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TheAbhira people (Devanagari: आभीर) were a legendary people mentioned inancient Indianepics andscriptures. A historical people of the same name are mentioned in thePeriplus of the Erythraean Sea. TheMahabharata describes them as living near the seashore and on the bank of theSarasvati River, nearSomnath inGujarat and in theMatsya region also.[1]
Sunil Kumar Bhattacharya says that the Abhiras are mentioned in the first-century work ofclassical antiquity, thePeriplus of the Erythraean Sea. He considers them to be a race rather than a tribe.[2] Scholars such asRamaprasad Chanda believe that they wereIndo-Aryan peoples.[3] But others, such asRomila Thapar, believe them to have been indigenous.[4] ThePuranic Abhiras occupied the territories ofHerat; they are invariably juxtaposed with the Kalatoyakas and Haritas, the peoples of Afghanistan.[5]
In the Padma-puranas and certain literary works, the Abhiras are referred to as belonging to the race of Krishna.[6]
There is no certainty regarding the occupational status of the Abhiras, with ancient texts sometimes referring to them as warriors, as pastoral cowherders, but at other times as plundering tribes.[7]
Along with theVrishnis, theSatvatas, and theYadavas, the Abhiras were followers of the Vedas, and worshippedKrishna, the head and preceptor of these tribes.[8][6]
In archaeological inscriptions, Abhiras are mentioned as belonging to the race of Krishna.[9][6]
From 203 to 270 theAbhiras ruled over the whole of the Deccan Plateau as a paramount power. The Abhiras were the probably successors of the Satvahanas.[10]
According to Ganga Ram Garg, the modern-dayAhir caste are descendants of Abhira people and the termAhir is thePrakrit form of theSanskrit termAbhira.[6] Bhattacharya says that the termsAhir,Ahar andGaoli are current forms of the wordAbhira.[2]
M. S. A. Rao and historians such as P. M. Chandorkar and T. Padmaja have explained that epigraphical and historical evidence exists for equating the Ahirs with the ancient Abhiras.[11][12][13]
During the reign ofSamudragupta (c. 350), the Abhiras lived inRajputana andMalava on the western frontier of theGupta Empire. HistorianDineshchandra Sircar thinks of their original abode was the area of Abhiravan, betweenHerat andKandahar, although this is disputed.[14] Their occupation ofRajasthan also at later date is evident from theJodhpur inscription ofSamvat 918 that the Abhira people of the area were a terror to their neighbours, because of their violent demeanour.[14] Abhiras of Rajputana were sturdy and regarded asMlecchas, and carried on anti-Brahmanical activities. As a result, life and property became unsafe.Pargiter points to the Pauranic tradition that the Vrishnis and Andhakas, while retreating northwards after theKurukshetra War from their western home in Dwarka and Gujarat, were attacked and broken up by the rude Abhiras of Rajasthan.[15]
The Abhiras did not stop in Rajasthan; some of their clans moved south and west reachingSaurashtra andMaharashtra and taking service under theSatavahana dynasty and theWestern Satraps.[16] Also founded a kingdom in the northern part of theMaratha country, and an inscription of the ninth year of the Abhira kingIshwarsena.[17][18]