Puranas also refer to river Sindhu as watering the lands of Daradas, Gandharas and the Aurasas.
Brhatsamhita groups the Daradas with the Abhisaras and the Tanganas.
Mahabharata also mentions the Daradas as neighbors to the Kambojas and Bahlikas.
Mahabharata locates the country of Daradas in the Himavata-Pradesa.
Ptolemy refers to the Daradas as living below the sources of the Indus River.
Herodotus refers to the Daradas as Dadicae and groups them with the Gandharas and the Aparytae. Herodotus and Strabo also connect the Daradas with the gold producing area located in the west of Tibet. There is an evidence that the Daradas, in ancient times, had their colonies located in Baltistan and Leh also.
All the above references locate the Daradas in Uttarapatha as neighbors to Kambojas of Kashmir-Nuristan.
Degraded Kshatriyas
Fight with Arjuna
Sabha Parva of Mahabharata attests that Arjuna had led a digvijaya expedition against the Kashmiras, Ursas, Abhisaras, Sinhapuras, Suhmas, Daradas, Kambojas, Bahlikas, Lohas, Rishikas and Parama Kambojas etc.
Drona Parva of Mahabharata attests that Krishna had vanquished the Daradas along with Anga, Vanga, Magadha, Kasi, Kosala, Vatsa, Garga, Karusha, Pundra, Avanti, Daserka, Kashmira, Ursa, Madugalas, Kambojas, Pisachas, Malavas, Sakas, Yavanas etc.
Daradas in Yudhishtra's Rajasuya ceremony
The Daradas along with numerous other tribes from northwest had including the Bahlikas, Kiratas, Pahlavas, Paradas, Kambojas, Shakas, Yavanas, Trigartas, Kshudrakas, Malavas, Angas, Vangas etc. had joined Yudhishtra at his Rajasuya ceremony and brought him numerous gifts.
Daradas had also participated in the Kurukshetra war fought between the Kauravas and Pandavas. They are variously listed with Sauviras, Bahlikas, Shakas, Yavanas, Pahlavas, Paradas, Kekayas, Kambojas, Madras, Mlecchas, northern and westerner tribes etc.
Horses of Daradas
refers to the horses from Darada country.
Daradas in Brahatsamhita of Varahamihira
The Daradas are mentioned with the Shakas, Yavanas, Paradas and the Kambojas in the 6th-century AD Brhatsamhita of Varahamihira. They are also mentioned with the Abhisaras in the same text as living on the borders of Kashmir.
According to ancient text Rajatarangini of Kalhana, a Sanskrit text from the north, king Lalitaditya Muktapida of Kashmir undertakes to reduce his neighbouring countries. He launches war expedition onto the region of north from Kashmir and first he fights with the Kambojas and deprives them of their horses. Immediately after the Kambojas, he meets the Tukharas. Tukharas do not give him fight, but run away even abandoning their horses in the field. Then Lalitaditiya meets the Bhauttas in Baltistan in western Tibet north of Kashmir, then the Dardas in Karakorum/Himalaya, the Valukambudhi and then he encounters Strirajya, the Uttarakurus and the Pragjyotisha respectively. Kalhana names several Darada rulers: Acalamangala, during the reign of Ananta of Kashmir, AD 1028 to AD 1063, Vidhyadhara Shahi during the reign of Harsa, 1089–1101 AD, Jagaddala during the reign of Uccala, AD 1101 to AD 1111, Manidhara during the reign of Sussala, AD 1112 to AD 1120), and Yasodhara during the reign of Jayasimha, AD 1128 to AD 1149.
