Rishikas

The Rishikas (also Rshika and Ṛṣika) are a possibly-mythical tribe of Central Asia and South Asia which was mentioned in Hindu and Sanskrit texts, including the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Brhat-Samhita, the Markendeya Purana and Patanjali's Mahabhasya. The Mahabharata divides them into "Uttara" (northern) and "Parama" (supreme) Rishikas. The Rishikas were alleged neighbors of the Parama-Kambojas and the Lohas in Transoxiana, which was considered part of Saka-dvipa ("Saka-land"). According to traditional accounts, during the second century BCE a subgroup of Rishikas migrated to southwesterm India and settled there, crossing Afghanistan, Balochistan, Sindhu and Sovira.

Identity theories

Scholars have proposed that the Rishikas are the Yuezhi of ancient Chinese sources, or the Asii cited by the ancient Greeks. J. C. Vidyalankar believes that the Kushans (or Kanishkas) are the Rishikas. Based on the syntactical construction of Mahabharata verses 5.5.15 and 2.27.25, Sanskrit scholar Ishwa Mishra believes that the Rishikas were a group of the Kambojas (the Parama Kambojas). V. S. Aggarwala also relates the Parama Kambojas of the trans-Pamirs to the Rishikas of the Mahabharata located in the Shakdvipa. According to B. N. Puri, the Kambojas were a branch of the Tukharas. Based on Rishika-Kamboja connections, some scholars believe that the Kambojas were a branch of the Yuezhi. Moti Chander also sees a close ethnic connection between the Kambojas and the Yuezhi.