Expansion of the Indo-Aryans—The Dasyus

Extent of Arya-land in the Rigveda

• Geographical references in the Rigveda show that Indo-Aryans then occupied parts of Afghanistan, Punjab, Kashmir, regions of Rajputana and Sindh, and had advanced up to the Ganges.

• About twenty-five rivers are mentioned, the chief among them being Sindhu (Indus), Vitasta (Jhelum), Asikni (Chenab), Parushni (Ravi), Vipasha (Beas), Satudru (Sutlej), Kubha (Kabul), Suvastu (Swat), Krumu (Kurram), Saraswati, Drishadvati, Yamuna, and Ganga.

• The hymn-makers were familiar with the Himalayas, but there is no knowledge of the Vindhyas or the Nerbudda, suggesting Aryan expansion had not yet reached those regions.

• Their unfamiliarity with eastern India is also shown by the absence of the tiger, a typical eastern animal, and the limited knowledge of rice.

• The river Ganga is mentioned directly only once, indicating that it probably marked the eastern boundary of Indo-Aryan settlement during the Rigvedic age.

• Some hymns, especially those to Ushas (dawn), may have been composed near the Indus in western Punjab, where dawn is especially striking.

• However, the main centre of Rigvedic life lay farther east on the banks of the Saraswati.

• Most hymns were likely composed in the Saraswati region, and this river was regarded as the holiest stream, surpassing even the Indus in importance.

Extension during the Brahmana Period

• During the later Samhita and Brahmana period, Indo-Aryans expanded southward to the Vindhyas, eastward to the borders of Bengal, and in some places entered the Deccan through Malwa and Gujarat.

• The political and cultural centre shifted eastward to the land between the Saraswati and the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna, known as Madhyadesha or the Middle Country.

• Eastern regions such as Kosala, Kasi, and Videha rose in importance, while Punjab and western areas declined in prestige and were treated with less respect in Brahmana literature.

• The Satapatha Brahmana tells of Mathava Videgha carrying the sacrificial fire from the Saraswati across Kosala to the Sadanira (Gandak), symbolising the eastward spread of Aryan settlement and Brahmanical ritual.

• The story suggests conquest up to the Sadanira, temporary stoppage there, and later founding of the Aryan colony of Videha beyond the river.

• In the Atharvaveda, fever is symbolically sent to Gandharis, Mujavants, Angas, and Magadhas, indicating conflict with eastern non-Aryan peoples.

• The Magadhas are also associated with Vratyas, described as wandering groups with strange speech and customs.

• This passage further shows that the Aryans of the Middle Country had begun to look down upon both eastern tribes and their own more primitive western kinsmen.

• The Aitareya Brahmana names Andhras, Pundras, Sabaras, Pulindas, and Mutibas as peoples living on the frontiers of Aryan settlements.

• These tribes are linked with the Deccan, Bengal, and forest regions, showing Aryan contact with distant frontier populations.

• In the Aitareya Aranyaka, Vangas, Vagadhas (possibly Magadhas), and Cheras are called “birds,” meaning non-Aryans whose languages were unintelligible to Aryans.

• The Vangas were people of Bengal, while the Cheras are identified as a wild tribe of the Vindhyan zone.

• The Kaushitaki Upanishad lists major Aryan peoples such as Usinaras, Vasas, Matsyas, Kurus, Panchalas, Kasis, and Videhas.

• At that time, the land of the Usinaras in eastern Punjab and that of the Videhas in North Bihar marked the western and eastern limits of the Aryan world.

• By then, western Punjab and trans-Indus regions had come to be regarded as barbarian.

• References to Vidarbha (modern Berar) and its prince Bhima in Brahmana texts show that Aryans had entered the Deccan as far as Berar.

• Thus, before the close of the Brahmana age around 800 B.C., most of Northern India up to South Bihar had been conquered, and Aryan colonisation had begun in the Deccan.

• Bihar especially provides a clear example of the gradual process of conquest and settlement.