The Sanskrit word ashva, Avestan aspa, and Prakrit assa mean horse, while ashvaka (Prakrit assaka) means horseman, horse people, land of horses, as well as horse breeders. Pre-Christian times knew the people of the Hindu Kush region as Ashvakan, which literally means horsemen, horse breeders, or cavalrymen, since they raised a fine breed of horses and had a reputation for providing expert cavalrymen. The 5th-century-BCE Indian grammarian Pāṇini calls them Ashvakayana and Ashvayana. Mahabharata mentions them as Ashvaka(na). Classical writers, however, use the respective equivalents Aspasioi (or Aspasii, Hippasii) and Assakenoi (or Assaceni/Assacani, Asscenus) etc. The Aspasioi/Assakenoi (Ashvakan = Cavalrymen) is stated to be another name for the ancient Iranian Kambojas of ancient texts because of their equestrian characteristics. Alexander Cunningham and a few other scholars identify these designations with the modern name Afghan.