Andhra Tribe - Oldest Tribe of India

Andhra Tribe - Oldest Tribe of India 

 In article 04:37 AM, Aug 07, 2018 Joseph Noony

Andhra (Telugu: ఆంధ్ర) was a kingdom mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. It was a southern kingdom. The state Andhra Pradesh got its name from this kingdom.

Andhra communities are also mentioned in the Vayu and Matsya Purana. In the Mahabharata the infantry of Satyaki was composed of a tribe called Andhras, known for their long hair, tall stature, sweet language, and mighty prowess. They lived along the banks of the Godavari river. Andhras and Kalingas supported the Kauravas during the Mahabharata war. Sahadeva defeated the kingdoms of Pandya, Andhra, Kalinga, Dravida, Odra and Chera while performing the Rajasuya yajna. Buddhist references to Andhras

Are also found. 

In the sixth century BCE, Assaka was one of the sixteen mahajanapadas. It was succeeded by the Satavahana Dynasty (230 BCE-220 CE), who built the city of Amaravati. The kingdom reached its zenith under Gautamiputra Satakarni. At the end of the period, the Telugu region was divided into fiefdoms ruled by lords. 

The Aitareya Brahmana is special. On many counts. For one, it is pretty old. In fact it is the oldest brahmana and it belongs to the Rig Veda. Secondly, it contains a profusion of curious historical information about bronze age Indian society, contemporary kings and sages, kingdoms as well as quite a few obscure and named tribes who are yet to plunge into the Vedic pale. The 'Vedic pale', we know from several other indicators, was in the earliest Rig Vedic times and before it restricted to what is now Haryana and it's thereabouts.

Visvāmitra had a hundred and one sons, fifty older than Madhuchandas, fifty younger. Those that were older did not think this right..Them he cursed (saying) “Your offspring shall inherit the ends" (of the earth). These are the (people), the Andhras, Pundras, Sabaras, Pulindas, and Mütibas,” who live in large numbers beyond the borders; most of the Dasyus are the descendants of Visvāmitra.

Very little is known about the identity or eventual fate of these highlighted tribes (except one of course). But what we can safely affirm with this crucial reference is that this is the very first time the Vedic literature gives evidence of contact with non-Indo European tribes or even of awareness of the existence of such tribes. We know that they were probably non-Indo European (by speech) because one of them survives to this day and another one (Mütibas) has a clearly non-Sanskrit/non-Sanskritised name. In fact the Sankhyayana Srauta Sutra mentions these tribes again, but there, the Pulindas are omitted and Mütibas becomes/reverts to Mücipáh, again non-Sanskrit.

The Aitareya Brahmana is younger to the Rig Veda Samhita. In the whole of the ten books of the Samhita, there is not a single evidence, by way of reference, loan words or allusion, of the Vedic people having made any contact with any non-Indo European tribe (Austroasatic or Dravidian). The literary evidence of the Rig Veda leaves little doubt that the territories of Sapta Sindhu, Vara Prithvya(in Haryana) and the Gangetic plains were entirely an IE Zone. Even the enemy tribes mentioned in the Rig Veda are clearly IE, on closer examination.

So arguably, the Aitareya represents an era when the Vedic culture had well begun to spread out of Vara Prithvya and into peninsular India. Encountering new tribes of distinct tongues and practices, the rishis and hotris no doubt were forced to make an explanation for their existence- banished sons of Vishvamitra! 

They must all have been powerful enough during the bronze age and must have had ritual traditions adequately distinct from the Vedic to warrant such a mention in the brahmana. Of the other tribes, the name 'Pundra/Paundra' etc continue to appear in the later epic literature as a kingdom in East India contemporary to the Vedic Kuru-Pancalas. The territory of the Pundras at least, if not the original tribe, survived into the medieval times. It is epigraphically attested even during the Pala-Sena period, vanishing sometime in the Islamic era.

Dating the Aitareya- As already mentioned, the Aitareya is the oldest brahmana. And the Shatapatha is the youngest. There is an amazing concomitance of the technology, units of measurements, pottery, territory, astronomical references and other details in the Shatapatha with the mature and late phases of the Indus-Saraswathy civilization. It even contains vivid descriptions of kingdoms (Videha, Kosala etc) relocating from the Indus valley to their historical locations in the Gangetic plains. Such a large scale migration is imprinted in the archaeological record only once; During and following the collapse of ISC. 

Such being the case, for the sake of conservatism, for now as we await further evidence, we may propose ~2000 BCE as the lower limit for the composition of the Aitareya and by extension, the antiquity of the Andhra people.

Coming back to the purpose of this post, this reference confers on the people of Andhra Pradesh a rare honor- The honor of being the world's oldest surviving ethno-political identity. The world's oldest recorded and preserved identity of a people and their territory.

Dear Telugus,

                       In History, Telugus are Identified as Andhras, Tanguturi Prakasam Address that "We are All Andhras". So, we proudly address that "We all Andhras" 

It is impossible to confirm the origin of a culture and the date of its origin. Different tribes, classes, and societies gradually combined over a period of time and a transformed society had evolved. This is the evolution of a society.

Andhra society is one of the ancient societies of India. One can encounter several tales about Andhras in epics like Mahabharatam and Ramayanam, in great puranas, and Budhdhist Jataka Tales. This confirms the ancient nature of Andhra society.

Andhras and Kalingas (ka'Limgulu) supported the Kauravas during the battle between Kauravas and Pandavas (the Bharata yudhdham). Sahadeva defeated the kingdoms of Pandya, Dravida, Odhra, Kerala, Andhra, and Kalinga while performing the Rajasooya yajna. This is depicted in the Mahabharatam. Chanoora (ca'NooruDu) was killed by Srikrishna in Madhura. Harivamsapuranam corroborates the fact that Chanoora was the king of Karoosa Desa (karooSa dESam) (on the North side of Vindhya and on the North banks of Yamuna river) and was an Anhdra (Andhrudu) too.

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Ramayanam depicts an interesting tale. Viswamitra condemned the "Naramedha Yagam", freed Sunassepu (SunaSSEpu, the yajna paSuvu), and adopted him as his son. Viswamitra's children diliked this act by thier father and were cursed. Then Viswamitra's children migrated towards east and south. It is understood from this tale that these children of Viswamitra were Andhras (a'mdhrulu).

The entire region of Andhra contains a profusion of curious historical artifacts, rock art, stone age tools that describe the growth patterns in the region. The earliest references to Andhra comes from the Jataka Tales and Pallava inscriptions as Andhapatham and Andhakas referring to the region and its people respectively. 

The earliest description of the people belonging to the present Andhra region though comes from the Buddhist sculptures at Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh. The locals here are depicted as having the heads of snakes. This is, as is common in those times, a symbolic representation. Also, the region is also referred to as Nagadesa and its kings as Nagas. 

The word Andhra is first observed from Udyotana's description of 'those with beautiful bodies, who love women and war alike and are great consumers of food' in 779 CE The reference to Aitareya Brahmana is generally not taken as a basis as it evolved and grew for over 2500 years with many additions throughout the time, till it is canonized in the medieval times.

Andhra people in the present day are identified as Telugu People belonging to the coastal regions of erstwhile Kalinga (Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari Districts/above Godavari River of present state of Andhra Pradesh, India) and Trilinga Desa (West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts). The predominant languages are Telugu and English with Koya, Savara, Lambadi, Gadaba, Tamil and Urdu.

Satavahana Dynasty is also Refers as

"Andhras".