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( Chinas)
The Chinas or Ciñas (Sanskrit ???) are a people mentioned in ancient Indian literature from the first millennium BC, such as the Mahabharata, Laws of Manu, as well the Puranic literature. They are believed to have been Chinese. The name Cina is believed to have been derived from either the Qin (Tsin or Chin) dynasty which rule in China from 221 BC[1] or the earlier Qin state which later became the Qin dynasty. If it is referring to the Qin dynasty, this forms a limit on the antiquity of the above references in question. Qin (Tsin or Chin) was the ancient appellation of the northern province of Shen-sy, and this may have reached the Hindus from thence at an earlier period (Dr Wilson). The Greco-Romans referred to China as Sina, or Sinae. Another theory is based on a polity known as Yelang, in what is now China's Yunnan province. The inhabitants of this region referred to themselves as zina.[2] In the epic of the Mahabharata, the Chinas appear together with the Kiratas among the armies of king Bhagadatta of Pragjyotisa (Assam). In the Sabhaparvan, the same king is said to be surrounded the Kiratas, and the Cinas. Also in the Bhismaparvan, the army of Bhagadatta is said to consist of the Kirtas and the "yellow-colored" Cinas.
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