Rishikas - Rishikas in South-west India

Rishikas in South-west India

The Saka invasion of India in 2nd century BCE was a joint military venture in which the allied tribes of the Shakas, Pahlavas, Kambojas, Paradas, Rishikas, Bahlikas etc. seem to have participated. These tribes had spread into and occupied the parts of western and south-western India.

Thus, the Rishikas are attested in later literature as living in south-western/southern parts of India also.

Some verses in Karanaparava and Bhishmaparava of Mahabharata composed and edited during post-current times (400 AD) refer to the Rishikas in the Dakshinapatha or southern India and show them as a Janapada located in close vicinity to the Vidarbhas and the Ashmakas.

The Kishikindha Kanda of Valmiki Ramayana also refers to this second branch of the Rishikas and also places them in Dakshinapatha in the neighborhood of the Vidarbhas.

Many scholars assume that the current version of the Valmiki Ramayana was a creation of 200 BCE to 200 CE, hence this reference to the southern Rishikas .

Post-Current creation Markendeya Purana also attests the Rishikas of the Dakshinapatha or southern division.

Likewise, a 6th century creation Brhat Samhita by Varaha Mihira also attests the Rishikas in Dakshinapatha or southern division.

The geographical location of these Rishikas is said to fall on river Krsnavena. Rishika country laid on south of Vindhya, north of Mulakas, north-east of Nasika, west of Vidharba and south of Anupa or Anupadesha.

Modern Khandesh is stated to have formed part of southern Rishika country.

It is notable that the same Brhat Samhita and the Markendeya Purana also attest some Kamboja and Pahlava settlements located in south-west India.

The geographical location of these Kambojas and Pahlavas is thought to be around Gujarat/Maharashtra somewhere, thus in close neighborhood of the southern Rishikas.

The following evidence from Udyogaparava of Mahabharata associates the Rishikas with the Kambojas, Shakas and Pahlavas and states them all living around Anupa region or Anupadesha.

Shakanam Pahlavana.n cha Daradanam cha ye nripah |

Kamboja Rishika ye cha pashchim.anupakash cha ye ||5.5.15||

Trans: The kings of the Shakas, Pahlavas and the Daradas, and the Kamboja Rishikas live in the west in Anupadesa or sea coast regions.

The Daradas in the verse above appears to be a copyist's mistake for Daradas since it were the Paradas, not the Daradas, who have, most often, been associated with the corporated military confederation of the Shakas, Kambojas and Pahlavas etc. (Pānca-ganah or five hordes of Kshatriyas in the Puranic texts, for instance).

Anupadesha of Sanskrit traditions is stated to have comprised Doab of rivers Narbada and Tapti. It lay on east of Gujarat, north of Vindhya and south of the Avanti Janapada.

Whatever may be the context, these verses probably reflect on the post-Current scenario when mass encroachment of interior India had occurred due to invasion of India by these foreign hordes.