Abastanoi

Abastanoi refers to the people who dwelt, on the eve of Alexander’s invasion on the chenab above its confluence with the Indus River, in the North Western Parts of India. The word is derived from Sanskrit letter Ambastha, which is mentioned in Aitareya Brahmana, the Mahabharata and the Brihaspatya Arthasastra. They were a tribe or clean who were at first mainly a fighting race, but some of them later on adopted other profession like those of priests, farmers and physicians.