Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c15.s3.t1.12

c15.s3.t1.12

Raychaudhuri¹⁰ and Law¹¹ both support the connection of the Bhargas of the Sanskrit texts and the Bhaggas of the Pāli sources, and there does not seem to be any evidence which disproves such a relationship between the two. We accept this connection only as the most probable one, because no other text contradicts it. But Law's adventurous suggestion identifying the Bhaggas, Bhargas and the Bhārgavas as "one and the same people"¹² is not borne out by the Pāli texts, where the Bhaggavas appear as a caste of potters.¹³ There is also a Brāhmaṇic *gotra* name Bhārgava and quite a few people are mentioned as Bhaggavas in the Buddhist texts and commentaries.¹⁴ There is a great possibility of the Bhargas and the Bhaggas being of the same ethnic group, and it may be possible that these people had more than one settlement. But we strongly dispute Law's suggestion of linking the Bhārgavas also with them. Bharga is apparently a simple ethnic name, while Bhārgava is a secondary formation derived from the name of the legendary *ṛṣi* Bhṛgu.