Tribes In Ancient India

Author(s): Bimla Charn Law
Publisher: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute

Page 22

TRIBES IN ANCIENT INDIA
In the Harivamśa, we find that the people of Kāmboja were formerly Ksatriyas. It was Sagara who caused them to give up their own religion (Harivamśa, 14). From verses 43 and 44 of Chap. X of the Manusamhitā, we find that the Kāmbojas, Sakas, Yavanas, and other Ksatriya tribes were gradually degraded to the condition of Sūdras on account of their omission of the sacred rites, and of their not consulting the Brahmins. Kautilya's Arthaśāstra states that the corporations of warriors (ksatriya-śrenī) of Kāmboja and other countries lived by agriculture, trade and profession of arms (Vārtāśastropajīvin ).1
The horses of Kāmboja were famous throughout all periods of Indian history. In the Sumangalavilāsinī, Kāmboja is spoken of as the home of horses (Kāmbojo assānam āyatanam). The Mahābhārata is full of references to the excellent horses of Kamboja. In the Sabhāparvan (51, 4), we read that the king of Kāmboja presented to Yudhisthira three hundred horses of variegated colours, speckled like the partridge and having fine noses like the suka bird. In the great battle of Kuruksetra, the fast and powerful horses of Kāmboja were of the utmost service.3
The Jaina Uttarādhyayana Sūtra 4 tells us that a trained Kambojan horse excels all other horses in speed, and no noise can frighten it. In the Campeyya Jātaka - we read that a king of Kāśi, being requested by a Nāga king to visit his abode, ordered welltrained Kambojan horses to be yoked to his chariot.6 Visnuvardhana, who later became ruler of Mysore, owned Kambojan horses, which were evidently much coveted for their speed.? The Atthakathā on the Kunāla jātaka furnishes us with the interesting piece of information that the Kāmbojas were in the habit of capturing horses in the forest by tempting them into an enclosed space by means of aquatic plants which they smeared with honey.8
In the Raghuvamśa, Kālidāsa makes Raghu meet the Kāmbojas after defeating the Hūņas on the bank of the Vaňkşū or the Oxus. The Kāmbojas, being unable to meet the prowess of Raghu, bowed low before him, just as their walnut trees were bent down on account of Raghu's elephants being tied to them. An immense treasure including excellent horses was offered as tribute to Raghu by the Kāmbojas.
i Arthaśāstra, trsl. by Shāma Shāstri, p. 455.
2 I, 124. 3 See, e.g. Moh., Bhīşma parvan, 71, 13; 90, 3; Dronaparvan, 22, 7; 22, 22-3; 22, 42; Karnaparvan, 38, 13; Sauptika parvan, 13, 12.
4 Jaina Sūtras, S.B.E., pt. II, p. 47. 5 Jataka (Fausböll, Vol. IV, p. 464.
6 See also Mahāvastu, II, p. 185. 7 S. K. Aiyangar, Ancient India, p. 236. 8 Jātaka, V, 446.
Raghuvamśa, IV, 69-70.