Vedic Kings and Empires
Vedic texts like Shatapatha and Aitareya Brahmanas list a group of
ten to sixteen kings, including a number of figures of the Rig Veda
like Sudas, as having conquered the region of India from "sea to
sea."(*37) Lands of the Vedic people are mentioned in these
texts from Gandhara (Afghanistan) in the west to Videha (Bihar) in the
east, and south to Vidarbha (Maharashtra), as well as from the western to the eastern oceans.
The lands mentioned in the Vedas
are much vaster in scope than those in any other ancient literature.
The Vedas are hardly the pronouncements of a limited local
culture or new intruders who had not yet known the region.
37. Aitareya Brahmana VIII.21-23;
Shatapatha Brahmana XIII.5.4.
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