India As Described In Early Texts Of Buddhism and Jainism

Author(s): Bimla Charn Law
Publisher: Bimlacharan Law

Page 94

86 INDIA AS DESCRIBED IN EARLY TEXTS with the Cīnas." The Apadāna speaks of the Cinas and Babbaras, the former being described as a people who came to Hamsavati on the Ganges from a distant land (ārā va Cinaraţthā ca ägacchanti). The Barbaras and Kirātas are placed in the Great Epic in the Uttarāpatha along with the Yaunas, Kambojas and Gāndhāras.3 The Kirātas find mention in the Pali commentaries as 'a tribe of jungle men'. Their dialect is 'classed with those of the Ottas (Oądas), the Andhakas, the Yonakas and the Damiļas'. These are all recorded as languages of the Milakkhas + (Milakkhānam bhāsā) that were thirteen in numbers according to the Jambudīva-pannatti. From Pali and Sanskrit sources it may be concluded that the Kirātas had their settlements not only in the north-east and north-west extremities of Northern India but also in other parts of India.
The Gandhāras after whom the land where they settled down was named were one of the ancient peoples of India the Gandhāris mentioned in the Vedas. In the Purāņas they are . described as descendants of the Drubyas, who were, according to the Vedic tradition, a north
1 E I., vol. xx, Pt. I. 2 Apadāpa, ii, pp. 368-359. & Jahabharata, xii, 207.43. 4 Sumangalavıldaini, i, p. 176.
Eighteen, according to the Sammohavinodani, p. 888. 6 Rgveda, 7, 125.7; Atharvaveda, v, 22.14.