Kimpurusha kingdom


Kimpurusha kingdom refers to the territory of a tribe called Kimpurushas who were one among the exotic tribes of ancient India. These exotic tribes lived in inaccessible regions like the Himalaya mountains.
Kimpurushas were described to be lion-headed beings. Splitting the word to Kimpurusha = Kim + Purusha , analogous to the word Kin + Nara , shows that Kinnaras and Kimpurushas were related or probably the same tribe. The lion head may be an exaggeration of their heavily bearded head. In some Puranas they were mentioned as horse-headed. They could be a tribe of horse-warriors like the Kambojas. But their lion-headed reference in the sources and them staying in the mountains suggest that they could be Kirata. Kirat-or Kirati- means people with lion nature. It is derived from two words Kira-Lion and Ti- people and it also means people from the mountain.

Arjuna's conquests

Arjuna, during his conquest of northern kingdoms also visited the Kimpurusha kingdom. Arjuna, Crossing the White mountains, subjugated the country of the Kimpurushas ruled by Durmaputra, after a collision involving a great slaughter of Kshatriyas, and brought the region under his complete sway.

Kimpurusha King (or preceptor) Druma