Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c5.s2.2

c5.s2.2

⁴⁶ viii. 24 ; cf. i. 32. 12 ; 34. 8 ; etc. Hillebrandt’s attempt to trace certain Iranian tribes and rivers in the *Ṛgveda* has not convinced scholars while Raychaudhuri’s reference to *praīn-aukas* in *RV*, x. 30. 9 is meaningless since it does not mean ‘the original home’ of the Aryans outside India (cf. *Stud. Ind. Ant.*, pp. 53ff). Even the tradition about Indra bringing the Yadu and Turvaśa from a distant land is of little importance in this connection since the Gandhāri and Bālhika were also distant peoples according to the later Saṃhitās. We do not attach any importance to H. K. Deb’s philological speculations, viz. Asita-Dhānva=Esarhaddon, Matsyasāmmada=Mesesimordakos, and Tārkṣya=Tearkon. See *JRASB*, Letters, Vol. xiv, 1948, pp. 121-43 ; Vol. xv, 1949, pp. 125 ff. It may be pointed out here that Phoenician trade with South India has been traced from the fact that peacocks brought by Hiram’s ships to Solomon are called *tuki* derived from Tamil *togai*. It is said that the trade between Egypt and Yemen began about 2300 B.C. and between Yemen and India about 1000 B.C. Indian teak wood is believed to have been found in Babylonian