Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c10.s1.5

c10.s1.5

Manu, probably following the older *Sūtra* texts, defines the land of the *Brahmarṣis*, whose customs and rites are taken as a model and whose warriors are the bravest, as Kurukṣetra and the territory of the Matsyas, the Pāñcālas and the Śūrasenas.⁴ Thus, the land of the *Brahmarṣis* embraces what was set down in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* as *Madhyamadiś* and the region south of it. But what was regarded in the *Aitareya* as west and east, above all the eastern peoples of Kāśī, Kośala, Videha and Magadha, is in Manu also excluded from the land of the *Brahmarṣis*.⁵