Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c10.s2.13

c10.s2.13

These remarks bring home the point that it was not only because of the Buddha and his doctrine that the easterners were so different from the westerners. Even during the Brāhmaṇa period the Videhas and others had shown a new development which is obvious from a review of the data. The story of Videgha Māthava shows that Videhan culture came from the Brāhmaṇas of the west and that the territory was Aryanized after Kosala. The Videhas, however, later derived some fame and reputation because of the culture of their king, Janaka, who figures in the *Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad*.³ Here he is presented as one of the leading patrons of the new doctrine of *Brahman*. In the *Kauśītaka Upaniṣad* the Videhas are referred to with the Kāśīs as a joint people.⁴ In the list of peoples in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*, as we have seen, the Videhas are passed over, probably because they were included with Kośala and Kāśi in the term *prācyas*, or "easterners".¹