Tribes In Ancient India

SR No.: 007311
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Bimla Charn Law
Publisher: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
Publication Year: 1943
Total Pages: 449
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 132 MB

Page 99

THE ABHIRAS
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Śivadatta), who became Mahākṣatrapa of W. India and wrested from the Satavahanas, probably in the third century A.D., portions at least of Mahārāṣṭra, which was ruled over by them up till the reign of Yajñaśri Satakarṇī.
The Abhiras are next mentioned in the celebrated Allahabad Iron Pillar Inscription of Samudragupta (2nd quarter of the fourth century A.D.) as one of the tribal states of W. and S.W. India who paid homage to the great Gupta emperor, and who were thus a semi-independent people living outside the borders of his empire.
If the traditional and legendary history of Nepal as contained in the Vamśāvalis has any historical value, the Abhiras or Āhirs had a settlement in Nepal in very early times. The traditional history of Nepal as recorded in the Vamśavalis begins with a long line of legendary kings, after which the country was taken possession of by a line of Kirata pretenders, whose passing away probably marks the entry of Nepal into the domain of fairly precise historical tradition. These Kiratas were succeeded by eight princes belonging to the Gopala dynasty. The Gopalas in their turn were supplanted by the Abhiras.
The tribe seems to have had another settlement in the South or Dakṣinapatha. According to the Markandeya Purana,1 the Abhiras are classed with the Pundrakas, Keralas, Kalingas, Pulindas, Andhras, Vidarbhas, Kuntalas and others, all of whom are said to be Dakṣinapatha-vasinaḥ, or dwelling in the southern country. The Vayupurana also records the same tradition (Chap. 45, 126), and describes the Abhiras, Atabyas, Sabaras, Pulindas, Vaidarbhas and Dandakas as Dakṣinapatha-vasinaḥ'.
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government of northern Maharastra and the adjoining region. The last known rulers of the Traikutaka line were Indradatta, his son, Dharasena and his son, Vyaghrasena -Ray Chaudhuri, P.H.A.I., 4th Ed., p. 418, f.n. 2.
1 Chap. 57, vv. 45-8; Chap. 58, v. 22.