Page:Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian.djvu/156

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taming elephants. They employ these animals in ploughing and for riding on, and regard them as forming the main part of their stock in cattle. They employ them in war and in fighting for their country. In choosing them for war, regard is had to their age, strength, and size.

There is a very large island in the Ganges which is inhabited by a single tribe called Modogalingæ.^[1] Beyond are situated the Modubæ, Molindæ, the Uberæ with a handsome town of the same name, the Galmodroësi, Preti, Calissæ,^[2] Sasuri, Passalæ, Colubæ, Orxulæ, Abali, Taluctæ.^[3] The king of

↑ vv. 11. modo Galingam, Modogalicam.
↑ Calissæ.—v. 1. Aclissæ.
↑ These tribes were chiefly located in the regions between the left bank of the Ganges and the Himalayas. Of the Galmodroësi, Preti, Calissæ, Sasuri, and Orxulæ nothing is known, nor can their names be identified with any to be found in Sanskṛit literature. The Modubæ represent beyond doubt the Moutiba, a people mentioned in the Aitarêya Brâhmaṇa along with other non-Âryan tribes which occupied the country north of the Ganges at the time when the Brâhmans established their first settlements in the country. The Molindæ are mentioned as the Malada in the Purâṇic lists, but no further trace of them is met with. The Uberæ must be referred to the Bhars, a numerous race spread over the central districts of the region spoken of, and extending as far as to Assam. The name is pronounced differently in different districts, and variously written, as Bors or Bhors, Bhowris, Barriias and Bhârhîyas, Bareyas, Baoris, Bharais, &c. The race, though formerly powerful, is now one of the lowest classes of the population. The Passalæ are identified as the inhabitants of Panchâla, which, as already stated, was the old name of the Doab. The Coluba respond to the Kâulûta or Kolûta—mentioned in the 4th book of the Râmâyaṇa, in the enumeration of the races of the west, also in the Varâha Saṅhitâ in the list of the people of the north-west, and in the Indian drama called the Mudra Râkshasa, of which the hero is the well-known Chandragupta. They were set-

[1] vv. 11. modo Galingam, Modogalicam.

[2] Calissæ.—v. 1. Aclissæ.

[p156-3] These tribes were chiefly located in the regions between the left bank of the Ganges and the Himalayas. Of the Galmodroësi, Preti, Calissæ, Sasuri, and Orxulæ nothing is known, nor can their names be identified with any to be found in Sanskṛit literature. The Modubæ represent beyond doubt the Moutiba, a people mentioned in the Aitarêya Brâhmaṇa along with other non-Âryan tribes which occupied the country north of the Ganges at the time when the Brâhmans established their first settlements in the country. The Molindæ are mentioned as the Malada in the Purâṇic lists, but no further trace of them is met with. The Uberæ must be referred to the Bhars, a numerous race spread over the central districts of the region spoken of, and extending as far as to Assam. The name is pronounced differently in different districts, and variously written, as Bors or Bhors, Bhowris, Barriias and Bhârhîyas, Bareyas, Baoris, Bharais, &c. The race, though formerly powerful, is now one of the lowest classes of the population. The Passalæ are identified as the inhabitants of Panchâla, which, as already stated, was the old name of the Doab. The Coluba respond to the Kâulûta or Kolûta—mentioned in the 4th book of the Râmâyaṇa, in the enumeration of the races of the west, also in the Varâha Saṅhitâ in the list of the people of the north-west, and in the Indian drama called the Mudra Râkshasa, of which the hero is the well-known Chandragupta. They were set-

[1]

[2]

[3]