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CHAPTER XLVI
THE MAGADHAS
The Magadhas occupied a prominent position in very ancient times. Though the Rgveda does not mention them as such, yet Vedic literature generally contains innumerable references to them as a people. In the Atharvaveda Samhitā, the Māgadha is said to be connected with the Vrātya as his Mitra, his Mantra, his laughter and his thunder in the four quarters. In the Lātyāyana Srauta Sūtra 2 (which belongs to a school of the Sāmaveda), Vrātya-dhana or the property of the Vrātya is directed to be given either to a bad Brahmin or to a Brahmin of Magadha; but the Pañcavimśa Brāhmaṇa (XVII, I, 16), which also belongs to the Sāmaveda, does not say anything on the point.
In the Taittirīya Brāhmana (III, 4, I, I) we read that the people of Magadha were famous for their loud voice. The fact that Māgadha in later times often stands for 'minstrel' is easily accounted for by the assumption that the country was the home of minstrelsy and that wandering bards from Magadha were apt to visit the more western provinces of ancient India. The minstrel character of the Magadhas also appears from the Mānava Dharmaśāstra which mentions them as bards and traders. The Brahmapurāna tells us that the first great Samrāt or Emperor Prthu gave Magadha to Māgadha, being highly pleased with his song in praise of himself. Here The later texts recognise the Māgadhas as a special caste, inventing their origin from intermarriage among the old established castes. In the Gautama Dharmaśāstra (IV, 17) and Manusamhitā,5 the Māgadha is not a man of Magadha, but a member of a mixed caste produced by the union of a Vaiśya man and a Ksatriya woman.
In the Sānkhyāyaṇa Aranyaka it is said that Madhyama, son of Prātibodhi, was a resident of Magadha (Magadhavāsin). In the Apastamba Śrauta Sūtra (XXII, 6, 18), the Magadhas are mentioned along with other peoples both of E. and of W. India, viz. the Kālingas, the Gandhāras, the Pāraskaras and the Sauviras.
1 Harvard Oriental Series, p. 774. 2 VIII, 6, 28. Cf. Kātyāyana Srauta Sūtra, XXII, 4, 22. 3 Manusamhitā, X, 47. 4 Chap. IV, 61. 67; Vāyupurāņa, Chap. 62, śl. 147. 6 Keith, Sānkhyāyaṇa Aranyaka, p. 46.
5 X, 47
