Note 39 — INDEX
Reading edition
The origin of the name Kámboja seems to be Kámbojápura an old name of Kábul preserved almost in its present form in Ptolemy’s (a.d. 160) Kaboura. The word is doubtfully connected with the Achæmenian Kambyses (b.c. 529–521) the Kambujiya of the Behistun inscription. In the fifth of the Aśoka edicts (b.c. 240) Kámboja holds the middle distance between Gandhára or Pesháwar and Yona or Baktria. According to Yáska, whose uncertain date varies from b.c. 500 to b.c. 200, the Kambojas spoke Sanskrit (Muir’s Sanskrit Texts, II. 355 note 145). In the last battle of the Mahábhárata, a.d. 100 to 300 (Jl. Roy. As. Soc. [1842] VII. 139–140), apparently from near Bamian the Kambojas ranked as Mlechchhas with Śakas Daradas and Húṇas. One account (Fergusson, III. 665) places the original site of the Kambojas in the country round Taxila east of the Indus. This is probably incorrect. A trace of the Kambojas in their original seat seems to remain in the Kaumojas of the Hindu Kush. ↑