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CHAPTER XLVII
THE VIDEHAS
The Videhas are mentioned in the Brāhmaṇa portion of the Vedas as a people in a very advanced stage of civilisation. The part of the country where they lived appears to have been known by the name of Videha even in the still more ancient times of the Samhitās, for the Yajurveda Samhitās mention the cows of Videha, which appear to have been particularly famous in ancient India.1
According to Julius Eggeling, a confederacy of kindred peoples known as the Kośala-Videhas, occupying a position of no less importance than that of the Kuru-Pañcālas, lived to the east of the Madhyadeśa at the time of the redaction of the Brāhmanas. The legendary account is that these people claimed Videgha Māthava as their common ancestor, and the two branches are said to have been separated from each other by the river Sadānīrā (corresponding either to the Rāpti or to the Gandak). In Eggeling's opinion, the Videha country in those days constituted the extreme east of the land of the Aryans. Dr. Weber notes that the Aryans, led by Videgha Māthava and his priest, apparently pushed up the river Sarasvati as far east as the river Sadānīrā which formed the western boundary of the Videhas, or more probably the Gandak (?=Sadānirā) which was the boundary between the Kośalas and the Videhas. 3
The Videha country, as we have seen, is said to have derived its name from this King Videgha Mathāva or Videha Madhava, who introduced the sacrificial fire; and according to some, this introduction of the sacrificial fire is symbolical of the inauguration of the Brahmanical faith in the region. This legend, which is of importance in connection with the question of Aryan settlement in the Videha country, may be read in full in the Śatapatha Brāhmana. According to this account, King Māthava Videgha carried Agni Vaiśvānara (=fire) in his mouth. When invited to do so, Agni sprang forth, and started to flash over the ground, burning it up. Starting from the river Sarasvati, he went burning along towards the east, drying up all the rivers. Only he did not burn over the river Sadānīrā,
1 The commentator of the Taittirīya Samhitā explains the adjective Vaidehi by Visişta-deha-sambandhini, ‘having a splendid body' (see Vedic Index, Vol. II, p. 298 and Keith's Veda of the Black Yajus' School, Vol. I, p. 138).
2 Satapatha Brāhmana, S.B.E., Vol. XII, Intro. XLII-XLIII. 8 S.B.E., Vol. XII, p. 104 f.
