Khasas

This article is about the ancient people. For the tribe of same name mentioned in the Mahabharata, see Khasas (Mahabharata). For the medieval and modern people of same name, see Khas people. For ethnolinguistic group in northeast India, see Khasi people.

Khasas (Sanskrit: खश, IAST: Khaśa) were an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe and a late Janapada kingdom[1] from Himalayan regions of northern Indian subcontinent mentioned in the various historical Indian inscriptions and ancient Indian Hindu and Tibetan literature. European sources described the Khasa tribe living in the Northwest Himalayas and the Roman geographer Pliny The Elder specifically described them as "Indian people".[2] They were reported to have lived around Gandhara, Trigarta and Madra Kingdom as per the Mahabharata.

Tribes and nations in the ancient Epic Map of India; Khasas are described to have lived around Gandhara, Trigarta and Madra Kingdom

People of this tribe include Khas people of medieval Western Nepal, medieval Indian regions of Garhwal and Kumaon, the Kanets of Kangra, Himachal and Garhwal, the Khasa of Jaunsar-Bawar as well as Khakha Rajputs and Bomba clans of Kashmir and different part of northern Pakistan.

  1. ^ Misra 1973, pp. 306–321.
  2. ^ Grierson 1916, p. 3.