Notes

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Part One

SOME INSCRIPTIONAL REFERENCES TO ANCIENT KAMBOJAS IN ANCIENT SRI LANKA....THE MOST REFERENCED ETHNIC COMMUNITY IN THE SINHALESE INSCRIPTIONS BELONGING TO THIRD/SECOND CENTURY BCE

no. 622:

'Gamika-Kabojhaha lene'

The cave of the village-councillor Kamboja;

Paranavitana, 1970:

no. 623:

'Gamika-Siaa-putra gamika-Kabojhaha lene'

The cave of the village-councillor Kamboja, son of the village-councillor Siva'

Paranavitana, 1970:

(no. 625) (1)

'Cam ika-Siua-putra gamika-Kambojhaha jhitaya upasika-Sumanaya lene.'

The cave of the female laydevotee Sumana, daughter of the village-councillor Kamboja.

Dr. S. Paranavitana, 1970

(no 625) (2)

'gamika Kabojhaha ca sava-satasoyesamage pati'

The cave of the son of the village-councillor Siva. May there be the attainment of the Path of Beatitude for the village-councillor Kamboja and for all beings. 75 J. Bloch, 0950: 103, 130), ...

Dr. S. Paranavitana, 1970

(no. 553):

'Kabojhiya-mahapugiyana Manapadaiane agataanagat-catu-disa-agaia'

Manapadassana of the members of the Great Corporations of Kambojiyas, to the Saiügha of the four quarters, present and absent.

Dr. S. Paranavitana, 1970

(no. 990):

'Gota-Kabojhi(yana parumaka-Gopalaha bariya upasika-Citaya lepe iagaio'

The cave of the female lay-devotee Citta, wife of Gopala, the chief of the incorporated Kambojiyas, to the Saiügha.

Dr. S. Paranavitana, 1970

Mediaval age inscription, refering a KAMBOJA VASSALA (i.e Kamboja Dawara/or Kamboja gate) found from Polonnaruva near Vishnu temple.

Discovered in 1887 by S. M. Burros.

(Ref: Journal of Ceylone B Branch of Royal Asiatic Society., Vol X., X No 34, 1887, pp64-67).

Mediaval age inscription (1187-1193 AD), found from Ruvanveli Dagba, Anaradhapura in Sri Lanka.

It refers to Kambojdin people, which is modified version of Kamboja.

(Ref: Don Martino de Zilva Wickeremsinghe, Epigraphicia Zeylanka, Vol II., Part I & II., p 70-83; Rhys David, J.R.A.S. Vol VII., p 187, p 353f; Muller. E. AIC., No 145; J.R.A.S., Vol XV., 1914, pp 170-71).

See below the wording of this inscription written in Sinhali belended with Sanskrit.

'Nuvarata hatapsina sata gavaka pamanah tana haam satuna no narye hakhye abhaya di ber lava dolos meh va tana masuta abhaya de Kambojdin ran pili aadibhu kamati vastu de paksheen no badan niyayen samata kota abhaya dee'

See original text in the reference quoted below or in Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, p 354, Dr J. L. Kamboj).

(Epigraphia Zeylanka Vol II., p 80).

THE GRAMANIS OF THE WEST-INDUS MAY HAVE BEEN THE ANCESTORS OF MAJORITY OF SINHALESE POPULATION.

Not only the Brahmi inscriptions of Sri Lanka refer to the guilds/Sanghas/corporations (Puka/Pugas, Gote/Goshata) among Sri Lankan Kambojas but also they refewre to their republican titles like Gamika (=Gamini=Gramani) and Paramaka (Parmuka/Parmukha i.e chief of the Sanghas).

The Gramani as a royal title is not referred to in ancient Sanskrit literature. However, Gramani as a Puga/Sangha term is referred to in Panini's Ashtadhyayi. Also MBH makes references to Gramani people/Sangha located in west of river Indus. One Gramani group had organised themselves into a Puga (Sangha) and are referenced to have been living on west of Indus, first in Upper Indus and then the lower Indus, from where they appear to have moved to Gujarat/Surashtra and then finally some section of them onto Sri Lanka. The ethnic connections of these republican Gramaney people are not mentioned anywhere. Mahabharata refers to the fight of Nakula with these powerful Gramanis living on the banks of lower Indus in western India.

Sanskrit:

gananutsava sanketanvyajayatpurusharshabha .

sindhukulashrita ye cha gramaneya mahabalah .//8.

— (MBH 2/32/9)

The corrupted form of this Gramani of Indus is the Gamini or Gamika of the Brahami inscriptions abundantly found in Anuradhapura and some other locations in Sri Lanka.

Surprisingly, though not a royal title in India proper, the Gamani as a royal title (for king/raja) has been profusely used by ancient kings of Sinhala. The Gamini as a title/appellation was mostly applied to heads of trade guilds/corporations/Sanghas and also some-times to political Sanghas/Pugas in north-west as is the case of Lower Indus Gramanis of MBH. It appears likely that the ancestors of Sinhala either belonged to the above Republican Graminis or else they may have been closely connected with them (History of Ceylone, Vol I, Part I, p 91, Dr S Parnavitana; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, p 349-353, Dr Kamboj). All circumstantial evidence therefore indicates that the Gramanis of Mahabharata and of Panini's reference had moved from upper west Indus to lower Indus and then probably to Gujarat and finally, one section of them may have made it to Sri Lanka.

The existence of ancient well known Kamboja Dravati Caravan Route implies that the trader groups from Kamboja were familiar with ancient regions of Sindhu, Sovira, Surashtra and further the western Indian coastal areas as far as Sri Lanka. (see Kamboja-Dvarka ancient trade Route and the Kambojas)

Mahavamsa (6/34) states that ancestors of the Sinhalese came from Sinhala-kalpa or Sinhapura in Lata desha. Also there is mention that Vijay's father had left his maternal grand-father's country (Sinhapura) and had founded a new colony in Lata-rattha (=Lata Rashtra). We have already seen one Sinhapura located contiguous to Ursa/Hazara west of Jammu/Kashmir i.e near the ancient land of Kambojas/Gandharas.

The Gramanis refered to in MBH who are said to be living on Indus thus may well fit Vijay's migrant clan as refered to in Mahavamsa. Vijay's father may have moved from Upper Indus to lower Indus i.e in Lata-Desha/Surashtra, where a reference to Gramanis is also made in MBH. There is one Sinhore located in Kathiawada. In the Gift records of king Valbhi, this Sinhore has also been referred to as Sinhapura (Epigraphia Indica, XVII, p 110; also see Dr J. L. Kamboj). It is thus perfectly conceivable that the migrant clan of the Gramanis (probably same as that of Vijay's father) may have founded this town in Kathiawada/Surashtra several centuries prior to Christian era and may have named it also as Sinhapura in memory of their Sinhapura of Upper Indus.

It is stated that Vijay and his 700 companions had started off their sea vovage to Sri Lanka from Sinhapura in Lata-Desha and caravan is stated to have passed through Bharukachcha and Soparka sea ports located on west coast of India.

Thus this discussion may imply connections of Gramanis of lower Indus with Sinhapura of Upper Indus (neighbor to Kashmir/Hazara) as well as with the clan of Vijay Sinha's, the ancestor of Sinhalese.

Mahavamsa (6th c AD creation) states that the ancestors of Sinhalese i.e Vijay Simha was a prince, but Brahmi inscriptions of Sri Lanka rather allude to earlier Sinhalese settlers most likely as coming from some trader's group. Thus, Vijay Sinha's being a chief/leader/Sarthavaha of some carvan of the merchants/traders from north-west in the remote past is more likely a possibility. The group led by Vijay Sinha may have visited the island for purpose of trade but may have finally settled in the island and become its permanent residents.

These Anuradhapura inscriptions profusely refer to Gramani (Gamini, Gamini/Gamika) as a chief of trader's guild. In Pali texts, the tiltle appears as Sarthavaha. The Pramaka (Parmukha, Chief) used for the head of guild/corporations in these Brahmi inscriptions also points in the same direction.

All these terms (Gamika/Gamini/Gramani, Gote, Puga, Gote/Goshat etc) are pure republican in character and belong to north-west. And most interestingly, they are found to have been prevalent among ancient Kambojas groups (MBH, Kautiliya, Panini evidence). Thus, one can easily conceive that Vijay's clan may have been the same as that of the republic Gramaneys of lower Indus as referred to in MBH. And further, this Gramani clan had migrated from upper Indus to lower Indus, then to Surashtra/Kathiawada and finally a section of them had landed in Sinhala. And further, this clan may have been an offshoot from the Gandharan/Kambojan ethnic group...the former inhabitants of Sinhapura of Upper Indus. This is because the ancient Sinhalese inscriptions make numerous references to the Kambojas from north-west. No other ethnic group from North-west or north-east has been referred. The Meryas (=Mauryas..mentioned only once in the inscriptions) may have been migrants from Meros (of Arrian) ....the modern Koh-i-Mor of Swat/Kunar region. There is absoluterly no reference to Anga, Kalinga, Vanga, Gandhara or any other Aryan group of north-east or north-west India nor there is any reference to name Sinhala itself in these numerous inscriptions. The Milekas of the Sinhalese inscriptions (referenced twice) were the aborigines (Veddas). The other dominant group was the Daemedas (Tamilians) from Dravidian group from Southern India who find mention in three Inscriptions.

Mahavamsa was composed in 6th c AD, about 800-900 years from the date of these Inscriptions. Undoubtedly, Mahavamsa represents later conditions of Sinhala island when population from north-east India (second and later stream) had also come and settled in the Island. Unlike ancient cave inscriptions, Mahavamsa does make references to Anga, Vanga, Kalinga. But this is later phenomenon. And being literary traditions, the Mahavamsa may have been interpolated/re-written to reflect the later historical/political realities of the island. The absence of the name Anga, Kalinga, Vanga etc in these ancient inscriptions shows that there was as yet no population from the north-east India and north-easterners had only joined the north-west Aryan speaking group much later in time.

Thus the original stream of migrants, the so-called ancestors of the Sinhalese population, to Sinhala island were indeed from north-west and to all probability, they were from the Kambojan republican ethnic group.

The 'shaved-headed tradition' referred to in Mahavamsa about Vijay and his companions also alludes to their close connections with the north-west and especially with the shaved-headed Kambojan group. There are numerous other reasons which also point to north-west being the home of ancient Sinhalas.

David Parkin, and Ruth Barnes

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE ON SHIPPING COMMUNITIES

page 108/109

" The second category of beads which deserves attention, is those made from lapis lazuli, becamee the only known source for this material in antiquity was Badakhshan (in northern Afghanwestan). The author of the Periplus mentions lapis lazuli among the products exported from Barbaricum.72 This precious material doubtless travelled along the sea route to reach the southern coast of Sri Lanka. Hema Ratnayake (1993: 8Q.) has also observed that on a painted slab belonging to one of the frontispieces of the Jetavana stupa, there are traces of lapis lazuli underneath the line of geese. He dates it to the third century AD, to the reign of king Mahasena, who built this feature of the stupa. The intaglio depicting a seated wild boar, unearthed along with carnelian seals and beads from Akurugoda (Tissamaharama) on the southern coast of the island, is important in this context. . This type of wild boar is known on Sasanian intaglios.73 The presence of lapis lazuli on the southern coast of Sri Lanka cannot be an isolated event, because epigraphical evidence bears witness to the fact that this area had close relationships with the regions of Afghanistan. 'Kaboja' occurs as a proper name in three inscriptions from Koravakgala (Situlpavua) in the Hambantota District, on the southeastern part of the island, in ancient Rohana.74 S. Paranavitana (1970: xc) believed that the Kabojha, Kabojhiya and Kabojhika are to be connected with the ethnic name Kamboja, which occurrs in Sanskrit and Pali literature as well as in the Vth and Xlllth inscriptions of Asoka, Kabojhiya being equivalent to the derivative term Kambojiya and Kabojika to Kambojika.75 The Brahmi inscription from Bovattegala on the southern border of the Ampari District, a few miles from the northeast limit of the Hambantota District, also in ancient Rohana, refers to 'Kabojhiya-mahapugyiana' i.e.'those who were members of the great corporation of the 'Kabojhivas'.76 The Brahmi inscription from Kaduruvava in the Kurunagala District, to the southwest of Anuradhapura, mentions a parumaka (Chief) of the Gota-Kabojikana, i.e. of the corporation of the Kabojikas.77 These inscriptions indicate that the Kambojas had organised themselves into a corporations and were certainly engaged in trade. The Sihalavatthu, a Pali text of about the fourth century (on page 109) attests that a group of people called the Kambojas were in Rohana. In the third story of this text, called Metteyya-vatthu, we are informed that the Elder named Maleyya was residing in Kamboja-gama, in the province (janapada) of Rohana on the Island of Tambapanni.78 The Kambojas are often mentioned together with Yonas (Yavanas), Gandharas and Sakas. The Kambojas were a native population of Arachosia in the extreme west of the Mauryan empire, speaking a language of Iranian origin.79 The finds on the southern coast of the island of lapis lazuli from northern Afghanistan and various coins of Soter Megas, Kanishka II, Vasudeva II and posthumous Hermaios, all from Bactria and Northwest India, and the references to the Kambojas of Arachosia, compel us to believe that there were close relationships between Sri Lanka and the communities of Central Asia and North-West India. S. Paranavitana (1970: xci) did not exclude the possibility of the presence of Sakas in the island. His starting point was the inscription in Brahmi script, known as Anuradhapura Rock Ridge West of Lainkarama,so which refers to 'The flight of steps of Uttara, the Murundiya (Muridi-Utaraha seni). Since the epithet 'Muridi' is prefixed to the name '-Utara' (Skt. Uttara), S. Paranavitana believed that Muridi is a derivative of Muruda, which is the same as Murunda in the compound Saka-Murunda that occurs in the Allahabad inscription of Samudragupta. S. Konow (1929: XX), referring to the same inscription argued,S. Konow (1929: XX), referring to the same inscription argued, that murunda is almost certainly a Saka word meaning 'master', 'lord', and he argued that the word murunda has become synonymome with Saka, when applied to royalty. Apart from the coins, beads and intaglios, the contacts between Sri Lanka and the Gandhara region are revealed by other pieces of archaeological evidence from recent excavations at various sites. A fragment of a Gandhara Buddha statute in schisst, still unpublished, was unearthed from the excavations at at Jetavanarama. Most of the identified 'Hellenistic' and Greek-influenced pottery from the citadel of Anuradhapura, and from our recent excavations at Kelaniya appears to be from the Greek East, in other words, somewhere in Northwest India or Bactria.8' ..." Ships and the Development of Maritime Technology on the Indian Ocean, 2002,

Himanshu Prabha Ray, Norman Yoffee, Susan Alcock, Tom Dillehay, Stephen Shennan, Carla Sinopoli.

THE MERCHANT LINEAGE AND THE GUILD

Page 194:

Sri Lanka also provides evidence for niyama or nigama. The Tonigala rock inscription from the Anuradhapura district dated to the third year of the King Srimeghavarna (303-27 CE) records the grant of grain to the Kalahumanakaniyamatana (nigama-sthana), with the stipulation that only the interest is to be used for the maintenance of the monks (Epigraphia Zeylanica III, 1933: 172-98). Another later Brahmi inscription from Labuatabandigala refers to money, i.e. 100 káhápanas being deposited with the Mahatabaka niyama (247-53). Other terms used for guilds are puka or púga and goti (Sanskrit gosthi), the former often being used in association with either a village (Paranavitana 1970, nos. 135, 138; Dias 1991: no. 5) or community, such as that of the Kambojas (Paranavitana 1970, no. 553). There are references to the chief (jete) and sub-chief (anu- jete) of Sidaviya-puka (no. 1198). Literary texts further corroborate these distinctions, for example those between a general trader (vanik) and the setthi, who was possibly a financier, as opposed to the sárthaváha or caravan leader who transported either his own goods or those of other merchants. The sep thi in the Játakas was a man of immense wealth and hence constantly in the retinue of the king. References to rice fields owned by setthis imply that they were both traders and landowners . . Panini refers to traders as vanik (Astádhyáyi, 111.3.52) and makes a distinction between the krayavikrayika (whose main occupation was buying and selling, IV.4.13), the vasnika (who invested his money in business, IV.4.13), the sarnsthanika (a member of a guild, IV.4.72) and the dravyaka (a trader on the outward journey carrying merchandise for sale, Agrawala 1953: 238). In the Amarakosa (11.6.42; 111.9.78), a sárthaváha is described as the leader of merchants who have invested an equal amount of capital and carried on trade with outside markets and are travelling in a caravan. There are several alternative arrangements described in the Játakas by which merchants could purchase or obtain goods. When a ship arrived in a port, merchants converged there to buy the goods and often had to pay money in advance to secure a share in the cargo (Book I: no. 4). Alternatively, a merchant could procure goods by mutual agreement with another living along the border . Once, the Boddhisattva was a wealthy merchant in Varanasi and had as a correspondent a border merchant whom he had never seen. There came a time when this merchant loaded 500 carts with local produce and gave orders to the men in charge to go to the Boddhisattva and barter the wares in his..

Page: 205/206.

FOREIGNERS AND TRADE NETWORKS

The complexity of economic transactions in the ancient period makes it difficult to determine ethnic identities of trading groups. Another problem is the ambiguity of the literary sources and their inability to distinguish between different ethnic identities, as in the case of allusions to Romans, Arabs, Indians and Ethiopians in Greek and Latin accounts. From the first century BCE to the second century CE, while many of the Arabs of the eastern Mediterranean regions were Roman subjects or Roman citizens, others lived beyond the frontiers of the empire and included groups such as Nabataeans, Palmyrenes, Sabaeans and so on. Early Brahmi inscriptions from Sri Lanka refer to two foreign groups involved in trading activity, i.e. the Damila (Sanskrit Dravida) and the Kabojha (Sanskrit Kamboja). The former figure in an important inscription engraved on the vertical rock face to the north-west of the Abhayagiri monastic complex at Anuradhapura. The inscription records that the terrace belonged to Tamil householders (gahapatikana). The floor of the terrace is on different levels, and the names of the owners are engraved on the rock face below their portion of it, e.g. dameda-samana, dameda-gahapati and navika or mariner. Two other inscriptions refer to a Tamil merchant named Visaka and a householder (Paranavitana 1970: nos. 94, 356, 357). These records are further corroborated by references in the Mahávarimsa, which term the damilas 'assandvikas' or those who brought horses in watercraft (chapter XXI, verses 10-12). It is significant that early Buddhist literary sources from north India refer to the northerners as being involved in trade in horses. The inscriptions referring to the Kabojha or Kambojas are found in ancient Rohana and associate the region with the gamika or village functionary (Paranavitana 1970: nos. 622, 623, 625), there are references to the guild of the Kabojhiyas and its chief (Kabojhiya-maha-pugiyana, no. 553; parumaka or chief of the gota (Sanskrit gostha) Kabojikana, no. 990). The Sihalavatthu, a Pali text of the fourth century, refers to a village of the Kambojas in Rohana. Wheeler identified so-called 'foreign pottery' during his excavations at the site of Arikamedu on the east coast of India (figure 8.5). He used these ceramic finds to endorse not only the nature of trade, i.e., ., Roman, but also the ethnicity of the users and hence suggested an Indo-Roman trading station at the site (Wheeler et al. 1946).

The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia , 2003,

.

Other relevant references on The Kambojas in Sri Lanka are:

• History of Ceylone Vol I, Part by Dr S Parnavitana.
• Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, (Chapter: Kambojas in Sri Lanka) Dr J. L. Kamboj.

KLS

There is a full size sculputure in Mathura Museum called Kambojaka. Scholar identify it with Aiyasi Kamuia, the chief queen of Kshatrapa Rajuvula of Mathura.

(The catalogue of the Sculpultures of the Archaological Museum, Mathura, F. 42J. P. Vogel; cf: Female Images in the Muesums of U.P., and their social Background., p 122, Padama Upadhyaya; India in Kala Dasa, p 200, B. S. Upadhyaya; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, pp 215, 228, 306-09; Dr J. L. Kamboj).

Thus Kamuia has been identified with Kambojaka/Kambojika. To be Noted that the standard Sanskrit Kamboja is also found written as Kambojaka in Pali and Kaamboja and Kambuja in Sanskrit literature. (e.g. Kambojake assastare sudante; ete hi dhama araryrupa Kambojakanam vitatha bahunam (Pali); Dakshintai Kambujanam Vashistanam (Sanskrit) etc).

See further reference below:

Sculptures of Mathura and Sarnath,

'The Lion Capitol discovered in 1896 from Saptarsi mound in the south-eastern part of Mathura city, housed in the British Museum, London, contains an epigraph in Kharosthi character, referring that Ayasi Kamuiá (Kambojika) the chief queen of Mahakshatrapa Rajuvula established the relic of Lord Sakyamuni, a stupa and a Sangharama for the order of the four quarters of the Sarvástivádins.48 The record ends with obeisance to all the Buddha, the law, the order and the ~akastána. Thus, this pillar furnishes useful information for the study of Buddhist Church at Mathura" (Sculptures of Mathura and Sarnath, 2002, page 35, Usha Rani Tiwari.)

It is notable that Aiyasi Kamuia (Lion Capitol Inscription A) was daughter of Yuvaraja Kharaosta Kamuia (Lion Capitol Inscription E) according Dr Stein Konow and his line of scholars. Yuvaraja Kharaosta is unanimously identified as Kshatrapa Kharaostas whose coins have been studied and examined by Rapson and Luders. According to Kharaosta's own coins, he was son of Arta or Orata. Arta is said to be elder brother of king Moga.

Since queen Aiyasi and Yuvaraja Kharaostas (Kharoshtha) both bear Kamuia as last name in the Lion Capitol Inscriptions, hence scholars have concluded that Arta and Moga were also Kamuia.

Making use of science of linguistics, the scholars like Dr S Konow have identified the last name Kamuia with as the Kharoshtised version of Prikritic Kambojaka or Sanskrit Kamboja/Kambuja or Kambujia (cf: O.P Kambujiya).

(Linguistic transformation possibilities: In the Mathura Capitol Kharoshthi inscriptions, 'u'. is used for common 'o' as the usual personal name Sodas is found wriiten as Sudas in the Mathura Capitol Inscriptions. Also in Khroshthi, 'mb' becomes 'mm' or 'm' as in Dhammapada.... Also the hard 'j' becomes soft 'y' as the Kamboja is also found written as Kamboya in Shahbazgarhi inscriptions of king Ashoka: Hence Kamboja/Kambuja => Kamboya/Kambuya => Kaboia/Kambuia => Kamoia/Kamuia. Similarily, using rigorous linguistics, the Kambojaka => Kamuia, as Dr S. Konow has shown...see Corpus Inscritionum Indicarum (CII), Vol II, Part I, p xxxvi; also see p 36, Dr S Konow).

See References: (Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol II, part I, p xxxvi; p 36; see also: Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research society, Vol XVI, 1930, parts III, IV, p 229, Dr K. P. Jayswal; Ancient India, 1956, p 220-21, Dr R. K. Mukerjee; cf Comprehensive History of India, 1957, Vol II, p 270, Dr K. A. Nilkantha Shastri; ; op cit, Dr Buddha Parkash, p 154; For detailed discussion, see Ancient Kamboja People & Country, 1981 pp 41, 42, 306-309, Dr J. L. Kamboj etc).

King Moga is often connected with Saka clan which is said to have migrated from Issykkul or Tien-shan (Saka country?) in southern direction, passed through Pamirs/Hsuan-tu or hanging pass and settled in Kipin.

It is worth noticing that the clan name Kamuia has not been attested amongst the Scythians in any of the ancient sources. Its closest equivalent is Kamboja/Kamboya/Kambu/Kamu. The surname Kamuia obviously points to Sanskirit/Pali Kamboja/Kambuja ir Old Persian Kambujiya.

It is obvious that due to time and space proximity, the Trans-Oxian Kambojas, the next door neighbors to Issykkul Sakas had also become somewhat 'Scythianised' in culture by osmotic process if not otherwise, in the centuries preceeding Christian era. The so-called Sai or (Saka) clan which is stated to have settled in Kipin (Kashmir(?) or Kapisha(?)) per Chinese sources, may have actually been the Scythianised section of the Trans-Pamirian Kambojas who had been living off northern-eastern Pamirs or western-Sinkiang province of China and who may also have also joined the Sakas in their southward movements under similar pressures from Yueh-chihs. The Galcha Sri-Qoli as a dialect of ancient Kamboja is attested in western Sinkiang, around river Yarkand, attesting that it may have been a part of ancient Kamboja. Kamuia clan of Moga may have belonged to this section of the Kamboja settlement.

That may have been the reason as to why the Kambojas have some-times been confused with the Sakas.

Also, one section of the Kambojas is confused with the Yueh-chihs too. The Kambojas who had lived as neighbors to the Kushans/Yueh-chihs, north of Oxus country (former Parama-Kamboja) had also later migrated to cis-Hindukush region in 2nd/1st c BC along with Kushans/Tukharas and thus some writers like Cunnigham have thought that the Kaofu clan (the Kambu=Kamboja) were a clan of the Yueh-chihs which is not correct.

Cunnigham writes: ....Kaofu was the appellation of one of the five tribes of the Yueh-chih or Tochari, who are said to have given their name to the town (Kabol) which they occupied, towards the end of second century before Christ (The Ancient Geography of India, p 15, Col A. Connigham).

On the other hand, noted scholars like J.W. McCrindle and many others claim that Kamboja (=Afghanistan) was the Kaofu (Kambu) as mentioned later by Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang in his travels.

It also notable that the name Kabol or Kubha (Kophese/Kophen of Greeks) is attested since Vedic times, so this name was not given to this town by the Kaofu tribe as Cunnigham writes.

Thus Cunnigham 's observations on Kaofu tribe as being a Tochari tribe are wrong.

The name Kaofu in fact referred to Kambu or Kambuja or Kamboja. In the wake of political turmoils of second/1ist c BC, a section of the Trans-Pamirian Kambojas along with Yueh-chih clans had also crossed Hindukush and settled in the cis-Hindukush region. Hence the Kaofu clan (of the Kambojas) has erroneously been considered a clan of the Yuehchis by Cunnigham.

Thus we can see that besides Sakas, the Kamboja clans are sometimes confused with the Kushans/Yueh-chihs also. This is because the Rshikas(Tukharas/Yueh-chihs) and Kambojas have been very close neighbors accross the Oxus as the MBH powerfully attests for us.

Arjuna had to fight a fierce battle first with the Kambojas and Daradas in the cis-Hindukush region (Rajori/Swat valley) and after this, with the allied forces of Lohas, Parama-Kambojas and the Rshikas north of Pamir-Badakshan/Tran-Oxian region.

Sanskrit:

daradAnsaha kAmbojairajayatpAkashAsaniH .. 22..\\

prAguttarA.n disha.n ye cha vasantyAshritya dasyavaH .

nivasanti vane ye cha tAnsarvAnajayatprabhuH .. 23..\\

lohAn.PparamakAmbojAn.RShikAn.uttarAnapi .

sahitA.nstAnmahArAja vyajayatpAkashAsaniH .. 24

— (MBH 2/27/23-25)

Writing on political situation in Central Asia created as a result of Hunic pressure on Yueh-chihs and Yueh-Chih pressure in turn on the Sakas of Issykkul etc during second c BC, Dr. D Devhuti observes as follows:

These pressures brought all these tribes from central Asia...-sometimes very indistinguishable from each other-to north-western India around the beginning of the Christian era.India's Interaction With China, Central and West Asia (Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy & Culture, Volume 3 Part 2) , Philosophy, and Culture Project of History of Indian Science, 80-81, (Dr D. Devhuti)

Also, as it has also been noted by numerous scholars, due to intensive cultural admixrture in second and first century before Christ, the social customs, manners, dresses and language of the Kambojas, Yavanas, Sakas, Pahavss etc had become identical. Therefore, it is sometimes very difficult to differentiate one clan/tribe apart from the others Ref: Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, p 308, Dr Kamboj; cf India's Interaction With China, Central and West Asia ( op cit., pp 80-81, Dr D. Devhuti; cf: Purana, Vol V, No 2, July 1963, p 256-257, Dr Sircar

KLS

KAMBOJAS, SAKAS AND YAVANAS IN THE HEARTLAND OF INDIA, INCLUDING MATHURA:

Scholars have noted that the ancient sources and Sanskrit literarture composed around Christain Era and after do not very carefully differentiate the Kambojas from Yavansas or the Kambojas from the Sakas, or the Sakas from the Pahlavas and vice versa.

Example 1: Sakas counted among the Kambojas:

In Kabol area, Ashoka's Rock Edicts only attest Yavanas, Kambojas and Gandharas. Undoubtedly, there was also some Saka population living in north-east Afghanistan during Mauryan age. It is notable that whatever Saka population was present in Kabol region, it was indiscriminately counted among the Kambojas. (See: Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research Organization, Vol XVI, Parts III, and IV, 1930, p 229, Dr Jayswal, Ancient Kamboja, People and the country, 1981, p 308, Dr Kamboj).

Example 2: Kambojas and Pahlavas counted among the Sakas in Sakasthan.

Only Sakas are often considered to be the inhabitants of Sakasthan. But, besides the Sakas, there was also some Kamboja and Pahlava population settled in Sakasthan. The Kambojas and Pahlavas inhabitants of Sakasthan are often counted among the Saka population and treated as Sacas (See: Dr. S Chattopadhya; Sakas in India, p 14; Dasgupta C. C., The Developement of the Khroshathi Script, p 77; Dr G. N. Bannerjee, Hellenism in Ancient India, p 120

Example 3: Sakas counted among the Yavanas or the Kambojas (MBH 12/105/5)

The Sakas had entered Mathura in large numbers prior to Christian Era. Mathura was also the political headquarter of the Sakas. The Lion Capitol Inscriptions sufficiently attest that Sakas and Kambojas in Mathura. But the Mahabharta verses composed around Christian era do not attest the Saka presence in Mathura. They only attest the Kambojas and Yavanas in Mathura. This clearly shows that the authors of these verses had included the Sakas either into the Yavanas or else into the Kamboja population and counted them as such.

After the massive intrusion of the Sakas, Kambojas, Pahlavas and Yavanas into India, the term Yavanas had become a common designation for all aliens and was indiscriminately applied by the ancient Sanskrit composers to all foreign tribes irrespective of their true ethnic or racial identity (See: Journal of the Royal Society Bengal, Vol XLIII, Part I, 1874, pp 269, Dr R. L. Mitra, 271; op.cit., pp 19-20, Dr G. N. Banerjee; Padama Purana, Srsti.khanda, Ch 47/69-75; Geog Data Early Puranas, 1972, p 144-45; Look up Yavana in Williams Monier Sanskrit-English Dictionary).

Further, the culture of the Kambojas had substantively been modified due to their intimate contacts with the Yavanas. Both Yavanas and Kambojas are known to be following common culture, customs and mannerism such as supporting short cropped hair (Kamboja mundah..yavana mundah), non-entertainment of Brahmanas (Manusmiriti X/43-44, R.E XIII), observance of two varnas only (Arya and Dasa see Majjhima Nikaya 43.1.3, Vishnu Purana 2/37) etc etc.

The expression Yonakambojesu found in Rock Edict XIII and Majjhima Nikayia (43.1.3) strongly alludes to very intimate connections of the Yavanas with the Kambojas.

Due to these reasons, ancient verse composers had sometimes indiscriminately included the Kambojas among the Yavanas and counted both as the Yavanas and vice versa.

Similarily, there are instances where the Kambojas are also included among the Sakas and addressed as Sakas and vice versa.

The ancient Kambojas were geographically located in the extreme fringe of ancient Jambudvipa in Central Asia, located even beyond Gandhara. The Kamboja-land (Avestan land) thus bordered with both the Scythian-land located to its north-west, and the Indo-Aryan land located to its south-east. Thus the Kambojas were simulatnoeusly exposed to nomadic Scythian culture on its north-west and to Indo-Aryan culture on its south-east. In other words, the Kambojas had formed the geographical, cultural and linguistic transition region between the Scythian world and the Indo-Aryan world.

Therefore, the northernmost clans of Kambojas may have been somewhat scythianised in culture while those in southernmost side may have been somewhat Indo-Aryanised. Probably the central fringe of Kambojas (Pamirs) only remained remained pure Iranian in culture.

On Mathura Issue: It very important to note that both literary and inscrptional sources i.e the Mahabharta as well as the Lion Capitol Inscriptions are in agreement about the Kamboja presence in Mathura. Yavanas in Mathura are attested by Mahabharta and Yuga Purana .Only the Lion Capitol Inscriptions attests the Sakas in Mathura.

KLS

Part Twoedit

Kambojas (modern Kambojs/Kambohs) are a very ancient people of north-western parts of ancient India, frequently mentioned in ancient texts, although not in the Rig Veda itself. They are known to belong to ancient Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family.

In Aitareya Brahmana, the Uttarakuru and Uttaramadra tribes have been stated to be living beyond Himalaya (VIII.14). The Vamsa Brahmana (1/18) of the Samveda refers to Madrakara Shaungayani as a teacher of Aupmanyava Kamboja (Vedic Index II, p 61). According to Dr A. D. Pusalkar, sage Upamanyu mentioned in the Rgveda (I.102.9), too all probability, is the father of this Kamboja teacher(History and Culture of Indian People, The Vedic Age, p 259). Similar are the views of Dr Zimmer, Dr Ludwig and Dr Law (Some Kshatriya Tribes of Ancient India, 1924, p 231). From the fact that Kamboja Aupamanyava is stated to be pupil of sage Madrakara, Dr Keith and Dr Macdonnel of the Vedic Index as well as Dr H. Zimmer etc postulate a possible connection of the Uttaramadras with the Kambojas, who probably had both Iranian as well as Indian affinities (Vedic Index, I.84, 138; Geographical Data in Early Puranas, 1972, pp 65, 164, Dr M. R. Singh; India as Known to Panini, p 50, Dr V. S. Aggarwala; cf also: An Ancient People of Panjab, The Udumbras, Journal Asiatique, 1926, p 11, Jean Przylusky showing that Bahlika (Balkh) was an Iranian settlement of the Madras who were known as Bahlika-Uttaramadras).

Kambojas - An Iranian Tribeedit

Numerous historians now believe that the Kambojas were a tribe of the Iranian Aryans.

"As shown in the Jataka and Avestic literature, Kamboja was a center of ancient Iranian civilization as evidenced by the peculiar customs of the country " (The Kamboja Janapada, Jan 1964, Purana, Vol VI, No 1, Dr V. S. Aggarwala, p 229; Jataka edited by Fausboll, Vol VI, p 210 )

"Zoroastrian religion had probably originated in Kamboja-land (Bacteria-Badakshan)....the Kambojas spoke Avestan language. (Bharatiya Itihaas Ki Rup Rekha, p 229-231, Dr Jaychandra Vidyalankar).

Dr Michael Witzel also thinks that the Kambojas were east Iranians speaking Avestan language Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies,Vol. 7 (2001), issue 3 (May 25), Art. 9

Yaska (700 BC), in his Nirukuta, contrasts the speech of the Kambojas with that of the Aryans i.e Indo-Aryans:

Sanskrit:

shavatir gatikarmaa Kamboje.sv eva bhaa.syate...vikaara enam Aaryaa bha.sante shava iti./

— Nirukuta II/2

English:

The verb 'shavati', meaning 'to go', is used by the Kambojas only..... but its root 'shava' is used by the Indo-Aryans.

Almost similar information on Kambojas is provided by Patanjali's Mahaabhaasya (2nd c BC).

Sanskrit:

zavatir gatikarmaa kamboje.sv eva bhaa.sito bhavati, vikaara enam aaryaa bha.sante zava iti/

— (Patanjali's Mahaabhaa.sya is p. 9, in Vol. 1 Kielhorn's Edition).

English:

The verb 'zav' in the sense of 'going' is used only among the Kambojas. The same verb in the nominal form 'zava' is used by the Aaryas in the sense of 'transformation'.

It is interesting to note that this evidence by Yasaka (~7th c BC) and Patanjali (2nd c BC) puts the Kambojas in straight contrast to the Indo-Aryans and further, the word shavati is not found in ancient Sanskrit literature but it is a well known Iranian word. (See: The Language of the Kambojas, Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1911, p 802, Dr G. A. Grierson; cf: Kamboja verb shavati represents, sound by sound, the Young Avestan sauuaiti 'to go'....Dr Michael Witzel, Persica, 9, 1980, p 92).

Based on Yasaka's Nirukuta (2/2), Dr G. A. Grierson wrote in 1911 that 'the Kambojas, a barbarous tribe of north-western India, either spoke Sanskrit with an infusion of Iranian words to which they gave Indian inflexions or else spoke a language partly Indo-Aryan and partly Iranian' (The Language of the Kambojas, Journal of Royal Asiatic Society 1911, pp 801-02).

Even prior to Dr Grierson, and based on Yasaka's Nirukuta as well as a gatha from Bhuridatta Jataka, one noted German scholar, Dr Ernst Kuhn had written in 1904 that the Kambojas spoke a language embodying specialities of both the Sanskrit as well as Iranian language, and further as a part of their religious practice, the Kambojas considered it a duty to kill snakes and other poisnous insects ( Das Volk Der Kamboja bei Yasaka, First Series of Avesta, Pahlavi and Ancient Persian Studies in honour of the late Shams-ul-ulama Dastur Peshotanji Behramji Sanjana (Strassberg & Leipzig, 1904), pp 213 ff, Dr Ernst Kuhn).

After Dr Grierson's investigations on Kambojas appeared in 1911, Dr Kuhn managed to publish a summary of his own article (Das Volk Der Kamboja bei Yasaka) in English in the 1912 issue of Journal of Royal Asiatic Society in support of Dr Grierson, also including comments from Dr Grierson himswelf. Dr Kuhn had specifically drawn Dr Grierson's attention to the following verses from the Buddhist Jatka about the Kambojas (Fausboll, Jataka, Vol VI, pp 208, 210; The Jataka, VI, p 110, Trans. E. B. Cowell)

Pali:

kita patanga urga cha mekka/

hattya kirmi sujjhati makkhika//

ete hi dhamma anaryarupa/

kambojakanam vitatha bahunan ti//

— (Jataka, VI, 208)

English:

Those men are counted pure who only kill,

Frogs, worms, bees, snakes or insects as they will,

These are your savage customs which I hate,

Such as Kamboja hordes might emulate.

— (The Jataka, VI, p 110, Trans. E. B. Cowell).

In the light of above disclosures from Jataka gatha on the Kambojas, the views of Dr Grierson had completely changed and, thence-afterwards, Dr Grierson started considering the Kambojas undoubtedly a tribe of the Iranians.

Dr Grierson wrote: "This gatha, by itself, establishes a close connections between the ancient Kambojas and the ancient Iranians with whom the destruction of noxious or ahramanic creatures was a duty" (Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1912, p 256, Dr G. A. Grierson).

That killing of lower animals is a Zoroastrian religious practice is attested from the passages in Mazdean books like the Videvati (XIV.5-6) as well as from the remarks of Herodotus (I.140) about the Persian religion.

Herodotus on Persians/Magians:

Book 1.140: "....... The Magi (priests of the Persians)...... kill animals of all kinds with their own hands, excepting dogs and men. They even seem to take a delight in the employment and kill, as readily as they do other animals, ants and snakes, and such like flying or creeping things....." (Herodotus, Translated by: George Rawlinson).

Almost similar information is also furnished by Mahabharata, which speaks of the Yavanas, Kambojas, Darunas etc as the fierce barbarians from Uttarapatha (MBH 6/9/65) as well as a Mlechcha tribes (i.e non-Indo-Aryans) from beyond the north (MBH 6/11/63-64):

Sanskrit:

uttarashchapare mlechchha jana bharatasattama .//63

Yavanashcha sa Kamboja Daruna mlechchha jatayah /

— (MBH 6/11/63-64)

and further reckons them among the sinful people having nature of Svapakas and Grddharas (MBH XII/207/43-44).

Sanskrit:

uttara pathajanmanah kirtayishyami tanapi./

Yauna Kamboja Gandharah Kirata barbaraih saha.//43

ete papakritastata charanti prithivimimam./

shvakakabalagridhrana.n sadharmano naradhipa.//44

— (MBH 12/207/43-44)

Hence, this Mahabharata evidence also alludes to non-Indo-Aryanism i.e Zoroastrianism of the Kambojas, as attested by the Buddhist Jataka above.

Assalayanasutta (II.149) of Majjhima Nikaya differentiates the Kambojas from Indo-Aryans in that the Kambojas, Yavanas (alien westerners) and some other frontier people practiced only two social classes...Arya and Dasa...master and slave:

Pali:

Yona-Kambojaseu annesu cha panchchantimesu janapadesu dvea vanna

ayyo ceva daso ca ayyo hutva daso hoti daso hutva ayyo hoti ti..

— (Majjhima Nikaya (II.149))

This social practice of the Kambojas differentiated them from the Indo-Aryans who believed in Brahmanical varnasharmadharama and thus practiced chatur-varna or four-class social system.

Even the Ganapatha 178 on Panini's rule II.1.72-Mayuravyamsakadi differentiates the Kambojas from Indo-Aryans saying that Kambojas practiced wearing short head-hair (Kamboja-mundah Yavana-mundah) where as the Indo-Aryans usually wore long hair or else they supported a top knot. This fact is also attested from Mahabharata (7/119/23) as well as from numerous puranas.

"Beyond any reasonable doubt that the Kambojas were a tribe of the Iranians "(Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1912, p 256, Dr G. A. Grierson)

"The Kambojas were a tribe of the Iranians " (History of lndia, Vol. I, Dr R. Thapar 1961/1997: p 276).

cf: " The Kambojas were of Iranian extractions....they were settled in Afghanistan region in Uttarapatha. Their numbers were ocassionally swelled by new migrants from Iran, especially during age of Achaemenians "(Purana, Vol V, No 2, July 1963, p 256, Dr D. C. Sircar).

cf: "The Kambojas...who were known in Indian traditions as a foreign people, with peculiar customs, who raised celebrated horses, spoke - as the Nirukuta (II,2.8) tells us- a language with iranian words in it..... and had, according to Buddhist Jataka (VI.206, 27-30), a certain religious practice - the killing of insects, moths, snakes and worms - which we may recognize as Mazdean from the passages in Mazdean books like the Videvati (XIV.5-6) as well as from the remark of Herodotus (I.140) about the Persian religion " (Journal Asiatique, CCXLVI 1958, I, pp 47-48, E. Benveniste).

cf: "... the Nirukta of Yáska (300 BC) has been cited for the statement the word shavati as a verb of motion is spoken among the Kambojas, a statement that would be correct for speakers of an Iranian dialect.."(See: The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 4, Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean, (c.525 to 479 BC), Volume 4, 1988, p 199, John Boardman, N. G. L. Hammond, D. M. Lewis, and M. Ostwald)

cf: " The Kambojas located somewhere in east Afghanistan spoke Iranian language and followed Zoroastrian habits of killing lower animals " (Early Eastern Iran and the Atharvaveda, Persica-9, 1980, fn 81, p 114, Dr Michael Witzel).

According to W. J. Vogelsang and Willem Vogelsang, "the name Kamboja was commonly applied in Indian sources to the Iranian population of the borderlands i.e Afghanistan " (The Afghans (Peoples of Asia), 2001, p 127, also Index, W. J. Vogelsang and Willem Vogelsang; Also Fraser 1979).

One thing more: The ancient Kambojas have also been referred to as Asura warriors in texts like Markandeya Puraana (Verse 8.1-6) as well as in Srîmad Devî Bhâgawatam (verses 5/28/1-12) etc.

These ancient texts refer to a mythological war of goddess Durga/Ambika with some mighty Asura warriors/clans of north-west like Udayudh, Kambu, Kotiveerya, Dhumravanshajaata, Kaalaka, Kaalkeya etc (obviously, all Iranians). There is reference to eighty-four select warriors from the Kambu (Kamboja) clan accompanied by Kambu fighters set on a ferocious war with the deva forces of goddess Durga Glory of the Divine Mother (Devi Mahatmyam), p 211, Sri Sankaranarayanan

Scholars like Swami Vijnanannanda have correctly identified the Kambu clan with the Kambojas of Hindukush and the allied Kaalkeyas with the Afridis etc See: The Shrîmad Devî Bhâgawatam, Trans: Swami Vijñanananda (1921-22), p 451

It may be noted that the great Asura warrior king Shumbha, the hero of the Asura/Danava forces has been referred to as danuja-lord, the son of Diti (i.e ditija-danuja-âdayah) in Shri Devî Bhâgawatam as well as Markandeya Puraana traditions etc (Ref: Devi-Mahatam verse 9.30).

It is also very interesting to note that great epic Mahabharata also mentions one king Chandravarman of the Kambojas, who has been referred to as an incarnation of a great Asura Chandra, addressed as ditija.shreshtho i.e. foremost among the Asuras, the son of Diti (Diti was perhaps a local cult deity affected in Hindukush).

Sanskrit:

Chandrastu ditija.shreshtho loke taradhipopamah //31.

Chandra.varmati vikhiyaatah Kambojanam.nradhipah /32.

— MBH 2/67/31-32, Gorakhpore Edition; See also K.M Ganguli's online MBH)

This reference also alludes to Iranian affinities of the Kambojas. It appears likely that this mythical Asura king Shumbha of Puranic Hindu texts actually refers to some daring-do warrior from the Iranian Kambojas of north-west; and that the Durga/Shumbha legend may refer to some dimly remembered remote tradition on border clashes among the ancient Iranian Aryans and the Vedic Aryans after the great divide had occured. Perhaps Ditija Chandravarman (a Kamboj) of Mahabharata and Ditija Shumbha of Merkendeya Purana/Srîmad Devî Bhâgawatam texts refer to same personage.

Asura was the name by which the ancient Indo-Aryans addressed their ancient Iranian neighbors. The same word is found as Ahura in ancient Persian traditions. The Asuras or Ahuras were Iranians followers of Ahuramazada (Zoroastrian religion) which the Kambojas indeed were. Initially, the word Asura did not have the negative (demoniac) connotations which it got only in later times. The Iranians, on the other hand, called the Indo-Aryans as Daivas on account of their being Deva worshippers which term also carried similar demoniac connotations.

Refs: Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1911, p 801-02; Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1912, p 255-56; Linguistic Survey of India, Vol X, pp 456-57, Dr G. A. Grierson; Das Folk Der Kamboja bei Yasaka, Dr E. Kuhn, First Series of Avesta, Pahlavi and Ancient Persian Studies in honour of the late Shams-ul-ulama Dastur Peshotanji Bahramji Strassberg and Leipzig, pp 213-14; cf: J. Bloch, Indo-Aryan, Paris, 1965, p 330; Also Lit. Gesch, 9 169, p 363, Weber; Early Eastern Iran and Atharvaveda , Persica-9, 1980, fn 81, 83 Witzel; Purana, Vol V,No 2, July 1963, p 256, Dr D. C. Sircar; The Afghans (Peoples of Asia), p 127, W. J. Vogelsang; The Cambridge History of Iran: Volume 3, p 951, E. Yarshater; 'Ancient Kamboja', in Iran and Islam, Bailey, H. W. etc; The Cultural Heritage of India, 1962 (Foreign Elements in Indian Population), p 615, Dr Debala Mitra

The noted scholars like C. Lassen, S. Levi, M. Witzel, J. Charpentier, La Valle Poussin, A. Hoffman, A. B. Keith, A. A. Macdonnel, G. K. Nariman, E. Kuhn, H. W. Bellow, A. D. Pusalkar, S. Sen, D. R. Bhandarker, S. Thion and others have traced the ethnic name Kamboja in the royal name Kambujiya/Cambujiya of the Old Persian Inscriptions (Cambyses/Kambuses of the Greeks). Kambujiya (also Kambaujiya) was the name of several great Persian kings of Achamenian dynasty. The same name appears as C-n-b-n-z-y in Aramaic, Kambuzia in Assyran, Kambythet in Egyptian, Kam-bu-zi-ia in Akkadian, Kan-bu-zi-ia in Elemite, and Kanpuziya in Susian language.

H. W. Bellow writes: "Darius succeeded, about 521 B.C to the empire founded by Cyrus (Kurush), and enlarged and consolidated by his son and successor Cambyses (Kambojia, Kambohji). Cyrus-whose mother was called Mandane (Mandana; perhaps a princess of the Mandan tribe), and said to be a Mede, and whose father was called Cambyses (Kambohji; probably a chieftain of the Kamboh tribe) having reduced the Medes and conquered the kingdom of Croesus the Lydian (Lùdi), thereby became master of all the territory extending from the Indus to the Hellespont".

— (An enquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan H. W. Bellow; also see: Sectarianism and Ethnic Violence in Afghanistan, Musa Khan Jalzai).

Kambujiya III (Cambyses III) is famous for his conquest of Egypt (525 B.C.) and the havoc he had wrought upon this country.

Location of Ancient Kambojaedit

The scholars are not unanimous on the location of ancient Kamboja. The Kambojas are variously said to have belonged to Khorasan, Balkh, Bokhara (H. H. Wilson); Afghanistan (J. McCrindle, Alexandra's Invasion); East Afghanistan (Dr Stein);Kafiristan to Kashmir (H. C. Raychaudhury, D. R. Bhandarkar); Pamir, Badakshan (Dr J. C. Vidyalankar, Raymond Allchin, Dr G. A. Grierson, Dr S. K. Chatterjee, Dr V. S. Aggarwala); Arachosia (D. C. Sircar, J. Fillozat, E. Benveniste, Michael Witzel); mountains of Gazni(Willford); Sindh/Gujarat (Dr S. K. Aiyanger, Dr P. N. Banerjee); Hindukush/Tibet (Dr V. A. Smith); Tibet Charles Elliot, Dr Foucher, Dr G. G. Gokhale); and Cambodia (R. D. Banerjee), with their capital at an unidentified place called Dvarka, a name with Maga Associations. Scholars have identified this Dvarka with the modern 'Darwaz city' located in Tajikstan in Central Asia (Ancient India, Dr Rhys David, p 7; Geographical and Economical Studies in the Mahabharata, Dr Motichandra, p 38; Cultural Heritage of India, Vol I, pp 44,51, Dr S. K. Chatterjee; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, p 118, Dr J. L. Kamboj).

In ancient literature and inscriptions, the Kambojas are frequently listed with the tribes of Uttarapatha such as Gandharas, Yavanas, Madras, Sakas etc. At several places in Mahabharata, the Kambojas are referred to as a tribe of Uttarapatha i.e north or north-west. e.g.

Sanskrit:

Uttarapatha janmanah kirtayishyami tanapi

Yauna kamboja gandharah kirata barbaraih saha

— (MBH 12/201/40)

Sanskrit:

Uttarashchapare mlechchha jana bharatasattama

Yavanashcha sa Kamboja daruna mlechchha jatayah

— (MBH 6/11/63-64)

Sanskrit:

Shakanam pahlavana.n cha daradanam cha ye nripah

Kambojarishika ye cha pashchimanupakash cha ye

— (MBH 5/5/15)

Sanskrit:

udichya kamboja shakaih khashaish cha

— (MBH 5/159/20)

Bhuvanakosha section of Puranas also specifically locates the Kambojas in the Udichya or north-west division of ancient India.

Sanskrit:

Kambojashchaiva Dardashchaiva Barbarashcha Angaukikah. //47

Chinashchaiva Tusharashcha Pahlavadhayata narah. /48

............................................................................................................................................

ete desha Udichya.stu

— (See Puranic-list of countries of Uttarapatha: Based on Kirfels text of Uttarapatha countries of Bhuvankosha; Brahama Purana 27/44-53, Vayu Purana 45/115; Brahmanda Purana 12/16-46; Vamana Purana 13/37 etc).

This fact clearly proves that the 'Kamboja' of ancient Sanskrit literature invariably referes to a tribe and country of that name located in the Uttarapatha or north division of ancient India. The country was located beyond Gandhara, in the extreme north-west in Central Asia. Therefore, Kamboja of ancient Sanskrit literature must not be confused with trans-Gangetic Kamboja (or Kambuja) centered at Mekong basin which country came into existence several centuries after Christian era. Cambodia or Kamboja of South East India does not find any reference in ancient Sanskrit literature as is erroneously believed by some writers (cf: Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p 133, Dr H. C. Raychaudhury, Dr B. N. Banerjee).

The most acceptable view is that the ancient Kambojas originally belonged to the 'Galcha' speaking area (the Iranian Pamirs and Badakshan) in Central Asia (Linguistic Survey of India, Vol X, p 455, Dr G. A. Grierson).

Yasaka's Nirukuta (II/2) informs us that verb 'shavati' in the sense 'to go' was used by the Kambojas and Kambojas only (Early Eastern Iran and Atharvaveda, 1980, 92, Dr Michael Witzel; also Nilukuta, Vol I, Sarup).

The modern 'Galcha' language comprises seven main dialects viz. Valkhi, Shigali, Srikoli, Jebaka ( also called Sanglichi or Ishkashim), Munjani, Yidga and Yagnobi.

It has been pointed out that the Galcha dialects spoken in Pamirs and countries on the head waters of Oxus mostly still have the continuants of the ancient Kamboja 'shavati' in the sense 'to go' (Op cit., pp 455-56, 468, 474, 476, 500, Dr G. A. Grierson; India as Known to Panini, p 48, Dr V. S. Aggarwala; Geographical and Economical Studies in the Mahabharata, p 37, Dr Moti Chandra; Bharat Bhumi Aur Uske Nivasi, 1930, pp 297-305, Dr Jaychandra Vidyalankar).

It has also been pointed out that the former language of Badakshan was a dialect of Galcha which has been replaced with Farsi only in the last few centuries (Op cit, p 456, Dr Grierson).

Yagnobi dialect spoken in Yagnobe region in Zerafshan valley (the Doab of Oxus and Jaxartes) in Tajikstan also contains, to this date, a relic from verb 'shavati' of the ancient Kambojan language.

Interestingly, ancient geographer Ptolemy (2nd c) refers to one tribal people he calls Komoi (=Kamoi) and Komroi and locates them in the mountainous regions of Sogdia as far as Jaxartes (J. McCrindle, Ancient India, Trans/edited by Majumdar, 1927, p 268, 275, 278, 284, 325; Central Asiatic Provinces of Maurya Empire, p 403, Dr Seth, Ancient Kamboja, People and Country, p 49, 300, Dr Kamboj).

Ptolmy also calls the region fed by Jaxartes and its tributaries as Komdei. Ammianus Marcellinus calls it as Komadas.

Komudha in Indian traditions is one of the six dvipas stated to be situated beyond the sea. And is also name of mountainous region, north of mount Meru (Pamir). In anterior epic period, this probably was the name given to high table land of the Tartary, to north of Himalaya, from where the Aryans may have pushed their way southwards into Indian Peninsula and preserved the name as a relic of old mountain worship (Thomson). In Purans, it is described as golden mountain in the center of Jambudvipa (Classical Dictionary of India, John Garett, N.Y, 1973, p 392/393.

Dr Buddha Parkash identifies this Komdei of Ptolemy with the Komudha-dvipa of the Puranic literature and connects it with the Iranian Kambojas (India and the World, p 71, Dr Buddha Parkash; also see Central Asiatic Provinces of Maurya Empire, p 403, Dr H. C. Seth).

This Komoi of Ptolemy appears to represent the ethnic name Kamboi, a local variant of the Sanskritic/Pali Kamboja or Iranian Kambujiya (cf: prikritic Kamboya of Ashoka's Rock Edicts located in Shahbazgarhi in Peshawer...Yone-Kamboy.esu R.E. XIII; Yona-Kamboya-Gamdharanam R.E. V; also cf: Uttradhyana Sutra 11/16, writing Kamboy for Kamboj).

This identification if true may explain as to why the Yagnobi dialect of Yagnobe region in Zerafshan valley in Tajikstan still contains the relics of ancient verb 'shavti' of the Kamboji language.

"The Badakshan Tajiks belong to the same Aryan race as the Tajiks of Galcha region and are the modern representatives of ancient Kambojas.......The Tajiks of Zerafshan valley/Yagnobe region are probably the modern representaives of ancient Kambojas...... " (Dr Jaychandra Vidyalankar, Dr Moti Chandra, Bharat Bhumi Aur Uske Nivasi, pp 313-14, 226; Bharata Itihaas ki Mimansa, p 335; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, pp 165, 128, Dr Kamboj; The Cultural Heritage of India, pp 44, 51, Dr S. K. Chatterje).

The above discussion leads one to summarize that ancient Kamboja land, to all probability, comprised Pamirs, Badakshan and parts of Tajikstan onto Zerafashan river in the doab of Oxus/Jaxartes of Central Asia. Roughly, on east, it was bounded by Yarkand and/or Kashgar, on west by Bahlika (Uttaramadra), on north-west by Sogdia, on north by Uttarakuru, on south-east by Daradas and on south by Gandhara (cf: Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, pp 164, 237, Dr J. Kamboj).

This Kamboja location in Pamir-Badakshan originally suggested by Dr Christian Lassen has been accepted by eminent scholars like Dr Jaychandra Vidyalankar, Dr Moti Chandra, Raymond Allchin, Dr A. M Shastri, Dr S. K. Chatterje, G. A. Grierson, R. R. Pandey, Dr. D. Devahuti, Dr B. S. Upadhyaya, Dr J. L. Kamboj and other scholars).

It is also important to note that Kamboja and Bahlika (Bacteria) are mentioned in the same breath in several verses in Mahabharata e.g.

Sanskrit:

Shakah Kambojabahlika Yavanah Paradastatha

— (MBH 7/98/13)

kritavarma tu sahitah Kambojavarbahlikaih .

— (MBH 6/75/17; see also verses 2/27/23-23 etc) .

Valmiki Ramayana also mentions the Kamboja and the Bahlika in the same breath:

Sanskrit:

Kaambhoja.vishhaye jaatair Baahlikaishcha hayottamaih./

— (Ramayana I/6/22)

Kashmir recension of ancient Ramayana has the following reading:

Aratta.Kapisham.Balhim.............(Ramayana, 4/44/23)

Ancient Sanskrit Acharya Kshmendra of Kashmir has rendered the above reading as follows into his Ramayana Manjri:

Aratta.Bahlika.Kamboja.............(Ramayana Manjri, 4/252).

This not only shows that Kapisha and Kamboja were synonymous but also that Kamboja/Kapisha and the Bahlika were adjacent countries/peoples.

Atharvaveda-Parisia also juxtaposes the Kambojas with Bahlikas (Kamboja-Bahlika, AV-Par, 57.2.5; cf Persica-9, 1980, p 106, Dr Michael Witzel), thus further reinforcing the same fact.

This Kamboja-Bahlika association in several ancient sources suggests that the Bahlikas and Kambojas were neighborly tribes in the north-west, and therefore, they must be contiguously located in/around the Oxus country.

The Bahlikas-Madras-Kambojas equation:

The Vamsa Brahmana Aupamanyava Kamboja (1/18) is spoken of as pupil of sage Madrakara, who belonged to Madra tribe. Dr Zimmer as well as authors of Vedic Index postulates a connection between the Iranian Uttaramadras and the Kambojas. They were close neighbors in the north-western part of ancient India (Vedic Index, I, p 84-85, 138; India as Known to Panini, 1953, p 50, Dr Aggarwal; Some Kshatriya Tribes, p 232, Dr B. C. Law; Indian as Known to Panini, p 50; Geographical Data in Early Puranas, pp 65, 164, Dr M. R. Singh; The Udumbras, Journal Asiatique, 1926, p 11, Jean Przylusky, showing that Bahlika (Balkh) was an Iranian settlement of the Madras who were known as Bahlika-Uttaramadras).

In Aitareya Brahmana (8.14), the Uttarakurus and Uttaramadras are described as living beyond Himalaya (paren himvantam).

Sanskrit:

tasmad atasyam udichya dishi ye ke ca pren himvantam janapada uttarakurva uttaramadra......

— (Aitareya Brahmana, VIII/14).

This probably implies regions lying beyond Hindukush/Trans-Karakoram ranges. Hence the Kambojas as Uttaramadras' neighbors must also be located beyond the Karakoram/Hindukush somewhere.

Madra king Shalya of Mahabharata has been referred to as a Bahlika Pungava i.e foremost among the Bahlikas (MBH I. 67.6; I.112.3).

Princess Madri from Madra Royal family has also been referred to as Bahliki (MBH I. 124. 21).

This implies that in the remote past (Vedic age) the (Iranian settlement of) Madras was located in Bahlika (Bacteria).....the eastern parts of Oxus country. These Madras were, in fact, the Uttaramadras of the Aitareya Brahmana (VIII/14) (Dr J. Przyluski, Dr A. B. Keith, Dr I. A. Macdonnel, Dr V. S. Aggarwal, Dr M.R. Singh, Dr J. L. Kamboj)

However, in 4th c BC, this Bahlika/Bacteria came under Yavana/Greek political control and thus the land was referenced as Bahlika-Yavana in some of ancient Sanskrit texts.

Kamasutra of Vatsyayana refers to a peculiar custom prevalent among the Bahlika as well as Strirajya countries i.e. of several young men marrying a single woman (Kamasutra p 385). This reference suggests that there was either a tribal closeness or a geographical proximity between the Bahlika and Strirajya people.

Since the Bahlika is attested in the western parts of Oxus country, while the Strirajya was situated in West of Tibet/South of Khotan, the most plausible location for the Kamboja must be in eastern parts of Oxus country i.e in Badakshan and Pamirs.

Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa (5th c AD) informs us that after reducing the countries of western- Ghats, king Raghu proceeds via land-route to conquer the Parasikas (Raghu 4/60). Inspite of fierce fight, the Persians loose the battle (Raghu 4/65). Raghu's forces move in north (kauberi) direction from Parasika (Sassanian) land (Raghu 4/66), reach the Vamkshu (Raghu 4/67). At Vamkshu, Raghu's horses take breather and shed the Kesra (SAFFRON) leaves off their shoulders by rolling in the sands of Vamkshu Banks (Raghu 4.67). Here follows the encounter with the Hunas (Raghu 4/68) on west Banks of Vamkshu (Oxus). The Hunas in 5th c AD were located in west parts of Oxus country i.e in Bacteria. The Huna forces meet with complete disaster. Immediately after reducing the Hunas on western bank of Oxus, Raghu faces the Kambojas (Raghu 4/69). This suggests that the Kambojas were in close neighborhood to Hunas and were thus located in eastern Oxus country in 5th c AD. There is reference to Kamboja's WALNUT trees being bent on account of Raghu's elephants being tied to them:

Sanskrit:

Kambojah samare sodhum tasya viryam aniivarah

gajalan.prikilishatairakshotaih sardhmaantah. //69

teshaam sadashva.bhuyishthaas tunga.draviynah.rashyah. //70

— (Raghu 4/69-70)

The Kambojas did not give battle to Raghu (Kambojah samare sodhum tasya viryam aniivarah, Raghu 4.69) but by discretion as better part of valor, sent their embassies with presents of excellent horses and high mounds of material wealth i.e immense treasure (teshaam sadashva.bhuyishthaas tunga.draviynah.rashyah) including the paipilika gold to sue for peace (Purana, VI, No 1, Jan 1964, Dr V. S. Aggarwal; Some Kshatriya Tribes of Ancient India, p 240, Dr B. C. Law ).

Kalidasa's reference to Raghu's horses being covered with KESRA (SAFFRON) (Raghu 4/67) is very important. Interestingly, the region lying on both sides of Vamkshu is still very famous for Kesra/saffron produce and thus holds strong clue to ancient Kamboja being located in this region (Raghu's line of conquest along India's Northern Border, Proceedings & Transactions of the 6th A.I.O. Conference, 1930, pp 101-120, Dr J. C. Vidyalnakar; Bharatya Itihaas ki Ruprekha, p 531-33; Ancient Kamboja People and the Countryt, 125, Dr Kamboj).

Again, Kalidasa's reference to Raghu's elephants being tied to Kambojas' WALNUT TREES (4/69) is also revealing. It is important to note that Badakshan and the Central Asian region around it is still very famous for its quality cultivation of walnuts which thus correctly points to this region being the land of ancient Kambojas (India In Kalidasa, p 61, B. S. Upadhyaya; Indian Historical Quarterly, III, p 524, K. D. Uapadhyaya; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, p 239)

It is also noteworthy that Kalidasa's reference to IMMENSE TREASURE (tunga.draviynah.rashyah...(Raghu 4/70)) presented by Kambojas to Raghu also points to the correctness of above identification of Kamboja in eastern parts of Oxus country (Badakshan-Pamirs) since even now there are emerald and lapis lazuli mines extant in Galcha speaking Munjan. (India in Kalidasa, 1968, p 61, B. S. Upadhyaya). Arabic sources also make references to famous mines of Wakhan and Anderab (Geographical Econom. Studies, p 46, Dr Moti Chandra).

The Kámbuka silver of mountain Kambu (located in ancient Kamboja ...see Tribes, Coins and Study, Dr M. K. Sharma, 1972, p 274), probably near Munjan, is also referred to by Kautiliya in his Arathashastra (2/13/15).

Kalidasa's evidence on Kambojas' riches/opulence is also supported from Nirukuta (II/2.8) of Yasaka, which notes the Kambojas as follows:

Sanskrit:

Kambojah Kambalabhojah kamanyiabhoja va kambalah kamaniyo bhavati.....

— (Nirkuta II/2.8)

English:

Kambojas are fond (bhojah) of blankets (kambala) or they are found of pleasant/beautiful(kamaniya) things. A blanket (kambala) is also a desirable object (kamaniya).

Commenting on the above statement of Yasaka about Kambojas, ancient commentator Acharya Durga noted as under:

Sanskrit:

kamniyani prarthaniyani chaite hi dravayanih upbhunjante parchurratano hi ca desha iti.

— (Acharya Durga on Yasaka's Nirukuta II/2)

English:

They (Kambojas) were so called because they made use of pleasant and beautiful things since there was abundance of gems/ratanas and precious stones in their country.

Also cf the following statement of Sikanda Swami about Kambojas:

Sanskrit:

ashva.ratanady va kamaniya.meva prayenopabhujiyante

— (Sikanda Swami and Maheshvara on Yasaka' Nirukuta II.2.8)

English:

The Kambojas enjoyed ashvas/horses, ratanas/gems and other pleasant or desirable things.

Thus, Kalidasa's reference to presents of high mounds of gem/ratna rashya (teshaam sadashva.bhuyishthaas tunga.draviynah.rashyah) including paipilika gold and numerous excellent quality horses from the Kambojas sufficiently supports the Kamboja location in eastern parts of Oxus country comprising the mineral-rich Pamirs and Badaksahan (India in Kalidasa, 1968, p 61, B. S. Upadhyaya; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, pp 129, 248-49, Dr Kamboj)

cf: Kambojah.......yama.vishvar.opapmah...i.e. extremely rich Kambojas...(MBH 7/23/40-42).

After settlement with the Kambojas (4/70), Raghu's army is stated to have ascended Himalaya (tato gaurigurum shailmaru-rohasvasadhanah..(Raghu 4/71)). The route Kalidasa is referring to in his Raghuvamsa is the one which descends from Pamirs in Central Asia, passes through Karakoram, eastern parts of Kashmir including Leh-Ladakh, Kashatwar, to the west of Tibet, and touches Trigarta (Kulu Kangra), Utsava-Sumketa/Kinnara country, then the Kirata (Nepal)and skirting the Himalayas, which finally reaches Kamarupa. The terminal point of Raghu's journey refers to head-waters of Ganga (Ganga.shikarinah marge marutas tam shishevire..Raghu, 4.73) in Garwal etc. There is also a very important reference to kichaka bamboos and birch bar trees in Raguvamasa (bhrijesu marmarobhutah kichaka.dhavanihetavah.. (Raghu 4/73)).

Kalidasa's reference to GAURI-GURU/Himayalaya after the Kambojas and the details of the route he describes (including KICHAKA-BAMBOOS and BIRCH-BAR TREES) in his play correctly suggest that the Kambojas were somewhere in eastern parts of Oxus country in Badakshan/Pamirs north of Karakoram/Himalaya ranges.

Hiuen Tsiang (7th c AD) refers to one Kumito as an independently ruled provincial unit in Pamirs (east of Khotlan) stated to form one of the 17 political provinces in former Tukharistan region. Wu-k'ong refers to it as 'Kiomeche', while T'ang calls it 'Kumi'. Ancient Muslim writers refer to it as Kumed or Komadh. Al-Maqidisi refers to the people living in this region as Kumiji. The scholars have identified this name with Komedon, Cambothi or Kambuson of the Greek writings. Indian texts refer to it as 'Kamboj' (Ref: India and Central Asia, p 25, Dr P. C. Bagchi; cf: Central Asiatic Provinces of Maurya Empires, p 403, Dr H. C. Seth; cf India and the World, p 71, Dr Buddha Parkash).

That the Kumito (=Kamboj) of Hiuen Tsiang existed as an independent political territory in/around Pamirs in 7/8th c is also confirmed from Kalhana's Rajatrangini.

According to Rajatarangini of Kalhana (4/163-175)... a text from the north itself, King Lalitaditya of Kashmir undertakes to reduce his neighbing countries. He launches war expedition onto the region of north (from Kashmir):

Sanskrit:

sa pravishat suvistiranamapthenottrapatham

— (Raghu 4/163)

and first he fights with the Kambojas (4/164- 4/165) and deprives them of their horses. Immediately after the Kambojas, he meets the Tukharas. Tukharas do not give him fight, but run away even abandoning their horses in the field (Rajatangini 4/166). Then Raghu meets the Bhauttas (Western Tibetans in Baltistan, north of Kashmir...(Raghu 4/168)), then the Dardas in Karakorum/Himalaya (4/169, 4/171), the Valukambudhi (4/172). Then he encounters Strirajya (4/173-174), the Uttarakurus (4/175) and the Pragjyotisha Rajatarangini, Translated and annotated by Ranjit Sitaram Pandit (1935; New Delhi: Sahitya Academi, 1968), pp. 128-134..

It is noteworthy that the Uttarapatha of Rajatrangini here means the region lying north to Kashmir which obviously means trans-Himalayas in/around the East Oxus country/Pamirs (Dr Vidyalankar; Dr Aggarwal, Dr Kamboj).

Based on this trail of victories of Lalitaditiya, scholars have located the Kambojas in the Eastern Oxus country as immediate neighbors to Tukharas who were located in western Oxus country including Bahlika (Geographical and Economical studies, p 38, Dr Motichandra; Bharatiya Itihaas ki Mimansa, pp 225-226, Dr J. C. Vidyalankar; Purana, V, No 2, pp 355-59, Dr V. S. Aggarwal; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, p 153; 300 , Dr Kamboj; Geographical Data in the Early Puranas, 1972, p 166, Dr M. R. Singh; also: Bhartiya Bhumi aur Uske Nivaasi, 1930, p 297-304 and Bharatia Itihaas Ki Ruprekha, pp 526-37).

Dr Sircar also observes: 'Rajatrangini (4/165-166) places the Kambojas along with the Tukharas in the upper Oxus valley including the Balkh and Badakshan' (Purana, Vol V, No 2, July 1963, The Land of Kamboja, p 252, Dr D. C. Sircar) .

Interestingly, in this trail of victories, Kalhana also mentions Uttarakuru, Strirajya (mythical or otherwise) and Pragjyotisha after the Bhauttas/Tibetans. It is also noteworthy that both Rajatrangini as well as V.D lists the Kambojas among the neighboring tribes to Strirajya.

Now the Uttarakuru to the north of Pamir is attested in Mahabharata in Arjuna's Digvijay expedition of the north-west countries, where the epic specifically refers to (mythical) Uttarakuru (MBH II.28.9-12) situated beyond the lands of Lohas, Parama-Kambojas and the Rshikas (MBH II/27/25).

Mahabharata further attests that the Uttarakurus were located to the south of Nila Parvata and to the north of Mt Meru.

Sanskrit:

dakshinena tu nilasya meroh parshve tathottare. /

uttarah Kuravo rajanpunyah siddhanishevitah. 2//

— (MBH 6/7/2)

The Meru of Hindu traditions is identified with the Pamirs (Dr V. S. Aggarwal, Dr M. R. Singh, Dr J. L. Kamboj, Richard L. Thompson, Bertrand L., Byron Lebeau; Penny Kelly's, H. P. Blavatsky, I. P’iankov' , David Salo, B.B. Kumar .....also see MSN Encarta online).

Dr K. P. Jayswal takes the Hindukush mountains as the Meru of Puranic traditions (Hindu Polity, I & II, 1978, p 138, 139) which is only an extension of Pamirs.

Nila Parvata was probably the north-east range of Tien-shan or the Altai-Mt.

Ramayana also refers to Uttara-Kauravas (Ramayana 4-43-38) and suggests their location in trans-Himalayaya region beyond the land of Kichakas/Bamboos, across river Shailoda which river has been identified with Khotan/Jade (Dr S Levi, Dr M. R. Singh, Dr J. L. Kamboj etc ) or with Yarkandh/Sita (Dr Motichandra etc).

Thus, Uttarakuru of Sanskrit tradition probably referred to the region comprising north-west of Sinkiang province of China, the Tien-Shan ranges and south-eastern parts of Kirgyzstan.

According to scholars like Dr Aggarwala, the Uttarakuru was located to north of Pamirs in Central Asia and was also famous for its horses of Tittirakalamasha variety (2/28/6;19) (Indian as Known to Panini, 1953, p 63).

And according to Dr Michael Witzel, 'Strirajya' was located to north of Kashmir and west of Tibet (Early East Iran and Atharvaveda, Persica-9, 1980, p 118, fn 105). The Strirajiya was probably to the south of Khotan and west of Tibet (Yuan Chwang, I, p 330; Geographical Data in Early Puranas, 1972, p 168 ff, Dr M. R. Singh)

Thus the above evidence based on Rajatrangini verifies the Kambojas as simultaneous neighbors to the Daradas (located in the north-west of Kashmir in Karakoram/Himalaya), to the Tukharas (in Balkh and perhaps parts of Badakshan), to the Bhauttas (in Baltistan, west Tibet), to the (mythical) Uttarakuru (in N.W. Sinkiang/Tien-shan/Southern Kyrgizstan ) and to the Strirajya (in south of Khotan, west of Tibet). Obviously, this Rajatrangini evidence places all these people, except the Daradas in the trans-Himalayan central Asia.

The above tribal distribution leaves eastern parts of Oxus country including the Pamirs and parts of Badakshan as the most plausible location for the 'Kumitos' (of Hiuen Tsiang) or the 'Kambojas' (of Kalhana) in 7th/8th c AD. This region is indeed to the north-west of Daradas and borders with the Tukhara country located in the north-west, as Kalhana's Rajatrangini attests for us. This Oxus country was occupied by Tukharas in early second c BC. According to Dr Jaychandra Vidyalankar, during second c BC, the Tukharas (Yueh-chihs) held political sway over Badakshan-Pamir and thus the ancient Kamboja land became a part of Tukharistan. But later, when the fortunes of Yueh-chihs fell, Tukharistan boundaries had shrunken to western parts of Oxus country only so that the Pamirian Kambojas again got the former name for their country (Refs: Bharata Itihaas Ki Rup Rekha, p 534, Dr Jaychandra Vidyalankar; Ancient Kamboja, People and Country, 1981, p 153, 301, Dr J. L. Kamboj).

The land of 'Kichaka bamboos' growing along Shailoda river, referenced both in Raghuvamsa as well as in Ramayana, is situated between the Pamirs (Meru) and Altai Tag (Mandara Mt), and the river valleys between these two are still overgrown with forests of Kichaka Bamboos. It is also noteworthy that the Gauriguru route followed by Raghu (4/73), after settlement with the Kambojas started from this Kichaka-bamboos region in Central Asia, through the passes of Karakoram (which are used till date as a direct route from Central Asia to India) through eastern parts of Kashmir and Kashatwar (overgrown with birch-bar trees), to Trigarta (Kulu-Kangra) to Utsava-Samketas i.e. Kinnaras of Rampur-Bushar, Kirata (in Nepal)(Purana, Vol VI, No 1, Jan 1964, p 224-225, Dr Aggarwal; Ancient Kamboja, p 145-46, Dr Kamboj).

The Kishkindha Kanda of Valmiki Ramayana (composed around 200-100 c BC) mentions Sakas (Scythians), Kambojas and the Yavanas (Greeks) as close neighbors (in trans.Himalyan region i.e beyond Hindukush).

Sanskrit:

Kaamboja Yavanaan caiva Shakaan pattanaani ca /

Anvikshya Daradaan caiva Himavantam vicinvatha //12

— (Ramayana 4/43.12)

The Yavanas here refer to post-Alexandrian Yavanas located in Bacteria/Balkh (western Oxus country), and the Sakas here refer to Sakas of Sogdia/Jaxartes and beyond. The Kamboja location in western Oxus country as neighbors to both the Yavanas and the Sakas is thus pretty much certain.

Arabic geographer Al-Idrisi (1099c-1166c AD, while writing on Badakshan and about its flora, its fauna, its scenic beauty, its quality horses & ponis, its precious stones and mineral wealth etc, then at the end he states that Badakshan shared boundaries with Kanoj. The Kanoj of Idrisi, in fact, is the Sanskrit Kamboj. Due to misplacement of dot, the Kamboj got changed to Kanoj in Persian transcription. Al-Idrisi belonged to 11th c AD. Obviously, the boundaries of ancient Kamboj had considerably shrunken down at times of Idrisi so that he had to differentiate Badakshan from the Kamboj located in its contiguity i.e. Pamirs. Otherwise also, the Kanoj of Idrisi can't be the Kanauj of Uttar Pardesh since the Kanauj of Uttar-Pardesh does not share boundaries with Badakshan and it is also located thousands of miles away from Badakshan.

Parja Bhatta the author of fouth Rajatrangini while writing about history of Moghul dynasty in India writes emperor Babur as a Yavana king from Kambhoja.

Sanskrit:

Kaambhoja.yavaneshen Vabhore.n vipatitah/

tadaiva hastinapuryamebhrahemo nripeshavra// 223//

— (Raghu Nath Sinha, Shukarjatrangini tatha Rajatrangini Sangraha: p 110)

Since Vabur (Babur) was native of Fargana in Central Asia, which region is immediately to the north of Pamirs/Badakshan...the land of ancient Kambojas, this medieval age evidence furnishes us almost with the precise location of Ancient Kamboja.

Thus, Yuan Chwang, Kalidasa, Kalhana, Idrisi and Parja Bhatt etc all seem to locate the ancient Kamboja in eastern parts of Oxus country, to the north/north-west of Kashmir i.e in Pamirs-Badakshan. There are many more references in ancient Sanskrit literature which also seem to place the Kambojas in Badakshan/Pamirs.

Dr Aggarwala concluded: "The Kamboja as equivalent to Pamir-Badakshan satisfies all ancient references and data" (Geographical Data in Panini's Ashtadhyayi, J.U.P.H.S., Vol XVI, part I, p 27, Dr V. S. Aggarwala)

During Achamenian rule, some sections of Kambojas from Trans-Hindukush had crossed Oxus/Hindukush and planted colonies on its southern side including Swat valleys and Rajapura/Rajori. This view is beautifully reinforced from the fact that Yidga, a sub-dialect of the Galcha Munjani is still spoken in Ludkoh on the south of Hindukush (cf: op cit, p 455, Dr G. A. Grierson; Ancient Kamboja People and the Country, p 154, Dr Kamboj).

The ancient name of Kabol is Kamboj (Supplementary Glossary, 1889, p 304, Elliot, H, . M). The Kaofu of Hiuen Tsang is 'Kambu' or Kabol or Kamboja and is equivalent to modern Afghanistan (McCrindle, Alexandra's Invasion, p 38, Megasthenes and Arrian, p 190; Chandragupta Maurya and his Times, 1943, p 280, Dr R. K. Mukerjee).

With passage of centuries, the trans-Hindukush Kambojas remained essentially still Iranian in culture and religion, while those in the cis-Hindukush region appear to have come under Indian cultural influence. This probably is the reason as to why the ancient Kambojas are attested to have both Indian as well as Iranian affinities.

There is scriptural evidence showing that like the Kuru/Uttarakuru, Madra/Uttaramadra, China/Parama-China, Yona/Parama-Yona, there were also two Kambojas....one located probably in Pamir/Badakshan and beyond which was known as Parama-Kamboja and the second was located to the south of Hindukush in Paropanisadai region which was known as Kamboja. This view is powerfully substantiated from Mahabharata verses (II.27.23-25) which specifically draw our attention to Kamboja and Parama-Kamboja people:

Sanskrit:

Grihitva tu bala.n saram phalgu chotsrijya pandavah./

Daradansaha KambojairajayatpakashAsanih.//23

praguttara.n disha.n ye cha vasantyashritya dasyavah./

nivasanti vane ye cha tansarvanajayatprabhuh.//24

LohanParama.KambojanRishikan uttarAnapi./

sahita.nstanmaharaja vyajayatpakashasanih.25//

— (Mahabharata II/27/23-25)

The above scriptural text relates to Arjuna's Digvijay expedition against the tribes located in the north-western parts of ancient India (MBH 2/27/23-25). Obviously, these verses attest two Kambojas.... one located as neighbors to the Daradas in cis-Hindukush region (Kamboja) and the second as neighbor to the Lohas and Rshikas in the Trans-Hindukush/Trans-oxian regions (Parama-Kamboja).

Thus we see: The historical truth is that there were two Kambojas.

The above fact is also supported from Ptolemy's Geography which references a geographical term Tambyzoi on the Oxus in Badakshan and also an Ambautai people located on the southern side of Hindukush in the Paropanisadae region (Geography 6.18.3, Dr Witzel; See map in McCrindle, p 8 ). Interestingly, eminent indologists like Dr S. Levi (Indian Antiquary, 1923, p 54) and Dr Michael Witzel (Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies, Vol. 5,1999, issue 1 (September)) have identified these Ptolemian 'Tambyzoi' and 'Ambautai' with the Sanskrit Kamboja

(Refs: Problems of Ancient India, 2000, p 4; Geographical Data in the Early Puranas, A Critical Study, pp 167, Dr M. R. Singh; Geographical Text of the Puranas, A further Critical Study, Purana Vol VI, No I, Feb 1962, pp 112-46, C. A. Lewis; Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, pp 150-157, Dr J. L. Kamboj).

'It appears that the Kambojas were originally a people of the Pamir-Badakshan region who later planted colonies in southern side of Hindukush including Rajori. The later came to be known as Kamboja and the former as it was away from the later became famous as Parama-Kamboja' (Geographical Data in the Early Puranas, a Critical Study, 1978, p 168, Dr M. R. Singh; also Dr L. M. Joshi, Dr Fauja Singh, History of Panjab; cf: Sidhant Kaumudi, R. R. Pande, 1966, p 20-22).

The Kambojas whom we see often associated with the Bahlikas in ancient Sanskrit literature, in fact, are the Trans-Hindukush Branch of the Kambojas (Parama-Kambojas). These Kambojas are associated with the Rshikas of Trans-Hindukush. The Rshikas have been identified with the Tukharas/Kushans (Dr Aggarwal, Dr Jaychandra Vidyalanakar).

Obviously the Parama-Kambojas lived in what today comprises the Galcha speaking region of Central Asia. These Kambojas were allied with the Lohas and the Rshikas against Arjuna's troops.

Lohan Parama.Kambojan-Rishikanuttaranapi.

— (MBH 3/27/25)

The Kambojas whom we see aligned with the Daradas against Arjuna were the cis-Hindukush Kambojas. These are the Kambojas whom we often find listed with the Yavanas, Gandhars and the Daradas (Yona-Kamboja-Gandharanam......Ashoka's R.E V; Yone-Kambojesu....R.E XIII; Yona-Kamboja-Gandhara ...MBH 12/207/43).

These Kambojas have been grouped with the Daradas in Arjuna's war expedition against the countries of Uttarapatha (MBH 2/27/23).

Daradansaha Kambojairajayat pakashasanih

— (MBH 2/27//23)

They are the Kambojas of Rajapura/Abhisara (modern Rajori-Poonch) whom Karna had also earlier fought with and defeated (Mahabharata 7/4/5).

Karna-Rajapuram-gatva-Kambojah-nirjitastava. //5

— (MBH 7/4/5).

The political head-quarters of cis-Hindukush Kambojas at the time of Mahabharata appear to be at Rajapura/modern Rajori (For Rajapura = Rajori, see: Yuan Chwang, Vol I, p 248, Watters; Ancient Geography of India, 1924, p 148 Cunnigham; Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p 133, Dr Raychaudhury)

Later, some sections of the Kambojas had moved still further onto Arachosia, which fact is attested from Aramaic version of 'Shar-i-Kuna inscriptions' of king Ashoka found in Kandhar in which the Aramaic version of the Ashoka's inscriptions is said to have been intended for the Kambojas.

John Boardman argues: "Due to the fact that passages from the Mahabharata link the Kambojas with the Bahlikas 'Bactrians', the Yavanas `Greeks', the Sakas '(Indo-Scythians)' and the Gandharans. Likewise in Ashoka's Vth Rock Edict, the Kambojas are coupled with the yonas `Greeks' and the gamdharas `Gandharans' (yona.kamboja.gamdharanam...) and in XIIIth Rock Edict, they are connected with the yonas (yona.Kambojesu...). Prof E. Benveniste, in his discussion of the Asokan Greco-Aramaic inscription from Kandahar, suggested that it may have been addressed to the Yonas and Kambojas in that region, though no mention of such peoples is made in the text of Kandhar inscription " (The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 4, Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean, (c.525 to 479 BC), p 199, John Boardman; Journal Asiatique, p 48, E. Benveniste; also Puranas, Vol V, No 1, July 1963, Land of Kambojas, Dr D C Sircar).

Dr Michael Witzel holds similar views. Hence Dr Witzel locates the Kambojas from Kabol valley down to Arachosia (Persica-9, p 92, fn 81).

The Kambojas - A Kshatriya Tribeedit

The earliest and most powerful reference endorsing the Kshatriyahood of the Kambojas is Panini's Ashtadhyayi.

Panini (5th c BC) refers to the Kamboja Janapada and mentions it as one of the fifteen powerful Kshatriya Janapadas of his times, inhabited and ruled by Kamboja Kshatriyas. e.g:

Sanskrit:

4.01.168 Janapada.shabdat.kshatriyad aÑ

4.01.175 Kambojal.luK

— (Panini's Ashtadhyayi, 4.1.168, 175)

(Refs: Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, pp 29-31, 200, Dr J. L. Kamboj; Indian as Known to Panini, 1953, p 427, Dr Aggarwal)

This is the most powerful evidence attesting that the ancient Kambojas were Kshatriyas or warriors by professions.

Harivamsa informs us that the clans of Kambojas, Sakas, Pahlavas, Yavanas etc were formerly Kshatriyas. It was king Sagara who had deprived the Kambojas and other allied tribes from their Kshatiyahood and forbidden them from performing the Svadhyaya and Vasatkara (Harivamsa, 14/1-19).

Sanskrit:

nih.svadhyaya.vashatkarah kritastena mahatmana .//.17

— (Harivamsa 14/17)

sarve te Kshatriya Vipra dharmastesham nirakritah. //.19

— (Harivamsa 14/19)

It is also interesting to note that Harivamsa calls this group of Sakas, Kambojas, Yavanas, Pahlavas and Paradas as Kshatriya-pungava i.e foremost among the Kshatriyas.

Manusmriti informs us that the tribes of Kambojas etc were originally noble Kshatriyas but were gradually degraded to the status of Shudras on account of their omission of the sacred rites and of their not consulting the Brahmanas ((verses X/43-44).

Arthashastra of Kautiliya (11/1/04) states that the 'Kshatriya Shrenis' (Corporations of Warriors) of the Kamboja, Surashtra and some other countries lived by agriculture, trade and by weilding weapons. From this statement also, it is clear that the Kambojas were Kshatriyas (Dr B. C. Law).

Mahabharata also specifically notes that the Kambojas, Sakas, Yavanas, Pahlavas etc were originally noble Kshatriyas, but later on, got degraded to barbaric status for not following the Brahmanas and due to not performing the sacred rituals (verses 13/33/31-32.

Kamatha Kamboj of Mahabharata is referred to as one of the foremost Kshatriya kings (Kshatriya shreshtha) present at the inaguration ceremony of Indraprastaha arranged by king Yudhishtra (MBH 2/4/21-22)

Sudakshina Kamboj, the brave king of Kambojas had joined the Bharata war leading one Akshauhini army comprising the Kamboja, Yavana and Shaka warriors. Sudakshina was the chief Sanapati of this formidable joint army of Kambojas, Yavanas and Sakas, which army has been likened to a mass of loury clouds accompanying the storm!

Sanskrit:

vibhuyamana vatena bahurupa ivambudah/

Sudakshinashcha Kambojo Yavanaishcha Shakaistatha//

upajagama Kauravyamakshauhinya visham pate/

tasya sena samavayah shalabhanamivababhau// .

— (MBH 5/19/21-23)

Dr Law: "We thus find the Kambojas leading a very large and powerful army to the field of Kurukshetra and laying down their lives like valiant Kshatriyas which they were" (Some Kshatriya Tribes of Ancient India, p 247, Dr B. C. Law).

The legend of divine sword detailed in Shanti parva of Mahabharata also powerfully endorses the Kshatriyahood of the Kambojas. The sword, as a symbol of Kshatriyahood was awarded to a certain Kamboja king by Kuvalashava alias Dhundhumara, the celebrated king of Kosala, who in turn, had passed it on to king Muchukunda (a Yavana king?).

Sanskrit:

Dhundhumarachcha Kambojo Muchukundastato.alabhat

MuchukundanMaruttashcha Maruttadapi Raivatah

— (MBH 12/166/77-78)

Bhagavatam Purana (verse 2.7.35) references a king of Kamboja and calls him as powerfully armed and mighty warrior.

Sanskrit:

ye va mrdhe samiti-salina atta-capah kamboja-matsya-kuru-srinjaya-kaikayadyah

yasyanty adarashnam alam bala-partha-bhima vyajahvayena harinah nilayam tadiyam

— (Srimada Bhgavatam 2.7.35)

There are numerous references in the Puranas, Mahabharata, Ramayana and other ancient Sanskrit and Pali literature which powerfully document the Kshatriyahood of the Kambojas.

Hence it is safe to conclude that the Indianised version of the Iranian Kambojas belonged to the Kshatriya varna in the Indo-Aryan Society.

Kambojas in Indian literatureedit

Kambojas find repeated reference in ancient Sanskrit and Pali literature including Atharvaveda, Panini's Ashtadhyayi, Yasaka's Nirukuta, Mahabharata, Ramayana, numerous Puranas, Kautiliya's Arthashastra, Buddhist Jatakas, Jaina Canons, several Sanskrit plays and numerous other ancient texts.

Kambojas of Yasaka's Nirukuta (2/2)edit

Yaska (700 BC?) in his Nirukuta (2/2) refers to ancient Kambojas as follows:

Sanskrit:

Shavtirgatikarma Kambojesveva bhasyate........

vikaramasy.Aryesu bhasyante shava iti

— (Nirukuta 2/2).

Translation:

The verb S'avati, meaning ' to go', is used by the Kambojas only. Its modified form s'ava in the sense of 'dead body' is used by the Aryans i.e. Indo-Aryans.

Sanskrit:

Kambojah kambal.bhojah kamaniya.bhoja va

kambalaha kamaniyo bhavati

— (Nirukuta 2/2).

Translation:

The Kambojas (are so called because) they enjoy blankets (kambala), or beautiful or desirable(kamaniya) things. A blanket (kambala) is also a desirable object (kamaniya).

Thus it can be seen that Acharya Yasaka not only enlightens us on the language of Kambojas but also attempts to give an etymology of name Kamboja.

Yasaka's comments on the language of the Kambojas (shavatir gatikarmaa Kamboje.sv eva bhaa.syate...vikaara enam Aaryaa bha.sante shava iti) have already been sufficiently dealt with in the preceding sections (See: Location of Ancient Kamboja; Kambojas - An Iranian Tribe).

This section reviews Yasaka's comments on the etymology of Kamboja.

YASAKA'S ETYMOLOGY OF KAMBOJAedit

Yaska defines Kamboja as

• kamaniya.bhojah and
• kambal.bhojah.

Several ancient commentators have commented on these Yasaka's etymological terms i.e. Kamaniya.bhoja as well as Kambal.bhoja as follows.

(i) ANCIENT COMMENTATORS ON KAMANIYA.BHOJAH:

(a). Acharya Durga on Yasaka's Kamaniya.bhoja:

Sanskrit

Kambojah kamaniya.bhojah.

kamnaniyani prarathaniyani chaite hi dravayani upbhunjate parchur ratano hi sa desh iti.

— (Nirukuta Vimarash 2/2: Acharya Durga)

Translation:

Kambojah = kamaniya.bhojah:

They (Kambojas) enjoy beautiful things since their country is abounding in precious pearls/gems i.e precious stones.

(b). Brahmuni Privrajika on Kamaniya.bhojah:

Sanskrit:

Kamboja kamniya.bhoja.

kamaniyam iti kam ka.n ca sukham bhavati hi sukham kamniyam bhavati ka.n sukham .

kamniyam, kamaniyani badamadini vividhani sufalani bhunjate tasmaat Kambojah .

— (Nirukuta Vimarash 2/2: Swami Brahammuni Parivrajik)

Trannslation:

Kambojah = kamaniya.bhojah:

The 'kam' in Kamboja implies kamaniya. 'Kam' means pleasure, happiness (sukham). Since they (Kambojas) enjoy pleasant or beautiful things (kamaniya) like the almonds/Badams and variety of precious fruits (dry fruits), hence they are called Kambojas (enjoyers of pleasant things).

(c). cf: Sikand Swami on Kamaniya.bhojah:

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Talk:Kambojas/removed
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