[4][5] According to Dr Buddha Prakash, the Arjunayanas are mentioned as Prajjunakas in Kautiliya's text Arthashastra[5] which also places them in the northern division of India.

In terms of excavated archaeological evidence, they make their first appearance in history sometime after the invasion of Alexander and were first attested by their coins belonging to 2nd or 1st century BCE.

Greek chronicler Arrian attests one city which he calls Arigaeum or Arigaeon/Arigaion which commanded the road between Kunar and Panjkora valleys[10] in north-eastern Afghanistan.

[11] Scholars like Dr V. S. Agarwala have equated the Arigaeum or Arigaion of Arrian to Sanskrit name Arjunava which finds mention in Pāṇini's Ganapatha [12] as well as in the Kasika.

[13] If this interpretation of scholars like Dr V. S. Agarwala is correct and the "Arjunava" of the Kashika or Pāṇini's Ganapatha is indeed the "Arigaeum/Arigaion" of Arrian, then the probable origin of the Arjunayanas can possibly be speculated.

Kautiliya's Arthashastra (c. 200 BCE to 300 CE) mentions and brackets a nation called Prajjunaka with Gandhara[14] and refers to their buffoons, Artisans and professional singers and actors.

[5][15][16] If this be correct, then the 4th-century BCE text on statecraft also attests the Arjunayanas (Arjunavanas) as close neighbors of the Gandharas which fact possibly alludes to the inhabitants of Arigaion (Arjunava) of the Swat/Kunar valleys.

3rd century Buddhist tantra text Mahamayuri attests one place name Arjunavana which is presided over by Yaksha Arjuna.

The third variety has a bull in the obverse and a swastika with taurine symbol at the end of arms and a branch or palm leaf and the legend Janayana on the reverse.

2nd-century coin evidence attests that the Arjunayanas and Yaudheyas were neighbourly tribes and had collaborated in their joint fight against the foreign invaders like the Yavanas, Sakas, Pahlavas and later the Kushanas.

Furthermore, prior to Kurukshetra war, the Yaudheyas, together with other Punjabi tribes like the Sibis, Trigartas, Rajanyas, Madras, Kekayas, Ambasthas, Kaukuras etc., had joined the Rajasuya ceremony of the Pandavas and had brought tributes to Yudhishtra.

They are recorded in the Allahabad Pillar inscription of Samudragupta (c. 335 – c. 380 CE) and are mentioned together with Malavas, Yaudheyas, Madrakas, Abhiras, Prarjunas, Sanakanikas, Kakas, Kharaparikas and other tribes.

(Lines 22–23) (Samudragupta, whose) formidable rule was propitiated with the payment of all tributes, execution of orders and visits (to his court) for obeisance by such frontier rulers as those of Samataṭa, Ḍavāka, Kāmarūpa, Nēpāla, and Kartṛipura, and, by the Mālavas, Ārjunāyanas, Yaudhēyas, Mādrakas, Ābhīras, Prārjunas, Sanakānīkas, Kākas, Kharaparikas and other (tribes)."