The Audumbaras are mentioned in the Ganapatha among the Rajanya group of republics. They were the neighbours of the Rajanyas of Kangra and the Jalandharāyaņas of Jalandhara, both of whom are listed alongside in the Gana. They are placed at the head of the Panjab republics in the earlier list of the Sabha Parvan of the Mahabharata. The Audumbras were one among most important north Indian tribes of Himalaya region, and lived in the lower hills between Sirmaur, Chamba and Yamuna. According to Mahabharata Audumbaras were the descendants of the sage “Vishwamitra“ who was founder of “Kaushika group”. Their coins have been mostly found in the Pathankot, Jawalamukhi and Hoshiarpur. Their coins of the first century B.C. are also found in the northern Panjab in Gurdaspur-Pathankot, Kangra and Hoshiarpur districts, as well as in Brahmi. They bear legends in Kharoshthi & brahmi also. Varaha mihira places them in the company of the Kapishthalas who are a twin associate of the Kathas in Patañjali. They were somewhere between Kangra and Ambala. A branch of theirs seems to have migrated to Cutch, as Pliny locates the Adomboeres there. Their coinage resembles that of the Arjunayanas in style. Their coins show that the Audumbaras (if a republic) had an elective king. They are struck in the name of the community and king. The legend is, Mahadevesa rana Dharaghoshasa Odumbarisa. These coins resemble hemidrachms of the Greek prince Apollodotus. The Kharoshthi script indicates that about the middle of the 1st century B.C., like some of their neighbouring tribes, they came under the influence of the Saka satraps. Gradually were absorbed by bigger tribes and lost their identity. No further record of theirs is found.
