Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s4.105

v2.c4.s4.105

Madra denotes a people who are mentioned in the Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad;¹ Kāpya Patañcala was then living among them. Their name appears elsewhere in Vedic literature, only in that of a branch, the Uttara Madras, the ‘northern Madras,’ who are referred to in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa² as living beyond the Himālaya (pareṇa Himavantam) in the neighbourhood of the Uttara Kurus, probably, as Zimmer³ conjectures, in the land of Kaśmīr. The Madras mentioned in the Upaniṣad were, like the Kurus, probably settled somewhere in Kurukṣetra in the Madhyadeśa or ‘Middle Land.’ Cf. Madragāra.