Sura and Abhira were mentioned as two kingdoms where the river Saraswati existed only as a dried up river bed during the time of Kurukshetra War. They were sometimes referred to as Surabhira also, combining both Sura and Abhira kingdoms. After the fall of the Dwaraka federation, when Arjuna was taking the Yadav women of Dwaraka to Indraprastha, the Abhira tribes attacked him and took away the women and all the wealth.
Nakula, lead his campaign from Indraprastha to the western regions, to collect tribute for Yudhisthira's Rajasuya sacrifice.
Nakula, the Pandava general, brought under subjection the mighty Gramaniya that dwelt on the shore of the sea, and the Sudras and the Abhiras that dwelt on the banks of the Saraswati, and all those tribes that lived upon fisheries, and those also that dwelt on the mountains, and the whole of the country called after the five rivers, and the mountains called Amara, and the country called Uttarayotisha and the city of Divyakutta and the tribe called Dwarapala.
Markandeya's prediction of powerful tribes in the future
MBh 3.187
Sage Markandeya explains to Yudhisthira about the rise of western tribes, and their influence on Bharata Varsha or Ancient India
In Bhishama Parava, while narrating to Dhritarashtra the names of the Mountains, Rivers, Provinces etc of Bharata Varsha, Sanjaya includes the Abhiras in the list of its provinces and seems to locate them somewhere between the Mallas, Valhikas and the Aprantas (6,9).
i.e. ....the Valhikas , the Vatadhanas, the Abhiras, the Kalajoshakas; the Aparantas, the Parantas, the Pahnabhas, the Charmamandalas; the Atavisikharas, the Mahabhutas.....
In the same Parava, there is also reference to the Sudra-Abhiras who are listed among the tribes of north such as the Yavanas, the Chinas, the Kambojas, the Darunas, and many Mleccha tribes, the Sukritvahas, the Kulatthas (Kulutas), the Hunas, and the Parasikas, the Ramanas, and the Dasamalikas, the Daradas, the Kasmiras, the Khasiras, the Bharadvajas, and the diverse tribes of Kiratas, the Tomaras, the Hansamargas, and the Karamanjakas etc (6.9)
Participation in the Kurukshetra War
MBh 7.20
Bhutasarman, and Kshemasarman, and the valiant Karakaksha, and the Kalingas, the Singhalas, the Easterners, the Sudras, the Abhiras, the Daserakas, the Sakas, the Yavanas, the Kambojas, the Hangsapadas, the Surasenas, the Daradas, the Madras, and the Kalikeyas, with hundreds and thousands of elephants, steeds, cars, and foot-soldiers were stationed at its neck of the military formation formed by the Kaurava general Drona in Kurukshetra War.
Impact of Bhargava Rama on Abhira tribe
MBh 14.29
Dravidas and Abhiras and Pundras, together with the Savaras, became fallen to low status, though those men who had Kshatriya duties assigned to them in consequence of their birth, falling away from those duties due to fear of Bhargava Rama.
Attack of Abhiras on Arjuna and the people of Dwaraka
MBh 16.7
Arjuna rescued the women and children and a few soldiers from Dwaraka Island as it sank into the sea. They were heading from Dwaraka to Indraprastha, along a road parallel to the course of Saraswati River. Then the Abhiras attacked them.
Then those men, with hearts overwhelmed by cupidity, those Abhiras of ill omen, assembled together and held a consultation. They said, Here there is only one bowman, Arjuna. The cavalcade consists of children and the old. He escorts them, transgressing us. The warriors (of the Vrishnis) are without energy. Then those robbers, numbering by thousands, and armed with clubs, rushed towards the procession of the Vrishnis (the Yadava clan of Dwaraka), desirous of plunder.
MBh 16.8
In Arjuna's very sight thousands of Vrishni ladies were carried away by the Abhiras of the country of the five waters.
Balarama's pilgrimage along Saraswati River
MBh 9.37
Then Balarama proceeded to Vinasana where the Sarasvati River hath become invisible in consequence of her contempt for the Sudras, the Abhiras. And since the Sarasvati, in consequence of such contempt, is lost at that spot, the Rishis, for that reason, always name the place as Vinasana. Having bathed in that tirtha of the Sarasvati, the mighty Bala Rama then proceeded to Subhumika, situated on the excellent bank of the same river.
