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CHAPTER II
KINGS AND PEOPLES The Dīgha Nikāya contains this prophecy of the Buddha that when the advent of the future Buddha, Metteyya, will take place on earth, 'Jambudīpa will be pervaded by mankind even as a jungle is by reeds and rushes'.1 The
teeming millions of India' is indeed an oftrecurring phrase of the present day. In dealing with the peoples of Jambudvipa we are not, however, to deal with the teeming millions of India as such but only as divided into various tribes or nations ruling themselves or being ruled by kings. By way of a general description of the ninth dvipa of the Bhāratavarşa, i.e., of India proper, the Mārkandeya Purāna locates the Kiråtas in the eastern (better, north-eastern) extremity, the Yavanas in the western (better, north-western), and the rest of the peoples in the remaining parts of India.
As for the Himalayan region, the Purāņas refer the Kinnaras to the Haimavatavarşa, the Kimpuruşas to the Hemakấtavarşa and the Yakşas to some regions, the main home of the
· Digha, iii, p. 75.
* Mārkandeya Purāna, Ohap. 67: Pūrve kirätā yasyante, pascime Yavinah amrtäh.
