Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s4.323

v1.c3.s4.323

Uśīnara.—In the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa¹ the Kuru-Pañcālas are mentioned as dwelling together in the ‘Middle Country’ with the Vaśas and the Uśīnaras. In the Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad² also the Uśīnaras are associated with the Kuru-Pañcālas and Vaśas, but in the Gopatha Brāhmaṇa³ the Uśīnaras and Vaśas are regarded as northerners. In the Rigveda⁴ the people is alluded to in one passage by reference to their queen, Uśīnaraṇī. Zimmer⁵ thinks that the Uśīnaras earlier lived farther to the north-west, but for this there is no clear evidence. His theory is based merely on the fact that the Anukramaṇī (Index) of the Rigveda ascribes one hymn⁶ to Śibi Auśīnara, and that the Śibis were known to Alexander’s followers as Σίβοι,⁷ living between the Indus and the Akesines (Chenab). But this is in no way conclusive, as the Śibis, at any rate in Epic times,⁸ occupied the land to the north of Kuruṣetra, and there is no reason whatever to show that in the Vedic period the Uśīnaras were farther west than the ‘Middle Country.’