Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c14.36

c14.36

Politically, the most important of the group were the Vrijis and the Mallas. The former are noticed both by Pāṇini and Kauṭilya. The Bhargas were next-door neighbours of the Vatsas to the east, both according to the Mahā-Bhārata and the Pāli records (*ante* § 35, *n.*). Their seat was evidently a hill fortress (Siṁsumāra Hill), somewhere in or about the district of Mirzapur. Pāṇini found them an independent Janapada or a political ‘nation,’ important enough to be placed at the head of the eastern communities as the Yaudheyas headed the Punjab list. It seems that in the latter days of the Buddha, they passed under the sway of their neighbour, the king of the Vatsas, whose son Bodhi was ruling over them, according to the Jātaka and the Vinaya.² They were yet a separate unit.