Madra
Encyclopedia
Madra, Mada or Madraka is the name of an ancient region and its inhabitants, located in the north-west division of the ancient Indian sub-continent.
makes first reference to the Madras as Uttaramadras i.e northern Madras and locates them in the trans-Himalayan region as neighbors to the Uttara Kurus. The Uttara Madras, like the Uttara Kurus, are stated to follow the republic
an constitution. The Uttara Madra country of Aitareya Brahmana is often identified with Bahlika (Bactria
).
itself shows, there was yet another Madra group also, which obviously was living to the south of the Uttara Madras (northern Madras). These southern Madras were an offshoot from the Uttaramadras, a bulk of whom, probably under nomad
ic pressure from north, migrated southwards and settled in Punjab
The post-Vedic, pre-Buddhist Brahmanical literature is overflowing with the names of tribe
s. The most powerful among them, commanding the greatest respect, in the Madhyadesha (Middle country) was the Kuru-Panchala which incorporated the two families of Kuru and Puru
(and the earlier Bhāratas
) and of which the Panchalas was a confederation of lesser-known tribes. They occupied the Upper Doab and the Kurukshetra
region. In the Prachya or east, the clan
s of Kasi, Kosala
and Magadha
predominated. In the north-west or Uttarapatha
division, the Kamboja
, Gandhara
, and the Madra clans were the most important.
country with capital at Sakala or Sagala
, modern Sialkot
. Pāṇini mentions two divisions of the Madras in Panjab or Vahika country i.e. the Purva (Eastern) Madras and the Apara (Western) Madras. The Purva-Madra extended from the Ravi
to Chenab and the Apara-Madra from Chenab to the Jhelum
. Thus, it appears probable that the Madras of Panjab had cultural interaction with Bahlika (Bactria) country, the land of the Uttara Madras. Some verses in the Mahabharata allude to this connection of the Madras with the Uttara Madras.
. In epic period, they occupied the district of Sialkot. Pāṇini does not offer derivation of Bahika but Katyayana
derives it from Bahis 'outer edge' with the suffix ikak. This agrees with Mahabharata
description of Bahika as the country of five rivers but was where Dharma
was weak (dharma-bahya), devoid of religion (nashta-dharma) and impure (aśuchi).
Karna Parva of Mahabharata derives name Bahika from the names of two Pishachas or demon
s named Bahi and Hika (Bahi + hika = Bahika) living in river Vipasa (Beas
). The Bahikas or Vahikas i.e the people of Vahikas are the offspring of those two Pishacas. They are not creatures created by Prajapati.
, Madraka, Bhadra, Bhadraka. It has been pointed out that Bhadras were located on Ghaggar near north-eastern border of Bikaner.
family whose wife Bhadra bore seven sons--, four Madras and three Salvas. This tradition indicates that Salvas and Madras belonged to common stock and there were seven branches of one tribe. But Kasika and Vaijayanti refer to only six branches of the Salvas (and Madras) viz., Udumbras, Tilakhala, Bhulinga, Sardanda, Yugandhara and Madrakara. The above list apparently does not include all the branches of the Salvas and the Madras. Though there is no ancient reference to four branches of the Madras, Dr M. R. Singh has however suggested them to have been as Uttamabhadra, Sravanabhadra, Prabhadra and the Bhadra or Madra themselves. (Variants of Madra are also found as Bhadra, Madraka, Bhadraka and that Bhadraka and Madraka are transferable). Prabhadraka as an attribute has been used for the Parama-Kambojas
section who had sided with the Pandavas in the Kurukshetra war
against the Kauravas.
The Uttamabhadras
lived in Punjab
, the Bhadrakas in modern Bhadra and Sravanabhadras are believed to have migrated from Kanyuakubja and settled in Malwa. Uttamabhadras originally were people of Balkh who had entered India in Vedic times. In Vedic times, they were closely related to Kurus and the Purus
. In Kurukshetra war
, we also find Madras associated with the Kurus. King Shalya
had taken part in the Mahabharata
war, on behalf of the Kauravas.
Madri
, the wife of Pandu
king of Hastinapur and the mother of Pandava
-putras Nakula
and Sahadeva
, was a Madra princess
daughter of the king of Madra. Madri has also been referred to as Bahliki i.e princess of Bahlika janapada/tribe and king Salya has been referred to as Bahlika-pungava i.e foremost among the Bahlikas. Madri has also been referred to as Bahliki i.e princess of Bahlika janapada/tribe and king Salya has been referred to as Bahlika-pungava i.e foremost among the Bahlikas. Epic also refers to king Ashvapati of Madra, the beloved of the Paura Janapadas, who was father of Savitri. King Vyusitashva was a descendant of Puru a famous king of Rigvedic times.
These references obviously connect the Vahika Madras to Bahlika i.e Bactria
Madras i.e the Vedic Uttara-Madras or Uttamabhadras, which is known to have been the earliest settlement of the Madra people. It is also seen from the above references that initially Mahabharata had really high opinion of the Madras. But later, this view was changed since there are several later epic
references where the Madras have been severely downgraded. Every possible ill word has been spoken against them.
In Karna Parva of Mahabharata, Karna
specifically directs his wrath against Shalya
who was from Madra, and ridicules the region he was from. Karna calls the Madra men and women as "scum" of humanity. See link .
Adi Parava of Mahabharata
says that Madra princes had attended Draupadi's self-choice (Swayamvara) ceremony along with the other princes of neighbouring kingdoms from northwest. Thus prince Shalya, the king of Madra Kingdom
, with his son, the heroic Rukmangada, Rukmaratha, Somadatta (king of Bahlika Kingdom) of the Kuru race with his three sons - Bhuri, Bhurisrava, and Sala and Sudakshina Kamboja
the arch-bowman (dridhadhanva) of the Puru
race had participated in the Draupidi swayamvara See Ganguli's Trans: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01189.htm.
Karna
had fought with and vanquished the Madrakas, Kekaya
s, Kambojas
, Avanti
s, Gandhara
s, Matsyas, Trigartas, Tanganas, Sakas, Panchala
s, Videhas, Kulindas, Kasi, Kosala
s, Suhma, Anga
, Vanga
, Nishada, Kalinga
Taralas, Asmakas
, Rishikas
, Mlechchas and forest dwellers etc.
Madra king Shalya
, came with an Akshouhini of troops to join the army of Pandavas, since youngest Pandavas, the twins Nakula
and Sahadeva
, were his nephews. It is stated that his troops marched slowly on every day from Madra (Punjab
province of Pakistan) to Upaplavya (somewhere in the border of Rajasthan
and Hariyana), the Matsya
city, where the Pandavas were camped. When his army reached Kurujangala (the kingdom of the Pandavas, the modern-day Hariyana), Duryodhana
's men shrewdly intercepted the army. Without revealing their identity, they received Shalya and his men, made tents for them and refreshed them with all the comforts. By the time the truth surfaced, Shalya
had already become indebted to battle for Duryodhana
's sake. Madra army had battled along with other armies of north-west including the Trigartas
, the Kekeyas
, the Gandharas
, the Kambojas, the Yavanas
, the Shakas, Tusharas, Khasas
and Daradas
(all these latter six armies had fought under General Sudakshina Kamboja
), the Sindhus
, the Sauviras
, the Amvasthas etc. King Shalya was the last Generalismo of the Kaurava
army and was slain by Yudhisthira
on the last day of the Kurukshetra war
.
, Usinara, Kosala
, Vidharbha, Kuru, Srnjaya, Kamboja, Kekaya
, Kunti, Anarta, Kerala
was present at Samanta-pancaka at the occasion of the solar eclipse. http://vedabase.net/sb/10/82/12-13/en
Ramayana
says that Sugriva
had sent his persons to search Sita
in various lands of the Uttarapatha
including the Madras. Thus, Sugriva directs his detectives to search Sita in the countries of the Mlecchas, the Pulindas, the Shurashenas
, the Prasthalas, the Bharatas, the Kurus, the Madrakas, the Kambojas
, the Yavanas along with the countries of the Shakas and the Paradas and also the Himalayas.
of Kautiliya refers to the Madras as following republican constitution. It refers to Licchivika, Vrjika, Malla
ka, Madraka, Kukura, Kuru, and Panchala
etc and labels them as Raja-shabd-opajivin class (i.e living by the title of Raja) while referring to the Kshatriya
Shrenis (warrior-bands) of the Kambojas
and Surashtras
it styles them as varta-shastr-opajivin class (i.e. living by the profession of arms and varta).
mentions the Madra along with Arama, Parasika and others. In Matsya Purana
, the Madras find mention with Gandhara
s, Yavanas and others. In the same Purana, a reference is also made to king Asvapati of Sakala
in the country of Madra.
attests that it was a custom among the Madras to give their daughters in marriage on taking a fee (shulka). This was their family custom. Pandu
, the Kuru prince
had also to pay fee for marrying Madri, the princess from Madra.
, Uttarakuru
was proverbial. Buddhist literature calls Madra-Desha as the store-house of beautiful ladies (maddaratham nama itthagaro). The Madra women are characterized as "white" in the Mahabharata
(VIII). Buddhist Jataka
s bear ample tesimony that Madra princesses were sought after in marriage by the great Kshatriya
houses of northern and western India. Sumangala-Vilasini attests that the wife of a Chakravarti comes either from Uttarakuru
or from Madda (Madra) and Uttaramadra
. Bhadra, wife of Kalpana of Pippali Manavaka was a beautiful maiden from Madra. Pabhavati, a beautiful princess
of Madra was married to prince Kusa, son of Okkaka, of Ikshvaku
royal family of Benares. Even a prince of royal house of Kalinga
in the far east sought the hand of a princess of Madra country as is attested by Kalinga Bodhi Jataka. Chandata Jataka also attests that the royal houses of Madra and Benares were allied with each other through matrimony. According to Mahavamsa
, on the death of Sihabahu of Sinhapura (Lala Rattha = Lata Rashtra = Latadesa = Gujarat), his son Summita became king of Lata. He married a Madra princess by whom he had three sons. Khema, one of the three queen
s of Bimbisara
(reign 544-491 BCE), the ruler of the Magadha
from the Haryanka dynasty
was also a princess from the Madra clan
. And of course, princess Madri, sister of king Shalya
of Madra was also married to Pandu
, the Kuru prince of Hastinapur.
Madragara Shaungayani as the teacher of Aupamanyava Kamboja. As the name itself suggests, and as the scholars have rightly stated, Rsi Madragara Shaungayani belonged to Madra tribe. Dr Keith and Dr Macdonnel, the authors of Vedic Index, as also Dr H Zimmer and numerous other scholars postulate a possible connection between the Madras i.e. the Uttaramadras and the Trans-Hindukush Kambojas
. Dr Jain also observes: "Kamboja Aupamanyava, pupil of Madragara, is mentioned in the Vamsa Brahmana. This points to a possible relationship of the Madras or more probably of the Uttaramasdras with the Kambojas, who probably had Indian as well as Iranian affinities" . Since both these people were a very close neighbors in the north-western part of ancient India, such connections were but natural. According to Dr Jean Przylusky, the Bahlika (Balkh
) was a settlement of the Madras who were known as Bahlika-Uttaramadras.
In his Harsha-Carita, Sanskrit
scholar Bana Bhatta, the court poet of king Harsha Vardhana of Thanesar
makes reference to the horses from Kamboja. And the Commentator on Harsha-Carita in his commentary reveals to us that KAMBOJAH BAHLIKA DESAJAH, i.e the Kambojas belonged to/originated from Bahlika-desa (Bactria
in north Afghanistan
). Furthermore, The Yasastilaka, a Jaina
work, one of the best known champus in Sanskrit, composed by Somadeva Suri (959 A. D.) too identifies ancient Kamboja with Bahlika-desa. This ancient evidence indicates that Bahlika (Bactria
) (the land of Madras i.e the Uttaramadras) or its eastern parts may have formed parts of ancient Kamboja
, and that both these people were a close neighbors and possibly of an allied stock. According to Nanimadhab Chaudhuri, the Kambojas who were settled to the north-west of the Indus were connected with the Madras and they were probably a branch of the Uttaramadras.
Atharvaveda-Parisita also juxtaposes the Kambojas with the Bahlikas (i.e ..Madras..).
Mahabharata
also closely allies the Bahlikas and the Kambojas and further places them in alliance with Transoxiana
Sakas.
Valmiki
Ramayana
also mentions the Kamboja and the Bahlika in the same breath.
Aitareya Brahmana
refers to the nations of Uttarapatha
(northwest) and mentions the Uttaramadras and Uttarakurus as the tribes following a vairajiya (kingless) constitution. The same text also tells us that these nations lay beyond the Himalaya (i.e Parena himavantam) where Himalaya here is said to refer to Pamirs
/Hindukush ranges. It has been pointed out that the list of the northwestern nations referred to in the Aitreya Brahmana is illustrative only and, by no means, exhaustive since it does not mention other clans of the Trans-Himalayans like the Kambojas (i.e. Parama Kambojas)/Rishikas
etc who also had followed kingless (republic
an) constitution and also were located beyond Himalayan. It is also possible that the Kambojas may have been considered a part of the Uttaramadras/or the Uttarakurus and therefore, not mentioned separately in the Aitareya Brahmana list.
The foregoing discussion suggests that in the remote antiquity (Vedic age), a settlement of the Madras was located in Bahlika (Bactria
)--the western parts of the Oxus country. These Madras were, in fact, the Uttaramadras of the Aitareya Brahmana
(VIII/14). This also indicates that there was a very close affinity between the Uttaramadras, Uttarakurus and the Parama Kambojas--- all lying beyond the Himavantan i.e beyond Pamirs/Hindukush ranges. However, in 4th c BC, this Bahlika/Bactria came under Yavana/Greek
political control and thus the land started to be referenced as Bahlika-Yavana in some of ancient Sanskrit
texts.
and Mahabharata
etc, king Yayati
, the great grandson of Prurvasa Aila had five sons viz.: Yadu, Turvasa, Anu, Druhyu and Puru. Pruravasa Aila was, in turn, the grandson of Vaivasta Manu, the mythological
ancestor
of all royal families of the Indian traditions. The Lunar
line of Kshatriya
families of Indian traditions are believed to have originated from this Pruravasa Aila.
These Puranic accounts indicate that the Madras, Usinaras and Kekaya
s were the direct descendants of Yayati's son Anu .
Other scholars maintain that the Madras and other clan
s like Anga
s, Kalinga
s, Sauviras, Kambojas
, Sindhus and the Gandhara
s were offshoots of the Anu tribe
of the Rigveda
.
Researchers like Dr J. L. Kamboj, on the other hand, infer that the Kambojas, Gandharas and some other tribes of northwest (including the Madras) may have descended from the Druhyu tribe
of the Rigveda
.
Broadly speaking, these ancient traditions indicate that Anu was the author of Anu clan (Anavas), Yadu
of the Yadav
a clan, Turvasa of the Yavana and Turushaka clans, Puru
of the Paurava/Kaurava
clans and Druhyu of the clans like the Gandhara
s and other frontier clans of the north-west like Kambojas
, Madras etc.
However, it is very difficult to speak with confidence about these traditional accounts.
dynasty
which ruled in the 5th century CE in the neighborhood of Gaya (Bihar
) claims their descent from king Asvapati of Sakala
of Madra country of central Punjab
in northwest India. Their name is also referred to by Pāṇini in his Ashtadhyayi. There is a seal belonging to Maukhari family of the Mauryan period. An inscription dated 239 CE found in Kotah state refers to a military General from Maukhari family. There are four inscriptions engraved on stone yupas which show indicates there were many Maukhari families in Rajasthan in 3rd century CE. It is therefore possible that the Maukharis were a clan
of the Madras; and like the Kambojas
, they may also have been migrating and widely spreading over northern India.
s of northern and north-western India including the Arjunayans, Sivis, Malavas, Kunindas, Kulutas, Audumbras, Kambojas
, Yaudheyas etc were vanquished, subjugated or else destroyed by the Gupta rulers (4th century CE). There is evidence of Madras paying taxes to Gupta king Samudragupta
, as we learn from the fact that latter's imperious commands were fully gratified by the Madras and others giving all kinds of taxes and obeying his orders and coming to perform obeisance.
(770-810) of the Pala Dynasty
of Bengal who, with the connivance of the Madras and other northern powers, had dethroned Indraraja of Kanauja and placed Chakrayudha on the throne. It is also held by some that Dharmapala
had seized the lands of Bhoja
, Matsya
, Madra, Kuru, Yadu
, Yavana, Avanti
, Gandhara
, and Kira. It is interesting to note that there is no mention of the Kambojas
in the above list of the north-west kingdoms, but it seems that the term Gandhara itself included the Kamboja as well. This is because little later, king Devapala
(810—850), son of Dharmapala, had an encounter with the Hunas in north and then with the Kambojas in the north-west as is amply attested by the Monghyr Charter of Devapala. Benjamin Walker
writes: "Like their neighbours the Kambojas, the Madra people also migrated through the Gangetic plain towards Bengal, and we find them in the ninth century as allies of the Pala kings of Bengal (Vol I, p 59).
(Madai) as a branch of the Madra tribes, while some identify Media (Medes) with Uttaramadra referenced in the Aitreya Brahamana. Similarly, the Persian Achamenedae are also believed to be an offshoot from the Scythianised Kuru-Kamboja hordes, who outpoured from Kambysene of ancient Armenia.
of North India claiming descent from the ancient Madras is found in various form of Med/Mair Rajputs, in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Hariyana Punjab. Madrak
, Madrayana or Maderna gotra
Jats in western Rajasthan
in India. Parasram Maderna
is a famous political leader from Marwar
region. People belonging to Bhati
gotra associate themselves with both Ghazni
and Sialkot
and for this reason the Bhati gotra is accepted as a branch of Madrak
. Madra are also Jatt sikh people found in Ambala Distt of Haryana, and near Rajpura, Fatehgarh distt of Punjab and near Chandigarh.
Uttaramadra division
Aitareya BrahmanaAitareya Brahmana
The Aitareya Brahmana is the Brahmana of the Shakala shakha of the Rigveda, an ancient Indian collection of sacred hymns. This work, according to the tradition is ascribed to Mahidasa Aitareya.-Contents:...
makes first reference to the Madras as Uttaramadras i.e northern Madras and locates them in the trans-Himalayan region as neighbors to the Uttara Kurus. The Uttara Madras, like the Uttara Kurus, are stated to follow the republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
an constitution. The Uttara Madra country of Aitareya Brahmana is often identified with Bahlika (Bactria
Bactria
Bactria and also appears in the Zend Avesta as Bukhdi. It is the ancient name of a historical region located between south of the Amu Darya and west of the Indus River...
).
Madra divisions
As the name Uttara MadrasUttaramadra
The Uttaramadra was the northern branch of the Madra people who are numerously referenced in ancient Sanskrit and Pali literature.In Aitareya Brahmana , the Uttarakuru and the Uttaramadra tribes are stated to be living beyond Himalaya...
itself shows, there was yet another Madra group also, which obviously was living to the south of the Uttara Madras (northern Madras). These southern Madras were an offshoot from the Uttaramadras, a bulk of whom, probably under nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
ic pressure from north, migrated southwards and settled in Punjab
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
The post-Vedic, pre-Buddhist Brahmanical literature is overflowing with the names of tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
s. The most powerful among them, commanding the greatest respect, in the Madhyadesha (Middle country) was the Kuru-Panchala which incorporated the two families of Kuru and Puru
Puru
The Purus were a tribe, or a confederation of tribes, mentioned many times in the Rigveda, formed around 3180 BCE. RV 7.96.2 locates them at the banks of the Sarasvati River. There were several factions of Purus, one being the Bharatas...
(and the earlier Bhāratas
Bharatas
Bhāratas are an Aryan tribe mentioned in the Rigveda, especially in Mandala 3 attributed to the Bharata sage Vishvamitra. In the "river hymn" RV 3.33, the entire Bharata tribe is described as crossing a river. Bharatá is also used as a name of Agni Bhāratas are an Aryan tribe mentioned in the...
) and of which the Panchalas was a confederation of lesser-known tribes. They occupied the Upper Doab and the Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra is a land of historical and religious importance. Historically the land belonged to Punjab now a district in Haryana state of India. It is a holy place and is also known as Dharmakshetra . According to the Puranas, Kurukshetra is named after King Kuru, the ancestor of Kauravas and...
region. In the Prachya or east, the clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
s of Kasi, Kosala
Kosala
Kosala was an ancient Indian region, corresponding roughly in area with the region of Awadh in present day Uttar Pradesh. According to the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya and the Jaina text, the Bhagavati Sutra, Kosala was one of the Solasa Mahajanapadas in 6th century BCE and its cultural and...
and Magadha
Magadha
Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas or kingdoms in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganga; its first capital was Rajagriha then Pataliputra...
predominated. In the north-west or Uttarapatha
Uttarapatha
Ancient Buddhist and Hindu texts use Uttarapatha as the name of the northern part of Jambudvipa, one of the "continents" in Hindu mythology.The name is derived from the Sanskrit terms uttara, for north, and patha, for road...
division, the Kamboja
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
, Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
, and the Madra clans were the most important.
Pāṇini's Madras
Pāṇini documents the Madra janapada as a part of modern PunjabPunjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
country with capital at Sakala or Sagala
Sagala
Sagala or Sangala, the ancient Greek name for the modern city of Sialkot in present day Pakistan, was a city of located in northern Punjab, Pakistan...
, modern Sialkot
Sialkot
Sialkot is a city in Pakistan situated in the north-east of the Punjab province at the foothills of snow-covered peaks of Kashmir near the Chenab river. It is the capital of Sialkot District. The city is about north-west of Lahore and only a few kilometers from Indian-controlled Jammu.The...
. Pāṇini mentions two divisions of the Madras in Panjab or Vahika country i.e. the Purva (Eastern) Madras and the Apara (Western) Madras. The Purva-Madra extended from the Ravi
Ravi River
The Ravi is a trans-boundary river flowing through Northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. It is one of the six rivers of the Indus System in Punjab region ....
to Chenab and the Apara-Madra from Chenab to the Jhelum
Jhelum River
Jehlum River or Jhelum River , ) is a river that flows in India and Pakistan. It is the largest and most western of the five rivers of Punjab, and passes through Jhelum District...
. Thus, it appears probable that the Madras of Panjab had cultural interaction with Bahlika (Bactria) country, the land of the Uttara Madras. Some verses in the Mahabharata allude to this connection of the Madras with the Uttara Madras.
Madra was Bahika country
Madra was a part of the Bahika or Vahika country. Some hold that Madra was Vahika country. They held the central parts of Punjab — the region lying between river Chenab and RaviRavi River
The Ravi is a trans-boundary river flowing through Northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. It is one of the six rivers of the Indus System in Punjab region ....
. In epic period, they occupied the district of Sialkot. Pāṇini does not offer derivation of Bahika but Katyayana
Katyayana
Kātyāyana was a Sanskrit grammarian, mathematician and Vedic priest who lived in ancient India.-Works:He is known for two works:...
derives it from Bahis 'outer edge' with the suffix ikak. This agrees with Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
description of Bahika as the country of five rivers but was where Dharma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
was weak (dharma-bahya), devoid of religion (nashta-dharma) and impure (aśuchi).
Karna Parva of Mahabharata derives name Bahika from the names of two Pishachas or demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
s named Bahi and Hika (Bahi + hika = Bahika) living in river Vipasa (Beas
Beas River
The Beas River is a river in the northern part of India. The river rises in the Himalayas in central Himachal Pradesh, India, and flows for some 470 km to the Sutlej River in the Indian state of Punjab....
). The Bahikas or Vahikas i.e the people of Vahikas are the offspring of those two Pishacas. They are not creatures created by Prajapati.
Variants of Madra
Variants of Madra are also found as MadrakMadrak
Madrak is the name of ancient king of Āryāvarta, as per Vishnu Puran Madrak related to Anu Vansh. After a long time Madrak established as a lord of Sumerians and gotra of ancient Aryan royals. Madrak is lord of Aryan king Cyrus the great of Anushayan Aryavrata nowadays in Persian territory...
, Madraka, Bhadra, Bhadraka. It has been pointed out that Bhadras were located on Ghaggar near north-eastern border of Bikaner.
Mahabharata references
The Mahabharata refers to a king Vyusitashva of the PuruPuru
The Purus were a tribe, or a confederation of tribes, mentioned many times in the Rigveda, formed around 3180 BCE. RV 7.96.2 locates them at the banks of the Sarasvati River. There were several factions of Purus, one being the Bharatas...
family whose wife Bhadra bore seven sons--, four Madras and three Salvas. This tradition indicates that Salvas and Madras belonged to common stock and there were seven branches of one tribe. But Kasika and Vaijayanti refer to only six branches of the Salvas (and Madras) viz., Udumbras, Tilakhala, Bhulinga, Sardanda, Yugandhara and Madrakara. The above list apparently does not include all the branches of the Salvas and the Madras. Though there is no ancient reference to four branches of the Madras, Dr M. R. Singh has however suggested them to have been as Uttamabhadra, Sravanabhadra, Prabhadra and the Bhadra or Madra themselves. (Variants of Madra are also found as Bhadra, Madraka, Bhadraka and that Bhadraka and Madraka are transferable). Prabhadraka as an attribute has been used for the Parama-Kambojas
Parama Kamboja Kingdom
Parama Kamboja Kingdom was mentioned in the epic Mahabharata to be on the far north west along with the Bahlika, Uttara Madra and Uttara Kuru countries. It is thought to be modern day Tajikistan, a Central Asian Republic...
section who had sided with the Pandavas in the Kurukshetra war
Kurukshetra war
According to the Indian epic poem Mahābhārata, a dynastic succession struggle between two groups of cousins of an Indo-Aryan kingdom called Kuru, the Kauravas and Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapura resulted in the Kurukshetra War in which a number of ancient kingdoms participated as allies of...
against the Kauravas.
The Uttamabhadras
Uttamabhadras
The Uttamabhadras are an ancient Indian tribe described in the Mahabharata. They lived in the Punjab. Uttamabhadras originally were people of Balkh who had entered India in Vedic times. In Vedic times, they were closely related to Kurus and the Purus. In Kurukshetra war, we also find Madras...
lived in Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
, the Bhadrakas in modern Bhadra and Sravanabhadras are believed to have migrated from Kanyuakubja and settled in Malwa. Uttamabhadras originally were people of Balkh who had entered India in Vedic times. In Vedic times, they were closely related to Kurus and the Purus
Purus
The Purus is a tributary of the Amazon River in South America. Its drainage basin is , and the mean discharge is 8,400 m³/s.It enters the Amazon River west of the Madeira River, which it parallels as far south as the falls of the latter stream...
. In Kurukshetra war
Kurukshetra war
According to the Indian epic poem Mahābhārata, a dynastic succession struggle between two groups of cousins of an Indo-Aryan kingdom called Kuru, the Kauravas and Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapura resulted in the Kurukshetra War in which a number of ancient kingdoms participated as allies of...
, we also find Madras associated with the Kurus. King Shalya
Shalya
In the epic Mahabharata, King Shalya was the brother of Madri , as well as the ruler of Madra-desa or the kingdom of Madra. Thus, he was the maternal uncle of Nakula and Sahadeva and was loved and revered by the Pandavas. When he was young, he entered a competition among princes and nobilities to...
had taken part in the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
war, on behalf of the Kauravas.
Madri
Madri
In the Mahābhārata epic, Madri was a princess of the Madra kingdom and the second wife of Pandu.On his way to Hastinapur, King Pandu encountered the army of Shalya, King of Madra. Very soon, Pandu and Shalya became friends and Shalya gave his only sister, Madri to Pandu, as a gift of their...
, the wife of Pandu
Pandu
In the Mahābhārata epic, King Pandu is the son of Ambalika and Rishi Ved Vyasa. He is more popularly known as the father of the Pandavas and ruled Hastinapur.-Birth:...
king of Hastinapur and the mother of Pandava
Pandava
In the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, the Pandava are the five acknowledged sons of Pandu , by his two wives Kunti and Madri. Their names are Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Although, Karna is told by Lord Krishna that according to the laws and ethics he is the first son of Kunti making...
-putras Nakula
Nakula
Nakula, also spelt "Nakul" was one of the five Pandava brothers according to the epic Mahābhārata. Nakula and Sahadeva were fraternal twins born to Madri, who had invoked the Ashvins using a mantra for a son, the mantra shared by Kunti...
and Sahadeva
Sahadeva
Sahadeva was one of the five Pandava brothers according to the epic Mahābhārata. He was one of the twin sons of Madri, who invoked Ashvins using a mantra shared by Kunti for a son. His twin brother was named Nakula...
, was a Madra princess
Princess
Princess is the feminine form of prince . Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or his daughters....
daughter of the king of Madra. Madri has also been referred to as Bahliki i.e princess of Bahlika janapada/tribe and king Salya has been referred to as Bahlika-pungava i.e foremost among the Bahlikas. Madri has also been referred to as Bahliki i.e princess of Bahlika janapada/tribe and king Salya has been referred to as Bahlika-pungava i.e foremost among the Bahlikas. Epic also refers to king Ashvapati of Madra, the beloved of the Paura Janapadas, who was father of Savitri. King Vyusitashva was a descendant of Puru a famous king of Rigvedic times.
These references obviously connect the Vahika Madras to Bahlika i.e Bactria
Bactria
Bactria and also appears in the Zend Avesta as Bukhdi. It is the ancient name of a historical region located between south of the Amu Darya and west of the Indus River...
Madras i.e the Vedic Uttara-Madras or Uttamabhadras, which is known to have been the earliest settlement of the Madra people. It is also seen from the above references that initially Mahabharata had really high opinion of the Madras. But later, this view was changed since there are several later epic
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
references where the Madras have been severely downgraded. Every possible ill word has been spoken against them.
In Karna Parva of Mahabharata, Karna
Karna
Karna or Radheya is one of the central characters in the epic Mahābhārata, from ancient India. He was the King of Anga...
specifically directs his wrath against Shalya
Shalya
In the epic Mahabharata, King Shalya was the brother of Madri , as well as the ruler of Madra-desa or the kingdom of Madra. Thus, he was the maternal uncle of Nakula and Sahadeva and was loved and revered by the Pandavas. When he was young, he entered a competition among princes and nobilities to...
who was from Madra, and ridicules the region he was from. Karna calls the Madra men and women as "scum" of humanity. See link .
Adi Parava of Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
says that Madra princes had attended Draupadi's self-choice (Swayamvara) ceremony along with the other princes of neighbouring kingdoms from northwest. Thus prince Shalya, the king of Madra Kingdom
Madra Kingdom
Madra Kingdom was a kingdom grouped among the western kingdoms in the epic Mahabharata. Its capital was Sagala, modern Sialkot . The Kuru king Pandu's second wife was from Madra kingdom and was called Madri. The Pandava twins, Nakula and Sahadeva, were her sons. Madri's brother Shalya was the king...
, with his son, the heroic Rukmangada, Rukmaratha, Somadatta (king of Bahlika Kingdom) of the Kuru race with his three sons - Bhuri, Bhurisrava, and Sala and Sudakshina Kamboja
Sudakshina Kamboja
Sudakshina was a king of the Kambojas, mentioned in theMahābhārata as fighting on the side of the Kauravas and being slain by Arjuna....
the arch-bowman (dridhadhanva) of the Puru
Puru
The Purus were a tribe, or a confederation of tribes, mentioned many times in the Rigveda, formed around 3180 BCE. RV 7.96.2 locates them at the banks of the Sarasvati River. There were several factions of Purus, one being the Bharatas...
race had participated in the Draupidi swayamvara See Ganguli's Trans: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01189.htm.
Karna
Karna
Karna or Radheya is one of the central characters in the epic Mahābhārata, from ancient India. He was the King of Anga...
had fought with and vanquished the Madrakas, Kekaya
Kekaya
Kekayas or Kaikeyas were an ancient people attested to have been living in north-western Punjab—between Gandhara and Beas river since remote antiquity. They were the descendants of the Kshatriyas of the Kekaya Janapada hence called Kekayas or Kaikeyas...
s, Kambojas
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
, Avanti
Avanti (India)
Avanti was an ancient Indian janapada , roughly corresponded to the present day Malwa region. According to the Buddhist text, the Anguttara Nikaya, Avanti was one of the solasa mahajanapadas of the 6th century BCE...
s, Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
s, Matsyas, Trigartas, Tanganas, Sakas, Panchala
Panchala
Panchala is an ancient region of northern India, which corresponds to the geographical area around the Ganges River and Yamuna River, the upper Gangetic plain in particular. This would encompass the modern-day states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. During the ancient times, it was home to a...
s, Videhas, Kulindas, Kasi, Kosala
Kosala
Kosala was an ancient Indian region, corresponding roughly in area with the region of Awadh in present day Uttar Pradesh. According to the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya and the Jaina text, the Bhagavati Sutra, Kosala was one of the Solasa Mahajanapadas in 6th century BCE and its cultural and...
s, Suhma, Anga
Anga
Anga was a kingdom that flourished on the eastern Indian subcontinent in the 6th century BCE until taken over by Magadha in the same century. Counted among the "sixteen great nations" in Buddhist texts like the Anguttara Nikaya, Anga also finds mention in the Jain Vyakhyaprajnapti’s list of...
, Vanga
Vanga
The vangas are a group of little-known small to medium-sized passerine birds restricted to Madagascar and the Comoros. They are usually classified as the family Vangidae. There are about 22 species, depending on taxonomy...
, Nishada, Kalinga
Kalinga
Kalinga is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Tabuk and borders Mountain Province to the south, Abra to the west, Isabela to the east, Cagayan to the northeast, and Apayao to the north...
Taralas, Asmakas
Asmaka Kingdom
Asmaka was a kingdom among the 16 Mahajanapadas mentioned in the Buddhist texts. All other kingdoms were in the north, from Vanga to Gandhara. Some believes that Asmaka was a colony of the Kambojas, and its earlier name was Aswaka...
, Rishikas
Rishikas
Rshikas were an ancient tribe living in the northern division of ancient India. They find references in the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Brhat Samhita, Markendeya Purana etc. Ashtadhyayi of Pāṇini does not mention the Rishikas, but Mahabhasya of Patanjali does make reference to this people. Mahabharata...
, Mlechchas and forest dwellers etc.
Madra king Shalya
Shalya
In the epic Mahabharata, King Shalya was the brother of Madri , as well as the ruler of Madra-desa or the kingdom of Madra. Thus, he was the maternal uncle of Nakula and Sahadeva and was loved and revered by the Pandavas. When he was young, he entered a competition among princes and nobilities to...
, came with an Akshouhini of troops to join the army of Pandavas, since youngest Pandavas, the twins Nakula
Nakula
Nakula, also spelt "Nakul" was one of the five Pandava brothers according to the epic Mahābhārata. Nakula and Sahadeva were fraternal twins born to Madri, who had invoked the Ashvins using a mantra for a son, the mantra shared by Kunti...
and Sahadeva
Sahadeva
Sahadeva was one of the five Pandava brothers according to the epic Mahābhārata. He was one of the twin sons of Madri, who invoked Ashvins using a mantra shared by Kunti for a son. His twin brother was named Nakula...
, were his nephews. It is stated that his troops marched slowly on every day from Madra (Punjab
Punjab (Pakistan)
Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan, with approximately 45% of the country's total population. Forming most of the Punjab region, the province is bordered by Kashmir to the north-east, the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east, the Pakistani province of Sindh to the...
province of Pakistan) to Upaplavya (somewhere in the border of Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
and Hariyana), the Matsya
Matsya Kingdom
Matsya or Machcha , classically called the Mese , was the name of a tribe and the state of the Vedic civilization of India. It lay to south of the kingdom of Kurus and west of the Yamuna which separated it from the kingdom of Panchalas...
city, where the Pandavas were camped. When his army reached Kurujangala (the kingdom of the Pandavas, the modern-day Hariyana), Duryodhana
Duryodhana
In the Hindu epic the Mahābhārata, Duryodhana is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari, the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers, Emperor of the world at that time which means Emperor of India or Bharatvarsha as it was known at that time, cousin and the chief...
's men shrewdly intercepted the army. Without revealing their identity, they received Shalya and his men, made tents for them and refreshed them with all the comforts. By the time the truth surfaced, Shalya
Shalya
In the epic Mahabharata, King Shalya was the brother of Madri , as well as the ruler of Madra-desa or the kingdom of Madra. Thus, he was the maternal uncle of Nakula and Sahadeva and was loved and revered by the Pandavas. When he was young, he entered a competition among princes and nobilities to...
had already become indebted to battle for Duryodhana
Duryodhana
In the Hindu epic the Mahābhārata, Duryodhana is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari, the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers, Emperor of the world at that time which means Emperor of India or Bharatvarsha as it was known at that time, cousin and the chief...
's sake. Madra army had battled along with other armies of north-west including the Trigartas
Trigarta Kingdom
Trigarta was a kingdom mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. Mahabharata mentions two different Trigarta kingdoms, one in the west close to the Sivi Kingdom and the other north to the Kuru Kingdom. Modern Kangra district is one of the ancient town in North Trigarta, India, extending westward to the...
, the Kekeyas
Kekeya Kingdom
Kekeya is a kingdom grouped among the western kingdoms in the epic Mahabharata. The epic Ramayana also mentions Kekeya as a western kingdom. One of the wives of Dasaratha, the king of Kosala and father of Raghava Rama, was from Kekeya kingdom and was known as Kaikeyi...
, the Gandharas
Gandhara Kingdom
Gandhara is a kingdom grouped among the western kingdoms in the epic Mahabharata. The epic Ramayana also mentions it as a western kingdom. Gandhara prince Sakuni was the root of all the conspiracies of Duryodhana against the Pandavas, which finally resulted in the Kurukshetra War. Sakuni's sister...
, the Kambojas, the Yavanas
Yavana Kingdom
Yavana or Yona is grouped under western countries along with Sindhu, Madra, Kekeya, Gandhara and Kamboja as per the descriptions in the epic Mahabharata. In later history, this word was used to indicate the Greeks and the Arabs, leading to much confusion....
, the Shakas, Tusharas, Khasas
Khasas
The Khasas / Khas or Khasiyas are an ancient people, believed to be a section of the Indo-Iranians who originally belonged to Central Asia from where they had penetrated, in remote antiquity, the Himalayas through Kashgar and Kashmir and dominated the whole hilly region...
and Daradas
Daradas
Daradas were a people who lived north and north-east to the Kashmir valley. This kingdom is identified to be the Gilgit region in Kashmir along the river Sindhu or Indus. They are often spoken along with the Kambojas...
(all these latter six armies had fought under General Sudakshina Kamboja
Sudakshina Kamboja
Sudakshina was a king of the Kambojas, mentioned in theMahābhārata as fighting on the side of the Kauravas and being slain by Arjuna....
), the Sindhus
Sindhu Kingdom
Sindhu&sandhu was a kingdom mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. It stretched along the banks of river Sindhu in the Ancient Greater India, which is now Pakistan. It is believed that Sindhu kingdom was founded by Vrsadarbh, one of sons of Sivi...
, the Sauviras
Sauvira Kingdom
Sauvira was a kingdom mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. According to the epic, Jayadratha was the king of Sindhus, Sauviras and Sivis. Probably Sauvira and Sivi were two kingdoms close to the Sindhu kingdom and Jayadratha conquered them. Jayadratha was an ally of Duryodhana and husband of...
, the Amvasthas etc. King Shalya was the last Generalismo of the Kaurava
Kaurava
The term Kaurava is a Sanskrit term, that means the descendants of Kuru, a legendary king who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the Mahābhārata.The term is used in the Mahābhārata with two meanings:...
army and was slain by Yudhisthira
Yudhisthira
In the great Hindu epic Mahabharata, Yudhisthira , the eldest son of King Pandu and Queen Kunti, was king of Indraprastha and later of Hastinapura. He was the leader of the Pandava side in the Kurukshetra War...
on the last day of the Kurukshetra war
Kurukshetra war
According to the Indian epic poem Mahābhārata, a dynastic succession struggle between two groups of cousins of an Indo-Aryan kingdom called Kuru, the Kauravas and Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapura resulted in the Kurukshetra War in which a number of ancient kingdoms participated as allies of...
.
Bhagavata Purana and the Madras
Bhagvatam Purana attests that the prince of Madra along with princes from MatsyaMatsya
Matsya was the first Avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism. The great flood finds mention in Hindu mythology texts like the Satapatha Brahmana, where in the Matsya Avatar takes place to save the pious and the first man, Manu and advices him to build a giant boat.-The Legend:According to the Matsya...
, Usinara, Kosala
Kosala
Kosala was an ancient Indian region, corresponding roughly in area with the region of Awadh in present day Uttar Pradesh. According to the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya and the Jaina text, the Bhagavati Sutra, Kosala was one of the Solasa Mahajanapadas in 6th century BCE and its cultural and...
, Vidharbha, Kuru, Srnjaya, Kamboja, Kekaya
Kekaya
Kekayas or Kaikeyas were an ancient people attested to have been living in north-western Punjab—between Gandhara and Beas river since remote antiquity. They were the descendants of the Kshatriyas of the Kekaya Janapada hence called Kekayas or Kaikeyas...
, Kunti, Anarta, Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
was present at Samanta-pancaka at the occasion of the solar eclipse. http://vedabase.net/sb/10/82/12-13/en
Valmiki Ramayana on the Madras
Kishkindha Kanda of ValmikiValmiki
Valmiki is celebrated as the poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature. He is the author of the epic Ramayana, based on the attribution in the text of the epic itself. He is revered as the Adi Kavi, which means First Poet, for he discovered the first śloka i.e...
Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
says that Sugriva
Sugriva
In the Hindu epic Ramayana, Sugriva , also spelled Sugreeva or Sugreev, was the younger brother of Bali, whom he succeeded as ruler of the vanara or monkey kingdom Kishkindha. Ruma was his wife. He was the son of Surya, the Hindu deity of the sun...
had sent his persons to search Sita
SITA
SITA is a multinational information technology company specialising in providing IT and telecommunication services to the air transport industry...
in various lands of the Uttarapatha
Uttarapatha
Ancient Buddhist and Hindu texts use Uttarapatha as the name of the northern part of Jambudvipa, one of the "continents" in Hindu mythology.The name is derived from the Sanskrit terms uttara, for north, and patha, for road...
including the Madras. Thus, Sugriva directs his detectives to search Sita in the countries of the Mlecchas, the Pulindas, the Shurashenas
Surasena
Surasena was an ancient Indian region corresponding to the present-day Braj region in Uttar Pradesh. According to the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya, Surasena was one of the solasa Mahajanapadas in 6th century BCE The ancient Greek writers refer the region as Sourasenoi and mention its capital...
, the Prasthalas, the Bharatas, the Kurus, the Madrakas, the Kambojas
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
, the Yavanas along with the countries of the Shakas and the Paradas and also the Himalayas.
Kautilya Arthashasta on the Madras
Fourth century BCE ArthashastraArthashastra
The Arthashastra is an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy which identifies its author by the names Kautilya and , who are traditionally identified with The Arthashastra (IAST: Arthaśāstra) is an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy and...
of Kautiliya refers to the Madras as following republican constitution. It refers to Licchivika, Vrjika, Malla
Malla (India)
Malla was one of the solasa mahajanapadas of ancient India mentioned in the Anguttara Nikaya. It was named after the ruling clan of the same name. The Mahabharata mentions the territory as the Mallarashtra . The Malla mahajanapada was situated north of Magadha. It was a small mahajanapada...
ka, Madraka, Kukura, Kuru, and Panchala
Panchala
Panchala is an ancient region of northern India, which corresponds to the geographical area around the Ganges River and Yamuna River, the upper Gangetic plain in particular. This would encompass the modern-day states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. During the ancient times, it was home to a...
etc and labels them as Raja-shabd-opajivin class (i.e living by the title of Raja) while referring to the Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
Shrenis (warrior-bands) of the Kambojas
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
and Surashtras
Saurashtra language
Sourashtra or "Sourashtras" or ꢱꣃꢬꢵꢰ꣄ꢜ꣄ꢬꢵ refers to a community of people who had their original homes in Gujarat and presently settled almost in all major Towns of Tamil Nadu and are concentrated more in Madurai which is considered as their cultural Headquarters.They have also settled in...
it styles them as varta-shastr-opajivin class (i.e. living by the profession of arms and varta).
Madras in Puranic literature
Vishnu PuranaVishnu Purana
The Vishnu Purana is a religious Hindu text and one of the eighteen Mahapuranas. It is considered one of the most important Puranas and has been given the name Puranaratna...
mentions the Madra along with Arama, Parasika and others. In Matsya Purana
Matsya Purana
Matsya Purana is the sixteenth purana of the Hindu scriptures. During the period of mahapralaya, Lord Vishnu had taken Matsya Avatar to save the seeds of all lives and Manu...
, the Madras find mention with Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
s, Yavanas and others. In the same Purana, a reference is also made to king Asvapati of Sakala
Sagala
Sagala or Sangala, the ancient Greek name for the modern city of Sialkot in present day Pakistan, was a city of located in northern Punjab, Pakistan...
in the country of Madra.
Matrimonial customs of the Madras
MahabharataMahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
attests that it was a custom among the Madras to give their daughters in marriage on taking a fee (shulka). This was their family custom. Pandu
Pandu
In the Mahābhārata epic, King Pandu is the son of Ambalika and Rishi Ved Vyasa. He is more popularly known as the father of the Pandavas and ruled Hastinapur.-Birth:...
, the Kuru prince
Prince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
had also to pay fee for marrying Madri, the princess from Madra.
Madra princesses were favored
The beauty of Madra women, like those others from the northwest including the KambojaKambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
, Uttarakuru
Uttarakuru
Uttarakuru is the name of a dvipa in ancient Hindu and Buddhist mythology. The Uttarakuru country and its people are sometimes described as belonging to the real world, whereas at other times they are mythical or otherworldly spiritual beings.-Vedic literature:Aitareya Brahmana makes first...
was proverbial. Buddhist literature calls Madra-Desha as the store-house of beautiful ladies (maddaratham nama itthagaro). The Madra women are characterized as "white" in the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
(VIII). Buddhist Jataka
Jataka
The Jātakas refer to a voluminous body of literature native to India concerning the previous births of the Buddha....
s bear ample tesimony that Madra princesses were sought after in marriage by the great Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
houses of northern and western India. Sumangala-Vilasini attests that the wife of a Chakravarti comes either from Uttarakuru
Uttarakuru
Uttarakuru is the name of a dvipa in ancient Hindu and Buddhist mythology. The Uttarakuru country and its people are sometimes described as belonging to the real world, whereas at other times they are mythical or otherworldly spiritual beings.-Vedic literature:Aitareya Brahmana makes first...
or from Madda (Madra) and Uttaramadra
Uttaramadra
The Uttaramadra was the northern branch of the Madra people who are numerously referenced in ancient Sanskrit and Pali literature.In Aitareya Brahmana , the Uttarakuru and the Uttaramadra tribes are stated to be living beyond Himalaya...
. Bhadra, wife of Kalpana of Pippali Manavaka was a beautiful maiden from Madra. Pabhavati, a beautiful princess
Princess
Princess is the feminine form of prince . Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or his daughters....
of Madra was married to prince Kusa, son of Okkaka, of Ikshvaku
Ikshvaku
Ikshvaku pāli: Okkāka) was the first king of the Ikshvaku dynasty and founder of the Solar Dynasty of Kshatriyas in Vedic civilization in ancient India.-In Hinduism:He is remembered in Hindu scriptures as a righteous and glorious king...
royal family of Benares. Even a prince of royal house of Kalinga
Kalinga
Kalinga is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Tabuk and borders Mountain Province to the south, Abra to the west, Isabela to the east, Cagayan to the northeast, and Apayao to the north...
in the far east sought the hand of a princess of Madra country as is attested by Kalinga Bodhi Jataka. Chandata Jataka also attests that the royal houses of Madra and Benares were allied with each other through matrimony. According to Mahavamsa
Mahavamsa
The Mahavamsa is a historical poem written in the Pali language, of the kings of Sri Lanka...
, on the death of Sihabahu of Sinhapura (Lala Rattha = Lata Rashtra = Latadesa = Gujarat), his son Summita became king of Lata. He married a Madra princess by whom he had three sons. Khema, one of the three queen
Queen regnant
A queen regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right, in contrast to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigning king. An empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right over an empire....
s of Bimbisara
Bimbisara
Bimbisara was a King, and later, Emperor of the Magadha empire from 543 BC to his death and belonged to the Hariyanka dynasty.-Career:There are many accounts of Bimbisara in the Jain texts and the Buddhist Jatakas, since he was a contemporary of Mahavira and Gautama Buddha. He was the king of...
(reign 544-491 BCE), the ruler of the Magadha
Magadha
Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas or kingdoms in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganga; its first capital was Rajagriha then Pataliputra...
from the Haryanka dynasty
Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...
was also a princess from the Madra clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
. And of course, princess Madri, sister of king Shalya
Shalya
In the epic Mahabharata, King Shalya was the brother of Madri , as well as the ruler of Madra-desa or the kingdom of Madra. Thus, he was the maternal uncle of Nakula and Sahadeva and was loved and revered by the Pandavas. When he was young, he entered a competition among princes and nobilities to...
of Madra was also married to Pandu
Pandu
In the Mahābhārata epic, King Pandu is the son of Ambalika and Rishi Ved Vyasa. He is more popularly known as the father of the Pandavas and ruled Hastinapur.-Birth:...
, the Kuru prince of Hastinapur.
Uttaramadra-Uttarakuru-Parama Kamboja connections
Vamsa Brahamana of the Sama Veda refers to one RsiRishi
Rishi denotes the composers of Vedic hymns. However, according to post-Vedic tradition, the rishi is a "seer" to whom the Vedas were "originally revealed" through states of higher consciousness. The rishis were prominent when Vedic Hinduism took shape, as far back as some three thousand years...
Madragara Shaungayani as the teacher of Aupamanyava Kamboja. As the name itself suggests, and as the scholars have rightly stated, Rsi Madragara Shaungayani belonged to Madra tribe. Dr Keith and Dr Macdonnel, the authors of Vedic Index, as also Dr H Zimmer and numerous other scholars postulate a possible connection between the Madras i.e. the Uttaramadras and the Trans-Hindukush Kambojas
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
. Dr Jain also observes: "Kamboja Aupamanyava, pupil of Madragara, is mentioned in the Vamsa Brahmana. This points to a possible relationship of the Madras or more probably of the Uttaramasdras with the Kambojas, who probably had Indian as well as Iranian affinities" . Since both these people were a very close neighbors in the north-western part of ancient India, such connections were but natural. According to Dr Jean Przylusky, the Bahlika (Balkh
Balkh
Balkh , was an ancient city and centre of Zoroastrianism in what is now northern Afghanistan. Today it is a small town in the province of Balkh, about 20 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, and some south of the Amu Darya. It was one of the major cities of Khorasan...
) was a settlement of the Madras who were known as Bahlika-Uttaramadras.
In his Harsha-Carita, Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
scholar Bana Bhatta, the court poet of king Harsha Vardhana of Thanesar
Thanesar
Thanesar is an old and historic town on the banks of the Sarsawati Ghaggar river in the state of Haryana in northern India. It is located in Kurukshetra District, approximately 160 km northwest of Delhi...
makes reference to the horses from Kamboja. And the Commentator on Harsha-Carita in his commentary reveals to us that KAMBOJAH BAHLIKA DESAJAH, i.e the Kambojas belonged to/originated from Bahlika-desa (Bactria
Bactria
Bactria and also appears in the Zend Avesta as Bukhdi. It is the ancient name of a historical region located between south of the Amu Darya and west of the Indus River...
in north Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
). Furthermore, The Yasastilaka, a Jaina
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
work, one of the best known champus in Sanskrit, composed by Somadeva Suri (959 A. D.) too identifies ancient Kamboja with Bahlika-desa. This ancient evidence indicates that Bahlika (Bactria
Bactria
Bactria and also appears in the Zend Avesta as Bukhdi. It is the ancient name of a historical region located between south of the Amu Darya and west of the Indus River...
) (the land of Madras i.e the Uttaramadras) or its eastern parts may have formed parts of ancient Kamboja
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
, and that both these people were a close neighbors and possibly of an allied stock. According to Nanimadhab Chaudhuri, the Kambojas who were settled to the north-west of the Indus were connected with the Madras and they were probably a branch of the Uttaramadras.
Atharvaveda-Parisita also juxtaposes the Kambojas with the Bahlikas (i.e ..Madras..).
Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
also closely allies the Bahlikas and the Kambojas and further places them in alliance with Transoxiana
Transoxiana
Transoxiana is the ancient name used for the portion of Central Asia corresponding approximately with modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, southern Kyrgystan and southwest Kazakhstan. Geographically, it is the region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers...
Sakas.
Valmiki
Valmiki
Valmiki is celebrated as the poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature. He is the author of the epic Ramayana, based on the attribution in the text of the epic itself. He is revered as the Adi Kavi, which means First Poet, for he discovered the first śloka i.e...
Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
also mentions the Kamboja and the Bahlika in the same breath.
Aitareya Brahmana
Aitareya Brahmana
The Aitareya Brahmana is the Brahmana of the Shakala shakha of the Rigveda, an ancient Indian collection of sacred hymns. This work, according to the tradition is ascribed to Mahidasa Aitareya.-Contents:...
refers to the nations of Uttarapatha
Uttarapatha
Ancient Buddhist and Hindu texts use Uttarapatha as the name of the northern part of Jambudvipa, one of the "continents" in Hindu mythology.The name is derived from the Sanskrit terms uttara, for north, and patha, for road...
(northwest) and mentions the Uttaramadras and Uttarakurus as the tribes following a vairajiya (kingless) constitution. The same text also tells us that these nations lay beyond the Himalaya (i.e Parena himavantam) where Himalaya here is said to refer to Pamirs
Pamir Mountains
The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range in Central Asia formed by the junction or knot of the Himalayas, Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush ranges. They are among the world’s highest mountains and since Victorian times they have been known as the "Roof of the World" a probable...
/Hindukush ranges. It has been pointed out that the list of the northwestern nations referred to in the Aitreya Brahmana is illustrative only and, by no means, exhaustive since it does not mention other clans of the Trans-Himalayans like the Kambojas (i.e. Parama Kambojas)/Rishikas
Rishikas
Rshikas were an ancient tribe living in the northern division of ancient India. They find references in the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Brhat Samhita, Markendeya Purana etc. Ashtadhyayi of Pāṇini does not mention the Rishikas, but Mahabhasya of Patanjali does make reference to this people. Mahabharata...
etc who also had followed kingless (republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
an) constitution and also were located beyond Himalayan. It is also possible that the Kambojas may have been considered a part of the Uttaramadras/or the Uttarakurus and therefore, not mentioned separately in the Aitareya Brahmana list.
The foregoing discussion suggests that in the remote antiquity (Vedic age), a settlement of the Madras was located in Bahlika (Bactria
Bactria
Bactria and also appears in the Zend Avesta as Bukhdi. It is the ancient name of a historical region located between south of the Amu Darya and west of the Indus River...
)--the western parts of the Oxus country. These Madras were, in fact, the Uttaramadras of the Aitareya Brahmana
Aitareya Brahmana
The Aitareya Brahmana is the Brahmana of the Shakala shakha of the Rigveda, an ancient Indian collection of sacred hymns. This work, according to the tradition is ascribed to Mahidasa Aitareya.-Contents:...
(VIII/14). This also indicates that there was a very close affinity between the Uttaramadras, Uttarakurus and the Parama Kambojas--- all lying beyond the Himavantan i.e beyond Pamirs/Hindukush ranges. However, in 4th c BC, this Bahlika/Bactria came under Yavana/Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
political control and thus the land started to be referenced as Bahlika-Yavana in some of ancient Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
texts.
Origin of Madras: traditional accounts
According to another traditional account preserved in the PuranasPuranas
The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...
and Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
etc, king Yayati
Yayati
Yayati was a Puranic king and the son of king Nahusha and one of ancestors of Pandavas. He was a great scholar of Vedas. He had five brothers, Yati, Samyati, Ayati, Viyati and Kriti. He had two wives, Devayani and Sharmishtha. Devayani was the daughter of Shukracharya, the priest of Asuras ....
, the great grandson of Prurvasa Aila had five sons viz.: Yadu, Turvasa, Anu, Druhyu and Puru. Pruravasa Aila was, in turn, the grandson of Vaivasta Manu, the mythological
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
ancestor
Ancestor
An ancestor is a parent or the parent of an ancestor ....
of all royal families of the Indian traditions. The Lunar
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
line of Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
families of Indian traditions are believed to have originated from this Pruravasa Aila.
These Puranic accounts indicate that the Madras, Usinaras and Kekaya
Kekaya
Kekayas or Kaikeyas were an ancient people attested to have been living in north-western Punjab—between Gandhara and Beas river since remote antiquity. They were the descendants of the Kshatriyas of the Kekaya Janapada hence called Kekayas or Kaikeyas...
s were the direct descendants of Yayati's son Anu .
Other scholars maintain that the Madras and other clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
s like Anga
Anga
Anga was a kingdom that flourished on the eastern Indian subcontinent in the 6th century BCE until taken over by Magadha in the same century. Counted among the "sixteen great nations" in Buddhist texts like the Anguttara Nikaya, Anga also finds mention in the Jain Vyakhyaprajnapti’s list of...
s, Kalinga
Kalinga
Kalinga is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Tabuk and borders Mountain Province to the south, Abra to the west, Isabela to the east, Cagayan to the northeast, and Apayao to the north...
s, Sauviras, Kambojas
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
, Sindhus and the Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
s were offshoots of the Anu tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
of the Rigveda
Rigveda
The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...
.
Researchers like Dr J. L. Kamboj, on the other hand, infer that the Kambojas, Gandharas and some other tribes of northwest (including the Madras) may have descended from the Druhyu tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
of the Rigveda
Rigveda
The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...
.
Broadly speaking, these ancient traditions indicate that Anu was the author of Anu clan (Anavas), Yadu
Yadu
Yadu is one of the five Indo-Aryan tribes mentioned in the Rig Veda . The Mahabharata, the Harivamsha and the Puranas mention Yadu as the eldest son of king Yayati and his queen Devayani. The prince of King Yayati, Yadu was a self-respecting and a very established ruler...
of the Yadav
Yadav
Yādav refers to an umbrella group of traditionally non-elite pastoral communities, or castes, in India and Nepal which since the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has claimed descent from the mythological King Yadu as a part of a movement of social and political resurgence.The term 'Yadav' now...
a clan, Turvasa of the Yavana and Turushaka clans, Puru
Puru
The Purus were a tribe, or a confederation of tribes, mentioned many times in the Rigveda, formed around 3180 BCE. RV 7.96.2 locates them at the banks of the Sarasvati River. There were several factions of Purus, one being the Bharatas...
of the Paurava/Kaurava
Kaurava
The term Kaurava is a Sanskrit term, that means the descendants of Kuru, a legendary king who is the ancestor of many of the characters of the Mahābhārata.The term is used in the Mahābhārata with two meanings:...
clans and Druhyu of the clans like the Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
s and other frontier clans of the north-west like Kambojas
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
, Madras etc.
However, it is very difficult to speak with confidence about these traditional accounts.
Maukharis descent from the Madras?
The MaukhariMaukhari
The Maukhari Dynasty, classically called the Megar Dynasty, was a royal Indian dynasty that controlled vast areas of Northern India for over six generations. They earlier served as vassals of the Guptas as well as related to Harsha and his short-lived Vardhan dynasty. The Maukhari's established...
dynasty
Dynasty
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...
which ruled in the 5th century CE in the neighborhood of Gaya (Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
) claims their descent from king Asvapati of Sakala
Sagala
Sagala or Sangala, the ancient Greek name for the modern city of Sialkot in present day Pakistan, was a city of located in northern Punjab, Pakistan...
of Madra country of central Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
in northwest India. Their name is also referred to by Pāṇini in his Ashtadhyayi. There is a seal belonging to Maukhari family of the Mauryan period. An inscription dated 239 CE found in Kotah state refers to a military General from Maukhari family. There are four inscriptions engraved on stone yupas which show indicates there were many Maukhari families in Rajasthan in 3rd century CE. It is therefore possible that the Maukharis were a clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
of the Madras; and like the Kambojas
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
, they may also have been migrating and widely spreading over northern India.
Madras pay taxes to the Guptas
The Madras and several other republicRepublic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
s of northern and north-western India including the Arjunayans, Sivis, Malavas, Kunindas, Kulutas, Audumbras, Kambojas
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
, Yaudheyas etc were vanquished, subjugated or else destroyed by the Gupta rulers (4th century CE). There is evidence of Madras paying taxes to Gupta king Samudragupta
Samudragupta
Samudragupta , ruler of the Gupta Empire , and successor to Chandragupta I, is considered to be one of the greatest military geniuses in Indian history according to Historian V. A. Smith. His name is taken to be a title acquired by his conquests...
, as we learn from the fact that latter's imperious commands were fully gratified by the Madras and others giving all kinds of taxes and obeying his orders and coming to perform obeisance.
Madra and the Pala dynasty of Bengal
It appears that the kingdom of Madra continued till the 9th century when we find the Madras as the allies of DharmapalaDharmapala
In Vajrayana Buddhism, a dharmapāla is a type of wrathful deity. The name means "Dharma-defender" in Sanskrit, and the dharmapālas are also known as the Defenders of the Law , or the Protectors of the Law, in English....
(770-810) of the Pala Dynasty
Pala Empire
The Pāla Empire was one of the major middle kingdoms of India existed from 750–1174 CE. It was ruled by a Buddhist dynasty from Bengal in the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, all the rulers bearing names ending with the suffix Pala , which means protector. The Palas were often described...
of Bengal who, with the connivance of the Madras and other northern powers, had dethroned Indraraja of Kanauja and placed Chakrayudha on the throne. It is also held by some that Dharmapala
Dharmapala of Bengal
Dharama Pala was the second ruler of the Pala Empire of Bengal region in the Indian Subcontinent. He was the son and succeessor of Gopala , the founder of the Pala Dynasty. He greatly expanded the boundaries of the Pala Empire founded by his father and made the Palas the most dominant power in...
had seized the lands of Bhoja
Bhoja
Bhoja was a philosopher king and polymath of medieval India, who ruled the kingdom of Malwa in central India from about 1000 to 1050 CE. Also known as Raja Bhoja Of Dhar, he belonged to the Paramara dynasty...
, Matsya
Matsya
Matsya was the first Avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism. The great flood finds mention in Hindu mythology texts like the Satapatha Brahmana, where in the Matsya Avatar takes place to save the pious and the first man, Manu and advices him to build a giant boat.-The Legend:According to the Matsya...
, Madra, Kuru, Yadu
Yadu
Yadu is one of the five Indo-Aryan tribes mentioned in the Rig Veda . The Mahabharata, the Harivamsha and the Puranas mention Yadu as the eldest son of king Yayati and his queen Devayani. The prince of King Yayati, Yadu was a self-respecting and a very established ruler...
, Yavana, Avanti
Avanti (India)
Avanti was an ancient Indian janapada , roughly corresponded to the present day Malwa region. According to the Buddhist text, the Anguttara Nikaya, Avanti was one of the solasa mahajanapadas of the 6th century BCE...
, Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
, and Kira. It is interesting to note that there is no mention of the Kambojas
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
in the above list of the north-west kingdoms, but it seems that the term Gandhara itself included the Kamboja as well. This is because little later, king Devapala
Devapala
Deva Pala , was a powerful emperor from the Pala Empire of Bengal region in the Indian Subcontinent. He was the third king in the line and had succeeded his father, emperor Dharamapala...
(810—850), son of Dharmapala, had an encounter with the Hunas in north and then with the Kambojas in the north-west as is amply attested by the Monghyr Charter of Devapala. Benjamin Walker
Benjamin Walker
Benjamin Walker is the truncated pen name of George Benjamin Walker, who also writes under the pseudonym Jivan Bhakar...
writes: "Like their neighbours the Kambojas, the Madra people also migrated through the Gangetic plain towards Bengal, and we find them in the ninth century as allies of the Pala kings of Bengal (Vol I, p 59).
Madras vs Medes
Many scholars also identify the MedesMedes
The MedesThe Medes...
(Madai) as a branch of the Madra tribes, while some identify Media (Medes) with Uttaramadra referenced in the Aitreya Brahamana. Similarly, the Persian Achamenedae are also believed to be an offshoot from the Scythianised Kuru-Kamboja hordes, who outpoured from Kambysene of ancient Armenia.
Madras at present
A gotraGotra
In the Hindu society, the term Gotra broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor. Panini defines gotra for grammatical purposes as apatyam pautraprabhrti gotram , which means "the word gotra denotes the progeny beginning with the son's son"...
of North India claiming descent from the ancient Madras is found in various form of Med/Mair Rajputs, in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Hariyana Punjab. Madrak
Madrak
Madrak is the name of ancient king of Āryāvarta, as per Vishnu Puran Madrak related to Anu Vansh. After a long time Madrak established as a lord of Sumerians and gotra of ancient Aryan royals. Madrak is lord of Aryan king Cyrus the great of Anushayan Aryavrata nowadays in Persian territory...
, Madrayana or Maderna gotra
Gotra
In the Hindu society, the term Gotra broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor. Panini defines gotra for grammatical purposes as apatyam pautraprabhrti gotram , which means "the word gotra denotes the progeny beginning with the son's son"...
Jats in western Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
in India. Parasram Maderna
Parasram Maderna
Parasram Maderna is a leader of Indian National Congress from Rajasthan, India. He belongs to Lakshman nagar Village in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan...
is a famous political leader from Marwar
Marwar
Marwar is a region of southwestern Rajasthan state in western India. It lies partly in the Thar Desert. In Rajasthani dialect "wad" means a particular area. The word Marwar is derived from Sanskrit word 'Maruwat'. English translation of the word is 'The region of desert'., The Imperial Gazetteer...
region. People belonging to Bhati
Bhati
Bhati is one of the largest tribes of the Gujjars& Rajput. They claim descent from Krishna as an avatar of Vishnu, and thus identify themselves as a Chandravanshi Kshatriya clan. The Bhati trace their history to the desert principality of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, in the border villages of Bikaner...
gotra associate themselves with both Ghazni
Ghazni
For the Province of Ghazni see Ghazni ProvinceGhazni is a city in central-east Afghanistan with a population of about 141,000 people...
and Sialkot
Sialkot
Sialkot is a city in Pakistan situated in the north-east of the Punjab province at the foothills of snow-covered peaks of Kashmir near the Chenab river. It is the capital of Sialkot District. The city is about north-west of Lahore and only a few kilometers from Indian-controlled Jammu.The...
and for this reason the Bhati gotra is accepted as a branch of Madrak
Madrak
Madrak is the name of ancient king of Āryāvarta, as per Vishnu Puran Madrak related to Anu Vansh. After a long time Madrak established as a lord of Sumerians and gotra of ancient Aryan royals. Madrak is lord of Aryan king Cyrus the great of Anushayan Aryavrata nowadays in Persian territory...
. Madra are also Jatt sikh people found in Ambala Distt of Haryana, and near Rajpura, Fatehgarh distt of Punjab and near Chandigarh.
See also
- Uttaramadras
- Uttarakurus
- Kamboja Kingdom
- KambojasKambojasThe Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
- Parama Kambojas
- MadrakMadrakMadrak is the name of ancient king of Āryāvarta, as per Vishnu Puran Madrak related to Anu Vansh. After a long time Madrak established as a lord of Sumerians and gotra of ancient Aryan royals. Madrak is lord of Aryan king Cyrus the great of Anushayan Aryavrata nowadays in Persian territory...