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as Dr. Ray Chaudhuri shows in Appendix B (p. 387) of his work, the kingdom of Argaru (= Uragapura) was included in Damirica. The geographer Ptolemy refers to the kingdom of Sora (Chola) ruled by Arkatos and the kingdom of Malanga (probably Kañchi, according to Dr. Ray Chaudhuri), ruled by Basaronagas. In the Markandeya,1 Vayu 2 and Matsya Puranas, the Colas are mentioned along with the Pandyas and Keralas. In the Rāmāyaṇa, Sugrīva is described as sending his monkey followers to the countries of the Cōlas, Pandyas and Keralas in quest of Sita. Katyayana in his Vārttikas or aphorisms to Panini's Sutras or grammatical rules mentions the Cōlas and the Pandyas. Patanjali in his Mahabhaṣya mentions Kanchipura. Aśoka in his Rock Edicts II and XIII mentions the Colas, Pandyas, Ketalaputras and Satiyaputras as forming 'prachamta' or outlying provinces outside his empire. They were on friendly terms with him. The Colas, like the Pandyas, are spoken of in the plural in all the versions of the Asokan edicts, and this has been held to imply that 'in Aśoka's time there were more than one Cōda and one Pandya King'. Two or three poets of the Sangam make references to an invasion of the south by the Mōriyar (Mauryas). Māmūlanar also speaks of the wealth of the Nandas hidden under the Ganges at Pataliputra. He says that the Vaḍugar formed the vanguard of the invading Mauryas (Aham 281). He further says that the Kōsar undertook the subjugation of the south and as the Möhür chieftain continued defiant, the Mauryas came down with their great forces on a warlike expedition to the south (Aham 251). The above account thus confirms the story of Bindusara's conquest of Southern India as recorded by the Tibetan historian Tārānāth. It is evident thus that Maurya empire in Southern India probably received some setback before the date when Rock Edicts II and XIII were promulgated.8 Allusions to the land of the Cōlas and Kaveripattinam are found in the Mahavamsa. The Milinda-Pañho mentions Kola-Paṭṭana, which according to Rhys Davids, must be some place on the Coromandel Coast. Here is a reference probably to Kaveripattinam. In the Jātaka story 10 Akitti to escape from his admirers is said to have left the neighbourhood of Benares for the Tamil country where he spent some time in a garden near Kaveripattana. The Mahavamsa shows that towards the middle of the second century B.C., a Damila of noble descent, Elāra
TRIBES IN ANCIENT INDIA
2 Chap. 45, V, 124.
4 IV. Chap. 41, Bombay Ed.
1 Chap. 57, V. 45.
3 Chap. 112, V. 46.
5 R. G. Bhandarkar, Early History of the Dekkan, p. 6.
6 IV, 2, Second Ahnika.
8 Ibid., p. 28.
10 Jataka (Fausböll), IV, 237 foll.
7 Cf. Bhandarkar, Aśoka, p. 41. 9 Trenckner Ed., p. 359.
