Cosmography and Geography in Early Indian Literature c5.s4.1

c5.s4.1

The Ṛgveda mentions a number of peoples whose territories were apparently known after their own names. This tendency is responsible for the development of the grammatical convention according to which the names of countries were used in the plural in the Sanskrit language. There was a group of five tribes collectively called the Pañca Janāḥ (Mānuṣāḥ, Mānavāḥ and Kṛṣṭayaḥ) who lived on the Sarasvatī and are often identified by scholars with the Anu, Druhyu, Turvaśa and Pūru peoples.⁹⁴