94 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
that some of the principal Gaudian sub-divisions are named 
after sucli western districts, as Kanyakubja, or the country 
watered by the sacred Sarasvati which loses itself in the 
deserts north of Eajputana.^* Some scholars even state that 
the Brahmans known as Grauda-Brahmans are not Bengalis, 
but inhabitants of Hindustan proper, who according to their 
own legends left Kanyakubja and emigrated to the East in 
the time of the Pandavas.^^ 
According to this tradition, the Kanyakubja Brahmans 
migrated to the Eastern Grauda at an early period, but 
the question when the division into Grauda and Dravida 
Brahmans took place^ remains unanswered. Nor are we 
better able to decide the reason of this peculiar separation. 
The most probable explanation may be that the Brahmans 
simply adopted the division which they found existing among 
the original inhabitants in the midst of whom they settled. 
In that case we have no means of assigning an historical 
date to this event. If, as I suppose, the Grauda-Dravidian 
population existed in this dual state already in prehistoric 
times, it will be very difficult indeed to ascertain when 
the Brahmans adopted this classification in their community. 
Compare H. H. Wilson's Vishnupurdna, vol. II, p. 195, and Dr. John 
"Wilson's Indian Caste, vol. II, pp. 124-139: "The Sarasvata Brahmans 
form the only class of natives of India now distinctly recognized as connected 
with the Sarasvata nation. They are found, not only in the Panjab and 
Sindh, where they abound, but in Rajputana, Gujarat, the Iforth-West Pro- 
vinces, and even, as we have seen, throughout the southern provinces of 
India" (pp. 125, 126). H. T. Colebrooke states in his ^isct'l/aneous Ussai/s, 
London, 1873, vol. II, p. 21 : " The Saraswata was a nation which occupied 
the banks of the river Saraswatl. Brahmanas, who are still distinguished bv 
the name of their nation, inhabit chiefly the Panjab or Panchanada, west of 
the river from which they take their appellation." 
See H. T. Colebrooke, ibidem, vol. II, p. 25, note 1 : "It is necessary 
to remark, that though Gaura (Gaucja) be the name of Bengal, yet the 
Bralimanas, who bear that appellation, are not inhabitants of Bengal, but of 
Hindustan proper. They reside chiefly in the Suba of Delhi, while the 
Brahmanas of Bengal are avowed colonists from Kanoj. It is ditficult to 
account for this contradiction. The Gaura Brahmanas allege a tradition, that 
their ancestors migrated in the daj-s of the Paudavas, at the commencement 
of the present Kali Yiiga. Though no pl;iusible conjecture can be formed on 
