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Uttarakuru (Sanskrit: उत्तर कुरु; Uttarakuru) is the name of a dvipa ('continent') in ancient Hindu and Buddhist mythology as well as Jain cosmology. The Uttarakuru country or Uttara Kuru Kingdom and its people are sometimes described as belonging to the real world, whereas at other times they are mythical or otherworldly spiritual beings. The name Uttara Kuru means "North Kuru". The Kurus were a tribe during the Vedic civilization of India. The Uttara Kuru were therefore a population to the north of the Kurus, but somehow some Western historians have tried to equal kuru with Himalayas and say this as north of the Himalayas.
The Greek Ottarakorai and the Roman Attacori myths are probably related to Uttara Kuru.
Some modern historians identify this kingdom's territory as a frontier north of Gandhara basis that kuru could mean Himalaya, even though there's zero proof and that it especially encompassed modern-day Iran, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and parts of southern Russia.
At some point during the reign of Pururavas-Aila (the first king mentioned in the line of lunar dynasty of Indian kings) Uttara Kuru and the Kurus of India belonged to the same Kuru Empire. Arjuna collected tribute from Uttara Kuru during his northern military campaign for Yudhishthira's Rajasuya sacrifice. The epics also mention that they followed a republican constitution with no monarchy.

Vedic literature

Uttarakuru

Puranas

Uttarakuru

Mahabharata

Uttarakuru

Ramayana

Uttarakuru

Buddhist text

Uttarakuru

Uttarakuru is mentioned in the Sarvāstivāda Vaibhāsika canon. Pt. 23 in Bareau's anthology says: "Les habitants de l'Uttarakuru n'ont pas de détachement (virāga) et les nobles (ārya) n'y naissent pas." (The citizens of Uttarakuru are not dispassionate (virāga) and nobles (ārya) are not born there.)

Rajatarangini of Kalhana

According to Rajatarangini of Kalhana, king Lalitaditya Muktapida of Kashmir leads a war expedition against the tribes of north (i.e. north of Kashmir) and in sequence, encounters the Kambojas, Tusharas, Bhauttas, Daradas, Valukambudhis, Uttarakurus, Strirajya (mythical or otherwise) and Pragjyotisha with whom he fights one after the other.

Foreign sources

Ptolemy's Geography refers to Ottorokorai (Uttarakuru) tribe, Ottorokora as a city, and Ottorokoras as a river.
The Attacori of Pliny probably also refers to the Uttarakuru people and their country.

Geographical location

Though the later texts mix up the facts with the fancies on Uttarakurus, yet in the earlier, and some of the later texts, Uttarakurus indeed appear to be historical people. Hence scholars have attempted to identify the actual location of Uttarakuru.
Puranic accounts always locate the Uttarakuru varsa in the northern parts of Jambudvipa.
The Uttarakuru is taken by some as identical with the Kuru country mentioned in the Rig-Veda. The Kurus and Krivis (Panchala) are said to form the Vaikarana of Rigveda and the Vaikarana is often identified with Kashmir. Therefore, Dr Zimmer likes to identify the Vaikarana Kurus with the Uttarakurus and places them in Kashmir
Michael Witzel locates his Uttarakuru in Uttarakhand state.
According to a Hindutva apologist Subhash Kak, Uttara Kuru was the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang, China.
According to some scholars, the above locations however do not seem to be correct since they go against Aitareya Brahmana evidence which clearly states that Uttarakuru and Uttaramadra lay beyond Himalaya (pren himvantam janapada Uttarakurva Uttaramadra). Moreover, no notice of the Uttaramadras (Bahlika, Bactria) has been taken of while fixing up the above location of Uttarakuru. Uttarakurus and Uttaramadras are stated to be immediate neighbors in the Trans-Himalaya region per Aitareya Brahmana evidence.
Ramayana testifies that the original home of the Kurus was in Bahli country. Ila, son of Parajapati Karddama was a king of Bahli, where Bahli represents Sanskrit Bahlika (Bactria). Also the kings from Aila lineage have been called Karddameyas. The Aila is also stated to be the lineage of the Kurus themselves. The Karddamas obtained their name from river Karddama in Persia/ancient Iran. Moreover, Sathapatha Brahmana attests a king named Bahlika Pratipeya as of the Kauravya lineage. Bahlika Pratipeya, as the name implies, was a prince of Bahlika (Bactria). Thus, the Bahli, Bahlika was the original home of the Kurus. Thus, Bahlika or Bactria may have constituted the Uttarakuru. Mahabharata and Sumangalavilasini also note that the people of Kuru had originally migrated from Uttarakutru. Bactria is evidently beyond the Hindukush i.e. Himalaya. In ancient literature, Himalaya is said to be extending from eastern ocean to western ocean and even today is not separated from it.
The above identification of Uttarakuru comes from Dr M. R. Singh.
K. P. Jayswal identifies Mt Meru of the Puranas with the Hindukush ranges and locates the Uttakuru in the Pamirs itself.
V. S. Aggarwala thinks that the Uttarakuru was located to north of Pamirs in Central Asia and was also famous for its horses of Tittirakalamasha variety. Thus it probably comprised parts of Kyrgyzstan and Tian-Shan. Incidentally, the reference to horses from Uttarakuru rules out any possibility of locating Uttarakurus in Kashmir and Uttarakhand states since these regions have never been noted for their horses.
Buddha Prakash locates the Uttarakuru-varsa in Sinkiang province of China.
Bhishamaparava of Mahabharata attests that the country of Uttarakuru lay to the north of Mt Meru and to the south of Nila Parvata
The Mt Meru of Hindu traditions is identified with the knot of Pamirs. Mountain Nila may have been the Altai-Mt.
The Mahabharata refers to the Kichaka bamboos growing on the banks of river Shailoda. Mahabharata further attests that the Kichaka bamboo region was situated between Mountain Meru (Pamirs) and Mountain Mandara (Alta Tag). The river valleys between these two mountains are still overgrown with forests of Kichaka Bamboos.
Ramayana also attests that the valleys of river Shailoda were overgrown with Kichhaka bamboos and the country of Uttarakuru lay beyond river Shailoda as well as the valleys of Kichaka bamboos.
River Shailoda of Ramayana and of Mahabharata has been variously identified with river Khotan, Yarkand, and Syr (Jaxartes) by different scholars.
Raghuvamsa also refers to the Kichaka bamboos of Central Asia in the eastern regions of the Pamirs or Meru mountains which were known as Dirghavenu in Sanskrit.
The above discussion shows that the land of Uttarakurus was located north of river Shailoda as well as of the Kichaka bamboo valley.
Rajatarangini places Uttarkuru land in the neighborhood of Strirajya. Based on Xuanzang's evidence, Strirajya is identified as a country lying north of Kashmir, south of Khotan and west of Tibet.
Thus, the Uttarakuru which finds reference in the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Rajatarangini probably can not be identified with the Bahlika or Bactria as M. R. Singh has concluded.
Uttarakuru probably comprised north-west of Sinkiang province of China and parts of the Tian-Shan Mountains.
Christian Lassen suggests that the Ottorokoroi of Ptolemy should be located in the east of Kashgar i.e. in Tarim Basin.
Some writers, however, assert that Uttarakuru was the name for the vast area lying north of Himalaya and extending as far as Arctic Circle.
Some people tend to identify the Uttarakurus and the Uttaramadras with the ancestors of the Tocharian (Uttarakuru = Tokhari) branch of Indo-Europeans, located to the north of the Himalayas [1]
Tokhari or Tukharas, the later Yucchis, are the same as the Rishikas of Mahabharata.

References

Bibliography

Geographical Data in Early Puranas, 1972, Dr M. R. Singh
Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43878-0.
Wilson, H. H. (2006). The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition. Cambridge: Read Country Books. ISBN 1-84664-664-2.
Mahabharata of Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa, translated to English by Kisari Mohan Ganguli