TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu

territories West of it on one hand, and of the "properly Vedic" tribes of
Madhyadeśa and the adjacent country East of it, on the other hand.
Much has been made, in past decades, of the Vrātyas as the early
Eastern immigrants; now H. Falk's book 'Bruderschaft und Würfelspiel'
provides a better interpretation of their character, strictly derived from
the evidence of the texts themselves: The Vrātyas are poor, mostly
younger Brahmins and Kṣatriyas who in search of a "start capital" form
a dark, ominous sodality which demands ransom from the local wellsettled
gṛhasthas and even from the kings. 328
A closer reading of the texts yields more results for the still very hazy
picture of Vedic history: for example the fate of the Kurus, who have
been overcome by the Salvas (JB 2.206). ŚB and BAUK mention the
uncertain fate of the Pārikṣitas, the royal family of the Kurus: "where
has their glory gone?" Such sentences might, ultimately, provide the clue
for the prominence, in the later YV-Saṃhitā and the Brāhmaṇa period,
of the Pañcālas with their Taitt., Kauṣ., Śāṭy. schools; notable is the
prominence of Keśin Dārbhya and his successors in these texts. 329
The mysterious Ikṣvākus may help to explain the Eastern Central
developments. They are mentioned already in the AV as one of the
Eastern groups living at the edge of Indo-Aryan settlements. (Note that
Kāśī still is outside the pale of Vedic culture for PS). In the Pāli texts (DN
3.1.15 sqq.) Okkāka ( < Ikṣvāku) is the forefather of the Śākyās, who
lived in the Central Tarāī of Southern Nepal. A connection of the
Ikṣvāku territory with that of the Kāṇvas is highly probable. There may
be a direct correlation of the movement of the King Videgha Māthava
and his priest Gotama Rahūgaṇa, the bearers of Vedic (orthodox and
orthoprax) culture, towards the East, to the country East of the Sadānīrā
(to the Kāṇva, this is the country East of the Kuru-Pāñcālas, i.e.
Kosala. 330
328 Note the story in BŚS 18.26, cf. H.Falk's transl. in Bruderschaft, p.55 sqq., about the
Vrātyas of the Kurus at the court of the Pañcāla king Keśin Dālbhya. The Kurus
apparently play the role of vrātyas for the Pañcālas (and vice versa?). Is a constant
dichotomy of society expressed by the loose union of the two tribes? Cf. situation as
reflected in religion: the devas and asuras are in constant conflict; note also JB 2,278-9
Keśin Dārbhya (Pañcāla king): his mother and his (maternal) uncle Ucchaiśravas, son of
Kuvaya, the King of Kurus (kauravya rājā): a clear case of intermarriage of the two royal
houses.
329 Cf. the fight of the Pañcālas with the Kuntis, see ann. 113, KS 26.9, end.
330 Note the intention of the story: Gotama Rahūgaṇa is otherwise known only as the author
of Ṛgvedic hymns. To make him the culture hero of the East is as conspicuous as the
127