On Kamboja Rishika Connection?
There are not enough references in ancient literature on Rishika clan. But it looks like there is somehow, a connection between the ancient Rishikas and the ancient Kambojas. Some notable observations follow:
- The Sabhaparava of Mahabharata portrays the Lohas, Kambojas and the Rishikas as very close neighborly and allied tribes and places them all in Saka-dvipa in trans-Himalayan territory.
- Adiparva of Mahabharata collates the Kambojas and the Rishikas together and views them both as despised people. Chandravarma, the king of Kambojas is branded as an incarnation of Daitya Chandra and also the sage Rishika (from the Rishika tribe), likewise is branded as an incarnation of Danva Arka. One version of Mahabharata substitutes Chandravarma as Risika king in place of Kamboja. The Kambojas and Rishikas here are placed side-by-side in the same verse, thus implying them as possibly related or else closely connected together, geographically and culturally, at least.
- The Udyogaparava of Mahabharata also connects the Kambojas and Rishikas together and treats them as if they are one people (Kambojarishika). Based on the wording of this verse of Mahabharata, Prof Ishwa Misra, a very outstanding Sanskrit scholar and notable contributor on Indiancivilization forum, identifies the Rishikas as a sub-section of the Kambojas themselves.
- As noted above, both the Brhat Samhita as well as Markendeya Purana locate one section of the Rishikas in Dakshinapatha (south/south-west India), on river Krsnavena, probably in Khandesh (Maharashtra). Interestingly, the same two texts also locate one section of the Kambojas and the Pahlavas in south-west India, in Anupadesha, which region borders on this south-western Rishika country. All these people are obviously sections of the invading hordes who had come and settled in India in the wake of 2nd century BCE Saka invasion of India.
- Some scholars say that the tribal name Rishika implies scholarly class of people as Matsya Purana and the Vayu Purana would like us to believe. Thus Rishikas had either sprung from Rishis i.e. the scholarly parentage or else they, themselves, were a scholarly people. This may compare well with the Kambojas who, in Dronaparava section of Mahabharata, are also portrayed as a scholarly people.
- And so forth and so on.
Read more about this topic: Rishikas