The Uttamabhadras are an ancient Indian tribe described in the Mahabharata and later inscriptions.
The Uttamabhadras lived in the Punjab.[1] Uttamabhadras originally were people of Balkh who had entered India in Vedic times. In Vedic times, they were closely related to Kurus and the Purus. In Kurukshetra war, we also find Madras associated with the Kurus.[2] King Shalya had taken part in the Mahabharata war, on behalf of the Kauravas. Madri, the mother of Pandava-putras Nakula and Sahadeva, was a Madra princess. Madri has also been referred to as Bahliki i.e. princess of Bahlika janapada/tribe and king Salya has been referred to as Bahlika-pungava i.e. foremost among the Bahlikas. Epic also refers to king Ashvapati of Madra, the beloved of the Paura Janapadas, who was father of Savitri. King Vyusitashva was a descendant of Puru, a famous king of Rigvedic times.[3]
Nasik Cave inscription No.10. of Ushavadata describing the rescue of the Uttamabhadras, Cave No.10.
Circa 120 CE, the Uttamabhadras are mentioned as allies of the Western Satraps in repulsing an attack by the Malavas, whom they crushed.[4] The claim appears in an inscription at the Nashik Caves, made by the Nahapana's viceroy Ushavadata:
...And by order of the lord I went to release the chief of the Uttamabhadras, who had been besieged for the rainy season by the Malayas, and those Malayas fled at the mere roar (of my approaching) as it were, and were all made prisoners of the Uttamabhadra warriors.
The Mahājanapadas were sixteen kingdoms or oligarchic republics that existed in ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE, during the second urbanisation period.
Uttarakuru is the name of a dvipa ("continent") in ancient Hindu and Buddhist mythology as well as Jain cosmology. The Uttarakuru country or Uttara Kuru Kingdom and its people are sometimes described as belonging to the real world, whereas at other times they are mythical or otherworldly spiritual beings. The name Uttara Kuru means "North Kuru". The Kurus were a tribe during the Vedic civilization of India. The Uttara Kuru were therefore a population to the north of the Kurus, or north of the Himalayas.
Madra was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of north-western South Asia whose existence is attested since the Iron Age. The members of the Madra tribe were called the Madrakas.
Panchala was an ancient kingdom of northern India, located in the Ganges-Yamuna Doab of the Upper Gangetic plain. During Late Vedic times, it was one of the most powerful states of ancient India, closely allied with the Kuru Kingdom. By the c. 5th century BCE, it had become an oligarchic confederacy, considered one of the solasa (sixteen) mahajanapadas of the Indian subcontinent. After being absorbed into the Mauryan Empire, Panchala regained its independence until it was annexed by the Gupta Empire in the 4th century CE.
Khasas were an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe and a late Janapada kingdom from Himalayan regions of northern Indian subcontinent mentioned in the various historical Indian inscriptions and ancient Indian Hindu and Tibetan literatures. European sources described the Khasa tribe living in the Northwest Himalayas and the Roman geographer Pliny The Elder specifically described them as "Indian people". They were reported to have lived around Gandhara, Trigarta and Madra Kingdom as per the Mahabharata.
Kuru was a Vedic Indo-Aryan tribal union in northern Iron Age India, encompassing parts of the modern-day states of Haryana, Delhi, and some parts of western Uttar Pradesh, which appeared in the Middle Vedic period. The Kuru Kingdom was the first recorded state-level society in the Indian subcontinent.
The Panchala kingdom was one of the historical Mahajanapadas of ancient India. It was annexed into the Nanda Empire during the reign of Mahapadma Nanda. Ahichchhatra was capital of northern Panchala and Kampilya was capital of southern Panchala.
Madra Kingdom was a kingdom grouped among the western kingdoms in the epic Mahabharata. Its capital was Sagala in Madra region, modern Sialkot in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The Kuru king Pandu's (Pāṇḍu) second wife was from Madra kingdom and was called Madri. The Pandava twins, Nakula and Sahadeva, were her sons. Madri's brother Shalya was the king of Madra. Though affectionate to the Pandavas, he was tricked to give support to Duryodhana and fought against the Pandavas during the Kurukshetra War. He was killed by Yudhishthira, the eldest Pandava. Other than the Madra kingdom with Sagala as its capital, it is believed that there was a Western Madra and a Northern Madra.
Shivi is mentioned as a kingdom and as the name of a king in the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata. There was a king named Shivi who became famous as Shivi or the kingdom itself may be named after him. Shivi king was famous for his truthfulness. The legend about his truthfulness and compassion goes as follows: King Shivi protected a dove who was chased by a hawk, and gave flesh from his thigh, as a substitute meal to the hawk.
Kekeya Kingdom was a kingdom mentioned in the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata among the western kingdoms of then India. The epic Ramayana mentions one of the wives of Dasharatha, the king of Kosala and father of Rama, was from Kekeya kingdom and was known as Kaikeyi. Her son Bharata conquered the neighbouring kingdom of Gandhara and built the city of Takshasila. Later the sons and descendants of Bharata ruled this region from Takshasila.
Gandhāra was an Ancient Indian kingdom mentioned in the Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. Gandhara prince Shakuni was the root of all the conspiracies of Duryodhana against the Pandavas, which finally resulted in the Kurukshetra War. Shakuni's sister was the wife of the Kuru king Dhritarashtra and was known as Gandhari after the area of Gandhāra. Puskalavati, Takshasila (Taxila) and Purushapura (Peshawar) were cities in this Gandhara kingdom. Takshasila was founded by Raghava Rama's brother Bharata. Bharata's descendants ruled this kingdom afterwards. During the epic's period, the kingdom was ruled by Shakuni's father Suvala, Shakuni and Shakuni's son. Arjuna defeated Shakuni's son during his post-war military campaign for Yudhishthira's Aswamedha Yagna.
The kingdom of Tushara, according to ancient Indian literature, such as the epic Mahabharata, was a land located beyond north-west India. In the Mahabharata, its inhabitants, known as the Tusharas, are depicted as mlechchas ("barbarians") and fierce warriors.
Kalinga is a kingdom described in the legendary Indian text Mahabharata. They were a warrior clan who settled in and around the historical Kalinga region, present-day Odisha and northern parts of Andhra Pradesh. According to political scientist Sudama Misra, the Kalinga janapada originally comprised the area covered by the Puri and Ganjam districts.reference-Sudama Misra (1973). Janapada state in ancient India. Bhāratīya Vidyā Prakāśana. p. 78.
The Bahlikas were the inhabitants of Bahlika, mentioned in Atharvaveda, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, Vartikka of Katyayana, Brhatsamhita, Amarkosha etc. and in the ancient Inscriptions. The other variations of Bahlika are Bahli, Balhika, Vahlika, Valhika, Bahlava, Bahlam/Bahlim, Bahlayana and Bahluva.
The Malavas or Malwas were an ancient Indian tribe. Modern scholars identify them with the Mallian people (Malloi) who were settled in the Punjab region at the time of Alexander's invasion in the 4th century BCE. Later, the Malavas migrated southwards to present-day Rajasthan, and ultimately to Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Their power gradually declined as a result of defeats against the Western Satraps, the Gupta emperor Samudragupta, and the Chalukya emperor Pulakeshin II.
Central Asia and Ancient India have long traditions of social-cultural, religious, political and economic contact since remote antiquity. The two regions have common and contiguous borders, climatic continuity, similar geographical features and geo-cultural affinity. For millennia, there has been a flow of people, material and ideas between the two.
The Kingdom of Kapisa was a state located in what is now Afghanistan during the late 1st millennium CE. Its capital was the city of Kapisa. The kingdom stretched from the Hindu Kush in the north to Bamiyan and Kandahar in the south and west, out as far as the modern Jalalabad District in the east.
The Janapadas were the realms, republics (ganapada) and kingdoms (sāmarājya) of the Vedic period on the Indian subcontinent. The Vedic period reaches from the late Bronze Age into the Iron Age: from about 1500 BCE to the 6th century BCE. With the rise of sixteen Mahajanapadas, most of the states were annexed by more powerful neighbours, although some remained independent.
The Ushinara Kingdom was a mythological kingdom which appears in the Ramayana and Mahabharata.
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