. 3.

c6.s1.55

²³⁹ Biddulph. *Loc. cit.*, p. 157.

c6.s1.56

In the *Mahābhārata* (*Dronaparva*, CXXI, 4835—37 and 4846-7) the Darads are mentioned as a hill people the neighbours of the Kāśmīras (*Ib.*, LXX, 2435) and of the Kāmbojas (M.B., II, 24, 22); they fought with stones and were skilled in slinging stones (*Dronaparva*, CXXI, 4835—47). According to Manu (X. 43-44) they had lost their Kṣatriya caste due to the extinction of sacred rites. Like Pāradas and others, they were condemned as Mlecchas (Harivamśa CXV, 6440—42). The proximity of the Daradas and Kāmbojas as mentioned above may also be seen in certain common customs, even to-day. A curious custom in this respect is recorded by Biddulph.²⁴⁰ This ceremony is called *Kobah* and takes place on the arrival of a visitor in the person of some chief. He is conducted to the *Shawaran* or guest-house after which a bull is produced before the guest, who draws the sword and tries his best to cut its head off at a single blow or deputes one of his followers to do so; afterwards the carcass is given away to his retinue. The custom exists in Shighnān, Badakshān, Wakhān, Chitral, Yāsin, Gilgit, Hunza and Nagar.

c6.s1.57

²⁴⁰ Biddulph, *loc. cit.*, p. 75.

c6.s1.58

Dārva: (M.B., II, 48, 12). The Dārva country has been identified²⁴¹ with the district of Jammu and Ballāvar (Ballāpur) between the Chenab and Rāvi.

c6.s1.59

²⁴¹ Jayacandra, *Bharatbhumi aur uske nivāsī*, p. 146.

c6.s1.60

Śūra: (M.B., II, 48, 12). They may be identified with the famous Sūr tribe, whose worthy member Sher Shāh played such an important part in the mediaeval history of India. Perhaps in early days the Sūrs lived in the Ghor country. After being dispossessed of their land, they became the wandering tribe in the land of Aimāks.

c6.s1.61

Vaiyāmaka: (M.B., II, 48, 12). They could be easily identified with the Aimāks of central Afghānistān. The Aimāks are the descendants of the ancient conquerors of Paropamisus and speak Persian. The Hazāras, one of their constituents speak Turkish and are probably the descendants of the Mongols settled in Afghānistān by Chinghiz Khān. They are semi-nomads, good soldiers and distinguished specially as cavalrymen. They use camel-wool tents and Ferrier was surprised to see the great number of camels which they reared and which were kept specially for wool. The mineral riches of the district are gold, silver, iron, lead, sulphur, rubies and emeralds.²¹²

c6.s1.62

²¹² J. P. Ferrier, *Caravan journeys and wandering in Persia, Afghānistān etc.*, pp. 51-53. Edin., 1856.

c6.s1.63

The four tribes which make up the Chāhār Aimāk are Jamshedis, Hazarās, Firozkohīs, and Taimanis. The land where they live, around Herat, is made up of a huge tableland, or uplift which is deeply eroded by centuries of river action.²¹³

c6.s1.64

²¹³ Holdisch, *loc. cit.*, pp. 214-215.

c6.s1.65

Audumbara : (M.B., II, 48, 12). The coins of the Audumbaras have been found and may be divided in three classes; a series of square copper coins bearing the name of the republic, a few rare silver pieces and a group of round copper billon pieces. The square copper coins are the earliest and very well known from the Irippal hoard, found at Irippal in Kāngra District.²¹⁴ The type was already known from Cunningham's excavation at Pathānkot.²¹⁵ The name of four kings namely Śivadāsa, Rudradāsa, Mahādeva, and Dharaghoṣa are availabe. One of the coins of Dharaghoṣa bears the effigy of Viśpamitra (Viśvāmitra). Viśvāmitra's connection with the Audumbaras is otherwise unknown.²¹⁶

c6.s1.66

²¹⁴ *J.A.S.B.*, XXIII, p. 247 ff.

c6.s1.67

²¹⁵ Allan, *loc. cit.*, p. lxxxiii.

c6.s1.68

²¹⁶ *Ib.*, p. lxxxiv.

c6.s1.69

On the bases of the finds of Audumbaras coins at Jwalāmukhī, Pathānkot, Irippal and Hoshiarpur the Audumbaras should be located in the area formed by the eastern part of the modern Kāngrā district, that is to say the valley of Beas, or perhaps the wider region between the upper Satlaj and Rāvi.²¹⁷

c6.s1.70

²¹⁷ *Ib.*, p. lxxxvii.

c6.s1.71

It is impossible to be precise in what period the Audumbaras entered in the realm of history though they are mentioned in the Gaṇapāṭha of Pāṇini (IV, 2, 53) near the Jālandharāyaṇas. In the Vinaya of the Mūlasarvāstivādins Jīvaka is represented as taking a journey from Taxila to Bhadramkara, Udumbara, Rohitaka and Mathurā.²¹⁸ The Udumbaras were established on the ancient highway which passing through Śākala, Agrodaka, and Rohitaka carried the trade of the Gangetic valley to Taxila.²¹⁹

c6.s1.72

²¹⁸ Przyluski, J. A. 1921, p. 3.

c6.s1.73

²¹⁹ *Ib.*, pp. 17-18.

c6.s1.74

The material prosperity of the Audumbaras which is proved by the abundant find of their coins may be attributed to their advantageous position on the highway from Magadha to Kashmir. Besides they were conveniently situated at the point where several Himālayan valleys opened out. On account of their geographical position therefore the Audumbaras became the intermediaries between the people of the mountains and the plains. Even to this day Pathānkoṭ being the railway terminus joins the commercial routes from Chambā, Nurpur and Kāṅgrā.

c6.s1.75

The local industries also helped towards the prosperity of the Audumbara country. The cloth manufactured therein was sold in the markets of Śākala when Menender was reigning (*Kasika-Koṭumbarakādi nānāvidha-vaṭihāpaṇa-sampannam*, *Milindapanha*, ed. by Treckner, p. 2). It is also mentioned in the *Jātakas*.²⁵⁰ The commentator glosses the last passage *Koṭumbarānīti Koṭumbara-raṭṭhe Uṭṭhitaṭṭhāni*. In the *Saddharmapuṇḍarīka* (pp. 82, verse 87), Kern gives the reading of a word expressive of certain variety of cloth *Koccairabaka-hamsalakṣaṇaiḥ* translated as ‘choice carpets showing the images of cranes and swans’. On consulting the variant readings Przyluski²⁵¹ has proposed to restore the reading *Koṭambakair hamsalakṣaṇair* ‘the Koṭambaka cloth ornamented with the figures of geese.’

c6.s1.76

²⁵⁰ Fausböll, *Jātakas*, VI. no 547, verse 117; VI p. 47, verse 166.

c6.s1.77

²⁵¹ *J.A.*, 1926, p. 23.

c6.s1.78

M. Przyluski after producing various evidences philological, phonetical and ethnographical has reached the conclusion that Koṭumbara and Odumbara are the same—the alterations of the initials being due to the words belonging to Austric family of languages.²⁵² His conclusions are amply supported by the variants given in the Sabhāparva published by the Bhandarkar Research Institute (II. 48, 12). Here the variants of Audumbarāḥ are Auḍumbarā, Auḍumbarā and Kuṭumbarā. This is a further proof that the initials in Odumbara and Koṭumbara alternated on the well known principal of Munda-Khmer languages.

c6.s1.79

²⁵² Ib., pp. 28-48.

c6.s1.80

The adjective durvibhāgāḥ (M.B., II, 48, 12) qualifying Audumbarāḥ needs some explanation. Durvibhāga taken in the sense of disunited may point to the Audumbara connections with the Sālva federation of which the Udumbaras, with the Tilakhalas, Madrakāras, Yugandharas, Bhūlingas and Śaradaṇḍas were a member (Candravṛtti, II, 4, 103). Or may it indicate their being a component of the Odeonbares (Nat. His. V, 17) who lived in Kach? Only more information about the history of the Audumbaras could solve this problem.

c6.s1.81

Vāhlīka : (M.B., II, 48, 12). They are mentioned as one of the Northern peoples. Śalya (M.B., I, 61, 6) is mentioned as Vāhlīka-puṅgava; there is another eponymous Vāhlīka king (Ib., 61, 25) mentioned. The Vāhlīkas are connected with the Daradas (Bhīṣmaparva, CXVIII, 5484) and other ultra-Panjāb tribes (Droṇaparvan, CXXI, 4818). According to Pargiter there were two Vāhlīka tribes one situated in the plains of Panjab along side Madradeśa or possibly south of it, i.e., between the Chenab and Satlaj, and another among the lower slopes of the Himālayas between the Chenab and Beas. The name Vāhlīka seems to have been altered in later times to Bāhika seemingly by a punning resemblance to Vahis "outside" because they were shut out by the Sarasvatī, Kurukṣetra and other natural features from the Madhyadeśa which remained true to Brāhmaṇas, and they and all the tribes beyond were stigmatised as impure by the Brāhmaṇas (Karṇaparva, XLIV, 2026; A.S.R., Vol. II, pp. 6, 14, 17, 195, etc.). Properly speaking however the Vāhlīka country, the modern Balkh in northern Afghānistān represents the ancient Vāhlīka for a long time governed by the Greeks. Starting from the regions north of Hindū-kush the Graeco-Bactrian empire extended first towards the east over central Asia and the Kābul region, then over the North-Western Provinces of India and the Panjāb, later it became dispossessed of its northern parts, became confined to its Indian dominions and finally disappeared in the 1st century B.C.

c6.s1.82

Balkh was the traditional home of Zorastrianism and its other name was Zariaspa (Eratosthenes, Strabo XI, 514) which may represent its great fire temple Azar-i-asp.²⁵³ Strabo (I, 516) says that it stood on both sides of the river Bactrus, the united streams of the Band-i-Amīr and Darrah which then reached Oxus; it is possible that the second name Zariasp was the name of one definite part of Bactria. Ptolemy (VI, II, 1—9) calls it Bactrianē. According to Strabo (VII, 50) it was the principal part of Ariana and separated from Sogdiana on the east and north-east by Oxus, from Aria on the south by the chain of Paropanisus, and on the west from Margiana by a desert region.

c6.s1.83

²⁵³ Cunningham, Numismatic Chronicle, 1868, p. 107.

c6.s1.84

Kāśmīra : (M.B., II, 48, 13). The modern Kashmir State.

c6.s1.85

Kundamāna : (M.B., II, 48, 13). This country seems to be the same as Kuṭṭāparānta or Kundāparānta.²⁵⁴ The Kundamāna country may be identified with Kuṭhār a pargana of Kashmīr. The valley of the Arapatha or Harṣa which opens to the east of Islāmābād forms the pargana of Kuṭhār. Stein thought that the name could be probably derived from the ancient *tīrtha* of Kapāṭeśvara situated on the southern side of the valley close to the village of Kōṭhēr whose name has been derived from Kapoteśvara.²⁵⁵ It is possible that the name Kuṭ (hār) has been derived from Kunda (māna), as Kundamāna has been linked with the Kāśmiras (M.B., II, 48, 13).

c6.s1.86

²⁵⁴ M. Williams, Sans. Eng. Dict., p. 288 and M.B., VI, 356, Cal. ed. 1836.

c6.s1.87

²⁵⁵ Stein, *Rājatarangiṇī*, Vol. II, p. 467.

c6.s1.88

Pauraka : (M.B., II, 48, 13). The Paurakās are linked with Haṃsakāyanas. Their country may be identified with the Yāsin country in the Chitrāl Agency as the people of both Yāsin and Chitrāl are sometimes called by their eastern neighbours as Poré and their country Poriaki, from *pār* ‘the west’.²⁵⁶

c6.s1.89

²⁵⁶ Biddulph, *loc. cit.*, p. 56.

c6.s1.90

The variant Ghorakāḥ is also given; this reading may also be correct. The Ghorakās may be identified with the Goruaia of Ptolemy (VII, 1, 42) which must have been the province between the Gouraios (lower Swāt river) and the Kunar, the modern Bajaur.²⁵⁷ Berthelot would derive the name from Ptolemy’s town Gorya, the Gorys of Strabo (XV, 697) which he places on the Kunar. Tarn however does not agree with this view as Strabo’s description here is obscure and it is impossible to be sure of the Choaspes’ identification with Kunar.²⁵⁸ Goruaia was a Greek Province in the 2nd century B.C. in Menender’s (165 B.C.—died between 150—145 B.C.) occupation.²⁵⁹

c6.s1.91

²⁵⁷ Tarn, *loc. cit.*, p. 237.

c6.s1.92

²⁵⁸ Ib., *loc. cit.*, p. 237, fn. 2.

c6.s1.93

²⁵⁹ *Ib.*, p. 226.

c6.s1.94

Haṃsakāyana : M.B., II, 48, 13. The Haṃsakāyana people are linked with the Paurakās, the people of Yāsin and there should be no difficulty in identifying the country of the Haṃsakāyanas with Hunza and Nagar. They are mentioned in the *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa* (LVII, 41) as Haṃsamārgas ‘the Duck-fowlers’. They are mentioned in the Bhīṣma-parva list (IX, 377) and seem to be the same as Haṃsapādas (Droṇaparra, XX, 798).

c6.s1.95

The two small Chiefships of Hunza and Nagar lie in the extreme north-west of Kashmir, on the banks of the Hunza river. Towards the north they extend into mountain range which adjoins the junction of the Hindū-kush and Muztāgh ranges; in the south they border on Gilgit; on the west Hunza is separated from Ashkuman and Yāsin by a range of mountains; while the Muztāgh range divides Nagar from Bāltistān on the east 260

c6.s1.96

Śibi: (M.B., II, 48, 13.) An Asura king named Druma who is called a descendant of Diti ruled over the Śibis (M.B., I, 61, 8). Vārāhamihira (Br. Saṃ., XVI, 26) places the Śibis in the north with the Mālavas and the peole of Takṣaśilā, and the Ārjunāyanas and Yaudheyas (Ib. XVII, 19). Sibipur is mentioned in the Sherkoṭ Inscription of the year 83 (403 A.D.). The mound of Sherkot marks the site of the capital of the Śibis. According to Curtius (IX, 41) they were not far from the confluences of Jehlum and Chenab, a fact also supported by Diodorus (XVII, 96). This agrees very well with the position of Sherkot. They are mentioned by the Greek historians as clad in skins and armed with clubs. This fact gave rise to the origin of the legends that the Śibis were descended from Herakles. The extent of their country in ancient times might have been equivalent to the district of Jhang in Southern Panjāb.

c6.s1.97

The coins of the Śibis bear the legend Majhimikāya Śibi-janapadasa, ‘of the tribe of the Śibis of Madhyamikā.’ The coins were exclusively obtained from Nagari, Chittor. Dr. Bhandarkar excavated them from the Hāthībāḍā site at Nagari.²⁶²

c6.s1.98

²⁶² A.S.R., 1915-16, Part I, p. 15.

c6.s1.99

The country of the Śibis was famous for its shawls and the Sireyyaka dussa is praised in the Mahāvagga (VIII, 1, 29). It is also mentioned in the Sivi Jātaka²⁶³ where the king of Kosala is said to have presented one Dasabala with a cloth-piece from Sivi costing hundred thousand pieces of money.

c6.s1.100

²⁶⁰ Imp. Gaz., Vol. XIII, p. 225.

c6.s1.101

²⁶¹ Ep. Ind., XVI, pp. 15-17.

c6.s1.102

²⁶³ Jātaka, Vol. IV, p. 401.

c6.s1.103

Trigartta : (M.B., II, 48, 13.) The ancient Trigartta country was located between Rāvi and Satlaj with its centre round Jalandhar. It represented modern Kāṅgṛā in ancient days. In the 7th century its dimensions, 167 miles from east to west and 133 miles from north to south, show that at that time it must have included Chambā on the north, with Mandī and Suket on the east and Śatadru on the south-east.²⁶⁴

c6.s1.104

²⁶⁴ Cunningham, Ancient Georaphy, p. 157.

c6.s1.105

Yaudheya : (M.B., 48, 12.) The limit of the Yaudheya country may be determined by the findspots of their coins. The coins have been found plentifully in the country to the west of Jamuna, also to the west of Satlaj in Depalpur, Satgarha, Ajudhan, Kahror, and Multān and to the eastward in Bhatner, Abhor, Sirsa, Hānsī, Pānīpat and Sonpat. The evidences of findspots show that the Yaudheyas occupied an area which may be roughly described as the Eastern Panjāb.²⁶⁵

c6.s1.106

²⁶⁵ Allan, loc. cit., p. cli.

c6.s1.107

In Junagadh inscription of Rudradāman (150 A.D.) the Yaudheyas are described as ‘who would not submit because they were proud of their title of heroes among Kṣatriyas’.²⁶⁶ They are identified with the modern Johiyas who occupy the banks of Satlaj along Bahāwalpur State.²⁶⁷

c6.s1.108

²⁶⁶ Ep. Ind., VIII, pp. 47.

c6.s1.109

²⁶⁷ A.S.R., XIV, p. 140.

c6.s1.110

Rājanya : (M.B., II, 48, 13.) The existence of the tribal republic of the Rājanyas is proved by their coins. There are two varieties of coins, one with Brāhmi and the other with Kharoṣṭhī legends, those with Kharoṣṭhī legends belong to 2nd century B.C., and those with Brāhmī to first century B.C.²⁶⁸ Most of the coins came from Hoshiārpur and the Rājanya country may be located there.

c6.s1.111

²⁶⁸ Allan, *loc. cit.*, p. exxiii.

c6.s1.112

Madra : (M.B., II, 48, 13.) The Madras held a high position among the Vedic people.²⁶⁹ We find that the sages of Northern India repaired to Madra country to receive instruction in Vedic learning. In the *Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad* (III, 7, 1) Uddālaka Āruṇi told Yājñyāvalkya, “We dwelt among Madras in the house of Patañcala Kāpya, studying the sacrifice.” In the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* (VIII, 14, 3) a section of the Madra people, Uttara Madra, are mentioned. They lived beyond the Himālayas close to the Uttarakuras. Uttara Madra is located²⁷⁰ in Kashmir.

c6.s1.113

²⁶⁹ *Vedic Index*, II, p. 123.

c6.s1.114

²⁷⁰ Zimmer, *Altindische leben*, p. 102.

c6.s1.115

The capital of the Madras was at Śākala²⁷¹ which has been identified with modern Sialkot. The Madras play an important role in the *Mahābhārata*, and their chief Śalya, though fighting on the side of the Kurus, had his sympathies towards the Pāṇḍavas. He had promised Yudhiṣṭhira to belittle and discourage Karṇa in the thick of the fight (M. B., V, 8, 28). He kept to his promise which extorted from Karṇa the wholesale condemnation of the Madra people already mentioned. Incidentally the morals of the Madras seem to have fallen off considerably since the Vedic days.

c6.s1.116

²⁷¹ *Jātaka*, ed. Fausböll, IV, p. 230, I, 20; V, p. 283, I, 26; *Dhammapada Aṭṭhakathā*, II, p. 116.

c6.s1.117

As mentioned in the *Candravṛtti* (11, 4, 103) Madras or Madrakāras were one of the components of the great Śālva federation. Incidentally the word Madrakāra probably indicates the Iranian element in Śālva confederacy as Madrakāra in ancient Iranian denotes a warrior.²⁷² The head of the Madras Śalya (M.B., I, 61, 6) is spoken off as a Vāhlīka with probable connection with the Bactrians of northern Afghānistān, who were of Iranian origin. It is mentioned in the *Mahābhārata* (I, 27; V 4695 etc., quoted by M. Przyluski) that Vyuṣitāśva from his spouse Bhadrā Kāksīvatī had seven children, three Sālva and four Madra. The word Vyuṣitāśva also seems to be of Iranian origin and may be the Sanskritised form of Viśtāspa, the father of Darius.²⁷³ The Iranian origin of the Bhadra, Madra, and Malla may also be explained from the many names of the capital of the Madras. The well-known is Śakala or derived from Śaka. The name was current during Alexander's times and hence the first Saka invasion perhaps predated the Macedonian conquest.²⁷⁴

c6.s1.118

²⁷² Pryzluski, J.A., April-June, 1929, p. 313.

c6.s1.119

²⁷³ *Ib.*, p. 315.

c6.s1.120

²⁷⁴ *Ib.*, p. 316.

c6.s1.121

The same city is called Bhadrapur and Bhadramkara or the capital city of the Bhadrakāras. Bhadraśaila mentioned in the *Mahāmāyūrī*²⁷⁵ is placed by M. Sylvain Lévi in Taxila but Przyluski rejects this location and places it in Bhadrapura and Śakala.²⁷⁶

c6.s1.122

²⁷⁵ *J.A.*, Jan.-Feb. 1915, p. 74.

c6.s1.123

²⁷⁶ *J.A.*, April-June 1926, p. 316.

c6.s1.124

Even the costumes and personal equipments of the Madras were quite out of the ordinary which a contemporary Indian was accustomed to see. In the *Udyogaparva* (8, 3-4) the Madra warriors are represented using strange outlandish armours (*vicitra kavacāḥ*), strange banners and bows (*vicitradhvaja-kārmukāḥ*); their ornaments were strange (*vicitrā bharaṇāḥ*) and so were their chariots and other conveyances (*vicitra rathavāhanāḥ*). Their costumes and ornaments are described as befitting to the country from where they came (*svadeśaveśābharaṇāḥ*). Perhaps their equipment was akin to those of the Iranians or Bactrians.

c6.s1.125

So far we have met three components of the Sālva confederacy-Audumbaras, Madrakāras and Bhuliṅgas. In this connection one is tempted to determine the location of Sālva country itself. In the *Gopatha Brāhmaṇa* (I, 2, 9) the Sālvas are coupled with the Matsyas. Sālva is the name of a people mentioned in a passage in the *Śatapatha* Brāhmaṇa (X, 4, 1, 10) which records a boast by Śyāparṇa Śāyakāyana that if a certain rite of his were completed his race would have been the nobles, the Brāhmins and peasants of the Sālvas, and even as it were his race would surpass Sālvas. This people are mentioned in the *Mantrapāṭha* (II, 11, 12) as Sālviḥ, where they are said to have declared that their king was Yaugandhari when they stayed their chariots on the banks of Yamunā. There is later evidence to indicate that the Sālvas were closely connected with the Kuru Pañcālas, that apparently some of them, at least, were victorious near the banks of Yamunā.²⁷⁷ It is interesting to note the early connection of the Sālvas and the Yaugandharas as later on the Yaugandharas formed a component of the Sālva confederacy. The Sālvas are mentioned thrice in Pāṇini : Sālva (IV, 2, 135), Salvāvayava (IV, 1, 173) and Sālveya (IV, 1, 169). Sālva (Pāṇini, IV, 3, 166; Vārttika 2; Patañjali, V, 50) means the fruit of Sālva plant; this perhaps shows the totemic origin of the Sālvas. In the *Mahābhārata* (III, 13, 29) the Sālva King is called Saubhapatiḥ and *Saubhaṇāḍ* (Ib., 17, 32); the capital of king Sālva is called Saubha (*Sālvasya-nagaram Saubham*, M. B., III, 15, 2) and the people as Saubha (M.B. III, 13, 29). It may be that Sopiethes of the Greek historians whose original form Sobhūta, or Saubha has been restored by M. Lévi,²⁷⁸ was probably a Sālva King. Among the names mentioned in the *gaṇapāṭha* on Saṃkala (Pāṇini, IV, 11, 75) Subhūta (No. II) is given which by the virtue of the rule gives Saubhūta the name of a people. The prince of the country was named after the name of his kingdom and therefore Sophytes or Sopiethes King of the country of Saubhūta. The *Mahābhārata* makes it clear that besides Subhūta, there was another form Subha, and that Saubha an epithet of King Sālva was derived from the latter. Another point which also becomes clear is that Saubha or Sopiethes of the Greek historians was a Sālva and that the Audumbars, Tilakhilas, Śaradaṇḍas, Yaugandharas and Bhuliṅgas the components of the Sālva confederacy, were probably under the influence of Sopiethes or Saubha country. The theory of M. Pryzluski that as the Sālva confederation had Madras, and Audumbaras, an aboriginal tribe, Sālva is another name for Kṣudraka-Mālava confederacy on the basis of the equivalence of Madra with Mālava and Kṣudraka or small which according to him indicated the lesser status of an aboriginal partner, does not appear to be correct.²⁷⁹

c6.s1.126

²⁷⁷ *Vedic Index*, Vol. II, p. 440.

c6.s1.127

²⁷⁸ J.A., Series VIII, Vol. XV, pp. 237-39.

c6.s1.128

²⁷⁹ *J.A.*, April-June 1929, p. 314; see also *J.A.* 1926, pp. 9-1.

c6.s1.129

Now let us examine at some length the information about Sopiethes gained from the Greek sources. (Arrian, *Anab*, VI, 11; Didorus XVII, 91-92; Curtius, IX, 1; McCrindle, *The invasion* . . . pp. 219-221). They place the dominion of Sopiethes between the upper Rāvi and the Hyphasis (Beas), but in the account of Arrian²⁸⁰ it is transferred to a more western position. Strabo was unable to decide where that kingdom lay. "Some writers place Kathaia and the country of Sopiethes one of the monarchs between the rivers Hydaspes and Akesines, some on the other side of Akesines and Hyarotis on the confines of the territory of the other Poros, the nephew of Poros who was taken prisoner by Alexander and call the country subjeit to him Gandaris. It is said that in the tertory of Sopiethes there is a mountan composed of fossil salt sufficient to whole of India. Valuable mines, also, both of gold and silver are situated it is said, not far off among other mountains, according to the testimony of Gorgos the miner.²⁸¹ Curtius that the government of the dominions of Sopiethes was good. He mentions a curious custom by which deformed children were put to death.²⁸² He also describes the tall and handsome personality of the king and mentions the noble breed of dogs which the country possessed and how they could kill even lions.²⁸³ Diodorus mentions the cities that were subject to the sway of Sopiethes, and the salutary laws and the praiseworthy political system of the country. Beauty was held among them in high estimation. They selected their brides for their looks. He also mentions the breed of dogs.²⁸⁴

c6.s1.130

²⁸⁰ McCrindle, *loc. cit.*, p. 133.

c6.s1.131

²⁸¹ McCrindle, *loc. cit.*, p. 133, *fn.* 2.

c6.s1.132

²⁸² *Ib.*, *loc. cit.*, p. 219.

c6.s1.133

²⁸³ *Ib.*, p. 220.

c6.s1.134

²⁸⁴ *Ib.*, pp. 277-81.

c6.s1.135

Now let us examine the positions of the components of Sālva confederacy and show what light they throw on the location of the Saubha or the Sālva country. The Audumbaras may be located in Pathānkot region. Yaugandhara which is also called a gateway to Kuruksetra (*dvāra-metaddhi Kaunteya Kuruṣetrasya Bhārata*, M.B., III, 129, 9) may be identified either with the Jhind State, or the southern Panjab States lying to the north-west of Delhi. The position of Tilakhala is un-determined. Bhulinga (*Rāmāyaṇa* Bengali ed. II, 70, 15) fell in the way of the messengers sent by Vasiṣṭha to bring back Bharata from the Kekaya country, after they had crossed the river Sarasvatī and the river Śaradaṇḍā, and although the city cannot be identified their country perhaps lay on the upper courses of the Beas and Satlaj. Madrakāras of course lived in the district of Sialkot. The country of Śaradaṇḍas may be identified with the district of Sirhind, and included a considerable portion of hill states to the west and south of Simla, together with Sirhind proper and Ludhiana in the plains.²⁸⁵

c6.s1.136

²⁸⁵ Cunningham, *Anc. Geo.*, p. 169.

c6.s1.137

Now where were the Sālvas located? Cunningham places their capital at Bhīrā to the west of Jhelum.²⁸⁶ This seems to be improbable as all the Greek historians seem to place it to the east of Jhelum. The Sālvas according to Pargiter (*Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa*, p. 349) lived in the neighbourhood of the Kurus and Trigartas on the western foot of the Aravalli hills. This could be true in the Vedic period as already mentioned when the Sālvas are coupled with the Matsyas, but in comparatively latter historical times they seem to have moved further north if the Mahābhārata and other Greek sources are to be believed. The latest view places Sangala, the capital of Kaṭhas, the neighbour of Saubhūtas²⁸⁷ in Gurudaspur district (Lahore Division), and if this conjecture be correct that the Saubha country may be placed near Amritsar. If beauty be the distinguishing feature of the Saubhas as mentioned by the Greek writers then inhabitants of Amritsar division could easily claim to be the descendants of the ancient Saubhas.

c6.s1.138

²⁸⁶ *Ib.*, p. 178.

c6.s1.139

²⁸⁷ Imp. Gaz., XII, p. 395.

c6.s1.140

Kekaya : (M.B., II, 48, 13.) The Kekeyans are linked with the Madras. Their country has been identified with the present district of Shāhpur and Jhelum in Panjab. Cunningham (A.S.R., II, p. 14) identifies Girzak on the Jhelum with Girivraja (the ancient name of Jalālpur) the ancient capital of the Kekayans. This agrees with the reference to Girivraja in the Rāmāyaṇa (Ayodhyākāṇḍa, IXX, 16, 19. Bengal ed.). It is interesting to note that among the gifts which Bharata received from his maternal uncle at the time of his departure to Ayodhyā there were dogs bred in the palace (antaḥpuretisamṛddhān) comparable to lions in strength (vyāghravīryabalopamān) and possessed of strong teeth and big bodies (damṣṭrāyuktān mahākāyān, Rāmāyaṇa, II, 70, 20. Bombay ed.). This reminds us of the gifts of dogs to Alexander by Sopiethes who is also called the king of the Salt Range.²⁸⁸ The possibility is that the Kekayan country conterminous with that of the Madras was also within the political influence of the ancient Sālvas.

First 140 of 257 passages. Read on

Linked texts (41)