A History of Sanskrit LiteratureMacdonell, Arthur Anthony
History
A History of Sanskrit Literature
Macdonell, Arthur Anthony
Sanskrit literature -- History and criticism
As to the Panchalas, we have seen that they represent the old
Krivis. It is, however, likely that the latter combined with several
small tribes to make up the later nation. A Brahmana passage contains
an indication that the Turvaças may have been one of these. Perhaps
the Yadus, generally associated with the Turvaças in the Rigveda, were
also one of them. The epic still preserves the name, in the patronymic
form of Yadava, as that of the race in which Krishna was born. The
name of the Panchalas itself (derived from pancha, five) seems to
indicate that this people consisted of an aggregate of five elements.
Some of the tribes mentioned in the Rigveda, however, maintained
their individual identity under their old names down to the epic
period. These were the Uçinaras, Srinjayas, Matsyas, and Chedis.
It is interesting to note that the Rigveda refers to a rich and
powerful prince called Ikshvaku. In the epic this name recurs as that
of a mighty king who ruled to the east of the Ganges in the city of
Ayodhya (Oudh) and was the founder of the Solar race.
It is clear from what has been said that the Vedic Aryans were split up
into numerous tribes, which, though conscious of their unity in race,
language, and religion, had no political cohesion. They occasionally
formed coalitions, it is true, but were just as often at war with one
another. The tribe, in fact, was the political unit, organised much
in the same way as the Afghans are at the present day, or the Germans
were in the time of Tacitus. The tribe (jana) consisted of a number of
settlements (viç), which again were formed of an aggregate of villages
(grama). The fighting organisation of the tribe appears to have been
based on these divisions. The houses forming the village seem to
have been built entirely of wood, as they still were in the time of
Megasthenes. In the midst of each house the domestic fire burnt. For
protection against foes or inundations, fortified enclosures (called
pur) were made on eminences. They consisted of earthworks strengthened
with a stockade, or occasionally with stone. There is nothing to show
that they were inhabited, much less that pur ever meant a town or city,
as it did in later times.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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