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86 POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA the Aryans had crossed the Vindhyas and established several kingdoms in the territory that stretched from the Revā or the Narmadā to the Godāvari. One of these realms was Vidarbha. It comprised modern Berar, the Varadātaţa of the Āin-i-Albarī, and a considerable portion of the Central Provinces lying between the Wardhā (Varadā) and the Waingangā. In the north it reached the Payoshni, a tributary of the Tāpti. Vidarbha was certainly a famous kingdom in the time of Nimi. We have already seen that the Kumbhakāra Jataka „and the Uttar-ādhyayana make him a contemporary of Nagnajit, king of Gandhāra, who is known from the Aitareya Brāhmana to have flourished about the same time as Bhima, king of Vidarbha:
"Etamu haiva prochatuh Parvata-Nāradau Somakāya Sāhadevyāya Sahadevāya Sārījayāya Babhrave Daivāvridhāya Bhimūya Vaidarbhāya Nagnajite Gāndhārāya.'
(This Parvata and Nārada proclaimed to Somaka Sāhadevya, Sahadeva Sārījaya, Babhru Daivāvridha, Bhima Vaidarbha ( i.e. of Vidarbha ) and Nagnajit of Gandhāra.”
Vidarbha, therefore, existed as an independent kingdom in the time of Nimi. From the Purāņic account of the Yadu family it appears that the eponymous hero of the Vidarbhas, was of Yadu lineage. The country is mentioned in the Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa. It was famous for its Māchalas, perhaps a species of dog, which killed tigerss—“Vidarbhesu mācalās sārameyā apiha śārdulān mārayanti.” The Praśna Upanishadø mentions a sage of
1 Mbh. III. 61. 22-23 ; 120. 31. 2 V11. 34. 3 Matsya Purana, 44. 36; Vāyu Purana, 95, 35-36. 4 II, 440 : Ved. Ind., II. 297. 5 JAOS, 19, 100. 6 1.1 ; II. 1.
