Book Description

The most pressing need at the present day is the detailed investigation of carefully chosen aspects of Indian history, and it was a happy thought of Dr. Bimala Charan Law to select for investigation the history of certain Ksatriya tribes of ancient India. Many things are obscure in the history of these tribes, and it is of special value to have the whole of the facts regarding them set out, without parti pris, in a spirit of scientific research. The entire volume is to present a narrative of the history, manners, customs, etc., of some Ksatriya tribes of ancient India. Scholars like Rhys Davids, Hoernle, Macdonell, Keith, Cunningham and others have no doubt from time to time supplied valuable information regarding some of these tribes but a comprehensive and systematic account of the Ksatriya tribes who play such an important part in the history of Pre-Mauryan India. The major portion of the present volume embodies-the results of my own researches. I have utilized original works, Sanskrit, Pali, and Prakrt such as the Vedas, the Upanisads, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Puranas, the Nikayas, the Jatakas, the Pali commentaries, the Kalpa Sutra, the Sutrakrtanga, etc.