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I20
TRIBES IN ANCIENT INDIA
bala attended the Rājasūya sacrifice. Karņa, too, conquered Kośala and proceeded southwards after exacting tribute from the country.2 Evidently the conquest of Kośala by Karṇa was later than that by Bhimasena, for we find the Kośala king Brhadbala, led by Duryodhana, marching against the Pāndavas.3 Perhaps it was because the Košalas were smarting under the defeat inflicted on them by Bhimasena that they embraced the Kaurava side in the Kuruksetra war, in the course of which we find ten warriors including King Bịhadbala of Kośala fighting in the van of the Kuru army.4 Bịhadbala fought with Abhimanyu against whom the greatest leaders of the Kuru army led a united attack 5; and in the Karnaparvan 6 we read that Bịhadbala was killed by Abhimanyu. Suksetra, the son of the king of Kośala, also fought in the great war between the Kurus and the Pāndavas.? After the war was ended, Kośala was again attacked and conquered by Arjuna before the performance of the Aśvamedha by Yudhisthira.8
As in the Epics, so also in the Purāṇas, the Kośalas are given great prominence among the Aryan Ksatriya tribes of N. India. According to Purāṇa and Epic accounts, the Kośala line of kings derived from Ikşvāku produced a large number of sovereigns who held the glory of the family very high, and some of them, like Māndhātā, Sagara, Bhagiratha and Raghu, occupied the highest position amongst the kings of ancient India.
Most of the Purāņas' state that Iksvāku had a large number of sons who divided the whole of India amongst themselves. The Vişnupurāņa says that Ikşvāku had a hundred sons of whom fifty, with Sakuni at their head, became the protectors of N. India, and forty-eight established themselves as rulers over S. India.10 The Vāyupurāna says that it was not the sons of Iksvāku who divided the country among themselves; but the children of Ikşvāku's son Vikuksi. Though the number of Iksvāku's immediate descendants as given in the Purāṇas is obviously fanciful, yet it seems worthy of credence that the family sprung from Iksvāku spread their rule far and wide over India, as many of the ruling families of India trace their descent to him.
1 Sabhāparvan, Chap. 34, p. 545.
2 Vanaparvan, Chap. 253, p. 513. 3 Udyogaparvan, Chap. 97, p. 807. 4 Bhisma parvan, Chap. 16, pp. 827-8. 5 Ibid., Chap. 45, p. 916. See also ibid., Chap. 57, pp. 924-5; Chap. 87, p. 957. 6 Chap. 5, pp. 1167-8. 7 Dronaparvan, Chap. 22, pp. 1012-13. 8 Aśvamedhaparvan, Chap. 42, p. 2093. 9 E.g., Vişnupurāna, IV, 2, 3; Vāyupurāna, 88, 8-11. 10 Vişnupurāna, IV, 2, 3.
