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CHAPTER XXXVI
THE MŪTIBAS
The Mūtibas were a non-Aryan barbarian (Dasyu) tribe, mentioned in the Aitareya Brāhmana (VII, 18) along with the Andhras, Pulindas and Savaras. They are also probably referred to in the Sānkhāyana Śrauta Sūtra (XV, 26, 6) under the name Mūcīpas or Mūvīpas.
The location of the Mūtibas is not definitely known, but as they are mentioned along with the Savaras and Pulindas who, according to the Purānas 2 and the Mahābhārata,3 were 'daksināpathavāsinah' or located in the south, it may be surmised that the Mūtibas also were a southern tribe. This is also indicated by the fact that the Andhras with whom they are associated were also a southern people.
The Mūtibas were probably the same as the Modubae of Pliny, who are said to have dwelt beyond the Modo-Galingae, a tribe occupying a large island in the Ganges; though it is difficult to account for the Mūtibas evidently a southern tribe, coming to occupy a region not very far from the Ganges.
The Mūtibas do not seem to have been an important tribe; they are scarcely mentioned in the historical period.
1 'It is not altogether improbable that the Mūcipas are the people who appear in the Mārkandeya Purana (57, 46) under the designation of Mūshika. A comparison of the Aitareya Brāhmana with the Sankhāyana Srauta Sutra betrays a good deal of confusion with regard to the second and third consonants of the name. It was, therefore, perfectly natural for later generations to introduce further variations. The Mūshikas were probably settled on the banks of the river Musi on which Hyderabad now stands' (P.H.A.I., 4th Ed., p. 80).
2 Vāyu P., 45, 126; Matsya P., 114, 46-8. 3 XII, 207, 42.
