Abhira

The Abhiras ( also known as Ahira) were an agricultural and pastoral community of Indian subcontinent,^[1] who are often mentioned in ancient Indian literature in connection with the worship of Hindu God Krishna.^[2] According to a few scholars they were an ancient tribe and probably semi-nomadic people as they are associated with various peoples and provinces. A historical people of the same name are mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

Etymology

The term Abhira means cow-herd or a Gopa.^[source?] Anthropologists came up with the view that Haryana was known by this name because in the post-Mahabharata period, the Abhiras live here,^[3] who developed special skills in the art of agriculture.^[4] According to Pran Nath Chopra, Haryana evolved as a word from Abhirayana (from Abhira and ayana "path, way") to Ahirayana to Hariyana (Haryana).^[5] It has also been suggested that the country or city of the Abhiras is the Ophir of the Bible.^[6]

Connection with Arabs

Arab a metathetical form of Abir is nomad. This identification is supported by the meaning which the plural a'rab-nomad often has in the Quran and in the inscriptions found in South Arabia which mention Bedouin. Though the Arabists could find no convincing explanation for the name Arab, its various pronouncements as given by Guillaume himself as well as that of Ophir, occurring in the Bible, seem to link them to the Abhiras in India. Here it would not be out of place to mention that while Abhira gave rise to such words as Apir, Abira and Arab as well as Habiru, the latter was transformed in India to Habura just in the same manner as Uzbeka to 'ujabak' in Hindi . In Ancient Indian literature they are said to have once lived on Indus.^[7]

Origin and History

The Abhiras have been described in the history of Ancient India as a tribe, which migrated from one place to another, and finally settled in various regions.

According to some authors, the origin of the Abhiras i is steeped in obscurity. Though there are many references about the Abhiras in Ancient India literature, hardly any of them throw any light on their origin. In support of their argument they quote Mahabhasya of Patanjali who mentions them as a tribe distinct from the Sudras, but no information about their origin is available from it. The Mahabharata depicts them living with the predatory forest tribes. According to the Bhuvanakosa chapters of the Mahabharata and the Puranas these forest tribes were organised in the form of ganas of the mercenaries and freebooters, hostile to Aryans. But in later references they have also been connected with the fourfold order of the society. According to an interpolation in the Manusmrti the Abhiras were born of an Ambastha woman and a Brahmana father.

Enthoven, an administrator of the British Raj and gentleman-scholar, believed that Abhiras might have entered India from Afghanistan.^[8][9] The pastoral setting of the stories about Krishna's childhood may have originated in legends of a god worshipped by the Abhira tribe. However Hugh Nevill says that it is probable the Abhiras on being removed from Mesopotamia, across the river, may have called themselves Abhira, as we know they did so in Scinde; while the branch in Afghanistan are spoked of in the Assyrian inscription as of "the land of Abhiruz".^[10] Ramaprasad Chanda author of "The Indo-Aryan races" says that the Abhiras from whom the Gujaratis of our day have evidently sprung, were Aryan in speech and belonged to the Indo-Afghan stock.^[11] The Puranic Abhiras, have occupied the territories of Herat, which is probably a survival of their name, as they are invariably juxtaposed with the Kalatoyakas and Haritas — the peoples of Afghanistan.^[12] Journal of the Department of Pali believes that the Abhiras came to India from some part of eastern Iran.^[13] Skanda Purāṇa also puts Abhiras as one of the tribes of Afghanistan.^[14]

Bhagwan Singh Suryavanshi says archaeological research in Deccan has revealed the presence of pastoral people of the Neolithic era who shares many attributes of the Abhira. Hence, they might have been present much earlier than has been previously postulated so. He concludes that they spread from Indus to Mathura, and migrated southward and eastward.^[15]

According to a theory advanced by A. P. Karmakar, Abhiras were a Proto-Dravidian tribe, derived from Dravidian Ayir,^[16] which means cowherd. He concludes from the Padma Purana, where Vishnu informed Abhiras, "I shall be born among you, O Abhiras, at Mathura in my eighth birth". D. R. Bhandarkar supports the non-Aryan origin theory, directly relating Krishna to Rig Veda's "Krishna Drapsah", where he fights the Aryan god Indra. Abhiras were the people of Yadava community. Yadu was the eldest son of Yayati and Devyani, who was the daughter of Shukracharya. All the territory of Mathura belonged to Abhiras.^[17] Further, Mahabharata describes Abhira as forming one of the seven republics, Samsaptak Gunas, and as a friend of Matsyas, a pre-vedic tribe.^[16]

Others believe that Abhiras were originally nomadic pastoral tribes fom the lower Indus valley in modern Pakistan, who migrated eastwards and southwards across Avanti which includes districts of western Madhya Pradesh and parts of south-eastern Rajasthan.^[18] They were warriors, and after serving in the armies of various states, especially of the Sakas, some of their leaders set up an independent princes at mountainous strongholds in Southern India.^[19]

Religion

The Bhāgavata religion was considered primarily as the religion of the Abhiras. ^[20]

Rule of the Junagadh

Uparkot fort rediscovered by Chudasama ruler Graharipu

The Chudasama dynasty from Sind wielded great influence around Junagadh from the 875 A.D. onwards when they consolidated themselves at Vanthali (ancient Vamanasthali) close to Girnar under their - King Ra Chuda.^[21][22]

A Chudasama prince styled Graharipu ruling at Vanthali near Junagadh is described in the Dyashraya-Kavya of Hemachandra as an Abhira and a Yadava.^[23]

Rule of the Nepal

An Ahir dynasty ruled pre-12th century areas in present-day Nepal.^[24] According to Gopalarājvamshāvali, the genealogy of ancient Gopala dynasty compiled circa 1380s, Nepal is named after Nepa the cowherd, the founder of the Nepali scion of the Abhiras. In it's account, the cow that issued milk to the spot, at which Nepa discovered the Jyotirlinga of Pashupatināth upon investigation, was also named Ne.^[25]

Related pages

• Abhira Dynasty