Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s4.147

v2.c4.s4.147

The term Madhyadeśa is not Vedic, but it is represented in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa¹¹ by the expression madhyamā pratiṣṭhā diś, ‘the middle fixed region,’ the inhabitants of which are stated to be the Kurus, the Pañcālas, the Vaśas, and the Uśīnaras. The latter two peoples practically disappear later on, the Madhyadeśa being the country of the Kuru-Pañcālas, the land where the Brāhmaṇas and the later Saṃhitās were produced, bounded on the east by the Kosala-Videhas, and on the west by the desert. The western tribes are mentioned with disapproval both in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa¹² and the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa,¹³ while the tradition of the Brahminization of the Kosalas and the Videhas from the Kuru-Pañcāla country is preserved in the former Brāhmaṇa.¹⁴