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CHAPTER LXVI
THE AUDUMBARAS
The Audumbaras seem to have been a minor oligarchical or republican tribe. They are mentioned in the Sabhāparvan of the Mahābhārata (II, 1869), where they are located in the Madhyadeśa (midland district). The Harivamsa refers to certain ascetics, descendants of Viśvāmitra, as Audumbaras, but it is difficult to determine their exact relation with the tribe of the Sabhāparvan.
The Purāņas 1 mention a people called the Udumbaras, along with the Kāpingalas, Kuruvāhyas and Gajāhvayas. The lastnamed people were connected with Hastināpura, the Kuru capital, and the Kuruvāhyas must also have had some connection with the famous Kuru people. It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that the Udumbaras (presumably identical with the Audumbaras) occupied a district contiguous with, or not far from, the Kuru country. Both Lassen (Ind. Art. map) and Cunningham (Arch. Surv. Rep., XIV, 115 and 135) seem to locate the Udumbaras somewhere in Cutch.
The Harivamsa 2 mentions a river Udumbaravati in the south, while the Mañjuśrīmülakalpa : refers to a city named Udumbarapura in the Magadhajanapada.
The Audumbaras are also known from coins which come chiefly from the Kangra District of the Punjab, and which belong to about the eighteenth century A.D.
1 See, e.g. Mārkandeya Purāņa, LVIII, 9. 2 CLXVIII, 9511.
3 Ganapati Šāstri's Ed., p. 633. "Māgadham janapadam Udembarahoaye”.
4 Smith, Cat. of Coins, pp. 160-1.
prāpya pure
