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INDIA'S EARLY PEOPLES
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over the aborigines wherever they went, establishing some isolated settlements on the banks of fertile rivers, and presenting to the astonished barbarians some of the results of civilized administration and civilized life. We can also imagine saintly anchorites retiring into these wild jungles and fringing the tops of hills or fertile valleys with their holy hermitages, which were the seats of learning and of sanctity. And lastly, adventurous royal huntsmen not infrequently penetrated into these jungles, and unhappy princes exiled by their more powerful rivals often chose to retire from the world and take up their abode in these solitudes.

There is a passage in the last book of the Aitareya Brahmana which, along with an account of the principal Hindu kingdoms of the time, makes some mention of aboriginal races in the south and southwest, and the passage deserves to be quoted:—

"The Vasavas then inaugurated him (Indra) in the eastern direction during thirty-one days by these three Rig verses, the Yajur verse, and the great words ('earth, ether, sky'), for the sake of obtaining universal sovereignty. Hence all kings of eastern nations are inaugurated to universal sovereignty and called Samraj ('universal sovereign') after this precedent made by the gods.

"Then the Rudras inaugurated Indra in the southern region during thirty-one days, with the three Rig verses, the Yajur, and the great words, for obtaining enjoyment of pleasures. Hence all kings of living creatures in the southern region are inaugurated for the