Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 135

JULY, 1933 ]
PLACES AND PEOPLES IN ASOKA'S INSCRIPTIONS
123
The Northern Andhras.
4. It seems certain that there was a community called Andhras in the north. The Matsya, in the opening verse on the enumeration of the northern countries,' has Pur Andhras just in the place where Aparitas are given by the Vayu :
बाहीका वाटधानाथ श्राभीराः कालतोयकाः।
पुरन्ध्राव शूद्राच पडवाश्चात्तखण्डिकाः ॥ The Bhagavata (IX. 20, 30) includes Andhras in a list of northern peoples :
ART-UTT ATT ATT ATT TT-Nirnayasagara ed. (1923), p. 414. I am not in a position to ascertain whether any tribal name in Afghanistan at present corresponds with Andhra. It may, however, be pointed out that in the north of Afghanistan, about a hundred miles to the west of Balkh, there is the district of Andha-khui marked on the map; and according to the Matsya the Pur Andhras were in the Balhika group. 18
The Amdhras of Asoka seem to have been the northern Andhras, as he mentions allied and neighbouring units in pairs, e.g., Yona-Kamboja, Bhoja-Pitinika, Rathika-Pitinika, Amdhra-Pálida. In the Hathigumph& inscription of Khåravela we have the Rathikas and Bhojakas together (E.I., XX, 87), as they were neighbours. Thus we may consider the Amdha-(Andhra-)Pálidas to have been neighbours.
These northern Andhras were self-governing (see below), while the Dakşiņa patha Andhra, according to the evidence of the Asokan inscriptions and of the Asokan stúpas noticed by the Chinese pilgrims, seems to have been under the imperial government.
Definite Location of the Northern Andhras and Påladas in the Puranas. .. 5. Fortunately we are not left merely to infer the situation of the Andhras and Paladas from mere strings of names or from a reference to such a comprehensive term as Himavat, 19 which included the Hindukush, the Pâmîrs and Tibet. The Puranas furnish data for a more definite location. There is a section in the Purápic geography of Bharatavarşa which deals with the watershed of a system of six rivers, three of which flow to the east, and three to the west. All these rivers had their sources in a lake system called Bindu-eara, situated in the region known as Himavarşa (literally, the snow country'),20 The three rivers flowing westwards are the Sita (spelt also Siud), Caksu and Sindhu -
सीता चक्षुश्च सिन्धुश्च लिस्वा वै प्रतीच्यगा (
(See Matsya, ch. 120, 40; Váyu, i. 47, 39; Rámāyaṇa, Bala k., 43, 11-14.) The countries by the side of each of these rivers are given in detail (Matsya, verses 40-49: Brahmånda, ii. 18, 41-49).21 The Sindhu is undoubtedly the Indus. The Caksu is the Oxus, the Fo-tsy of Yuan Chwang,22 It should be noted that the Chinese pilgrim describes the Oxus region and the countries lying between it and the Indus (on the Indian frontier).in Hindu terms, which tally with Hindu geography. The Bharatavarşa of the Purânas extended up to the southern bank of the Oxus, and was larger than the present-day India in that direction.
18 I have ascertained since from Nazarkhan, an Afghan of Sarafta, Ghani, that Andhert or Andhrt is a most warlike Gilzai tribe in Afghanistân.
19 E.g., in the Ramdyana, Ki. 43. There is a distinction between our Himalaya and Himavat.
30 Varça is, literally, a tract of country subject to its own system of rainfall, i.e., having & distinctive climate. The Purâpas, however, bose these divisions on culture, that is, on individual, characteristic civilisation.
21 The Brahmanda text has become more corrupt. 22 Life, p. 196 ; Berl's Si-yu-ki, ii, 289.