Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s4.15

v2.c4.s4.15

Magadha is the name of a people who appear throughout Vedic literature as of little repute. Though the name is not actually found in the Rigveda,¹ it occurs in the Atharvaveda,² where fever is wished away to the Gandhāris and Mūjavants, northern peoples, and to the Aṅgas and Magadhas, peoples of the east. Again, in the list of victims at the Puruṣamedha (‘human sacrifice’) in the Yajurveda,³ the Māgadha, or man of Magadha, is included as dedicated to ati-kruṣṭa, ‘loud noise’ (?), while in the Vrātya hymn of the Atharvaveda⁴ the Māgadha is said to be connected with the Vrātya as his Mitra, his Mantra, his laughter, and his thunder in the four quarters. In the Śrauta Sūtras⁵ the equipment characteristic of the Vrātya is said to be given, when the latter is admitted into the Āryan Brahminical community, to a bad Brahmin living in Magadha (brahma-bandhu Māgadha-deśīya), but this point does not occur in the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa.⁶ On the other hand, respectable Brahmins sometimes lived there, for the Kauṣītaki Āraṇyaka⁷ mentions Madhyama, Prātībodhī-putra, as Magadha-vāsin, ‘living in Magadha.’ Oldenberg,⁸ however, seems clearly right in regarding this as unusual.