Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c16.22

c16.22

If the Vāhīkas were originally a people living on the Beas, we have to explain how the sense of the word Vāhīka expanded so as to indicate all the tribes living in Pañcanada, i.e. the Punjab. It is interesting in this connection to note that the *Mahābhārata* sometimes uses the terms Vāhīka, Madra, Jārtika, Āraṭṭa and Pañcanada synonymously. It therefore appears that the lands of the tribes which lived close to one another in the Punjab became in course of time moulded into a big kingdom under the powerful kings of Śākala (Sialkot). As Vāhika was beyond Kuru-kṣetra and therefore say outside the boundary of Brahmāvarta,¹ its analogical connection with the word *bahis* may have been another cause of the expansion of its geographical sense.