The Panchala
janapada is believed to have been formed by multiple
janas (tribes). The
Shatapatha Brahmana suggests that Panchala was the later name of the Krivi tribe (who, according to the
Rigveda, lived on the bank of the
Indus River). The later
Vedic literature uses the term Panchala to describe the close associates of the
Kurus. Panchala is identified with the city of
Kanyakubja or the region around it. The
Mahabharata mentions the 'Saranjayas' as a tribe or a family among the Panchalas, occasionally using the terms interchangeably, but also separately at a few places. The
Mahabharata further mentions that the
Panchala country had its capital at
Kanyakubja or modern day
Kannauj but was later divided into two territories: the northern Panchala with its capital at
Ahichchhatra, and the southern Panchala with its capital at
Kampilya. According to the political scientist Sudama Misra, the name of the Panchala janapada suggests that it was a fusion of five (
pancha)
janas (tribes).
H.C. Raychaudhuri theorised that these five clans were the Krivis, the Turvashas, the Keshins, the Srinjayas, and the Somakas. Each of these clans is known to be associated with one or more princes mentioned in the Vedic texts – the Krivis with Kraivya Panchala, the Turvashas with Sona Satrasaha, the Keshins with Keshin Dalbhya, the Srinjayas with Sahadeva Sarnjaya, and the Somakas with Somaka Sahadevya. The names of the last two clans, the Somakas and the Srinjayas, are also mentioned in the
Mahabharata and the
Puranas. King Drupada, whose daughter Draupadi was married into the Pandavas in the Mahabharata, belonged to the Somaka clan. However, the Mahabharata and the Puranas consider the ruling clan of the northern Panchala as an offshoot of the
Bharata clan, identifying
Divodasa,
Sudas, Srinjaya, Somaka, and
Drupada (also called Yajnasena) as its most notable rulers. It is also mentioned that
Sutasoma, the son of Draupadi and the Pandava prince
Bhima, was the king of the Somaka tribe during the
Kurukshetra War. The Panchala Kingdom rose to its highest prominence in the aftermath of the decline of the Kuru Kingdom, culminating in its eventual defeat by the non-Vedic
Salva tribe. The king of Panchala,
Keśin Dālbhya (approximately between 900 and 750 BCE), was the nephew of the Kuru king, who had died heirless; Keśin subsequently took over the leadership, establishing his kingdom as the new political and cultural center, and ensuring the continuation of the Vedic tradition. His dynasty remained in power for many generations; one of his later successors was the philosopher-king
Pravahana Jaivali, who was the contemporary of King
Janaka of
Videha and the philosophers
Uddalaka Aruni and
Svetaketu (8th–7th centuries BCE). == Under Magadha ==