12 R. Banerji — Identijication of Aboriginal Tribes. [Jan. 



He observes that the Khombuan and the Limbuan are, at all events, 

 closely allied races ; and accordmg to Dr. Campbell, in the generic term 

 Limbu, are included the Kirantis, the Eakas (Hodgson Yukhas), i. e. 

 Yakshas, and Kais. That the Kiratas and Yakshas herded together or 

 occupied the same region of Himalayas in Ancient India may be gathered 

 from the following extract from Kalidasa : 



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The Kimpurushas were the Kinnaras, i. e. the Hayasyas, i. e. the modern 

 Haioos. That they originally migrated from Mongolia may be deduced from 

 the fact of Hindu geographers placing the Kimpurusha varsha, or the coun- 

 try of the Kimpurushas, between the Himalaya and Hemakuta or Altai 

 mountains.* 



No. 3. 



Yakshas = Eakas or Yakhas. 



These people are thus described in the Purdnas. " The Yakshas are the 

 servants of Kuvera, moving in pairs, with storax and stones in their hands, 

 dark as coUyrium, their faces deformed, eyes a dull brown, their statures 

 enormous : they are dressed in crimson robes and crystal beads. Some of 

 them are of high shoulder-bones." This description, however, is totally 

 contradicted by Kalidasa, who describes the wife of his exiled Yakslia, in 

 the following glowing lines : 



" There, in the fane, a beauteous creature stands, 



The first best work of the Creator's hand ; 



Whose slender limbs inadequately bear 



A full-orbed bosom, and a weight of care ; 



"Whose teeth like pearls, whose lips like Bimbas show, 



And fawn-like eyes still tremble as they glow." 



{Wilson's translation). 



The contradiction, however, maybe easily accounted for when we call to 

 mind the difference between the matter-of-fact description of the Puranas 

 with that of the great poet of Ujjayini, replete with elevated fancy and ima- 

 gination. The Puranic description agrees best with modern ethnology. 



The ancients knew well that the country of the Yakshas was the land 

 of the pine and turpentine. The Sanskrit for JPinus longifoUa and turpentine 

 is Ya'kslia Dhupa, or incense of the Yakshas. This " is a native of the Hima- 

 layas, at elevations of 5 to 600 feet, and also found in the Kherree Pass, the 

 entrance to Nepal. The wood is light, and being full of resinous matter, 

 like the Pinus Deodara, both are frequently employed in the hills for making 

 torches, as pieces of other species often are in other parts of the world. A 



* ^■^^'T^ sr^'^'^pfTJFfT f^^T^^^iif 3;^]'w^^f^^^* I 



