Abhira tribe

The Ābhīras were a people mentioned in ancient Indian epics and scriptures as early as the Vedas. Patanjali Mahabhasya describes Abhiras as an enemy of the Aryans. A historical people of the same name are mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

History

Sunil Kumar Bhattacharya states that the Abhiras are mentioned in the first-century work of classical antiquity, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. Bhattacharya considers the Abhiras of old to be a race rather than a tribe. Scholars such as Ramaprasad Chanda state that the Abhiras were Indo-Aryan peoples. The Puranic Abhiras occupied the territories of Herat; they are invariably juxtaposed with the Kalatoyakas and Haritas, the peoples of Afghanistan.

There is no certainty regarding the occupational status of the Abhiras, with ancient texts sometimes referring to them as pastoral and cowherders but at other times as robber tribes.

Rule of the Konkan

From 203 to 270 the Abhiras ruled over the whole of the Deccan Plateau as a paramount power. The Abhiras were the immediate successors of the Satavahanas. Abhira rule started about 203 CE following the end of Yajnasri Satakarni's reign and Abhira Isvarasena's accession took place in Saka 151 or 229 CE. Sakasena was the first Abhira king. His inscriptions from Konkan and coins from Andhra Pradesh suggest that he ruled over the major part of the Satavahana empire.