Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahabharata: Upayana Parva c6.s1.13

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.