Herodotus describes them (III.101) as being darker than other Indians and living in a place which is very distant from Persia towards the south and east.
An extract from his work (III.99) includes the following: Scholars in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries suggested a number of possible identifications of the Padaei.
Newbold thought that they were likely to be the Batta, a tribe of Sumatra, who he said continued to practice cannibalism.
[4][5] Wheeler cited scholars who connected the name "Padaei" variously with a town in Little Tibet (Ladakh), a river in Kutch and the Ganges.
"[10] Murphy and Mallory suggest that Herodotus' description may result from a misinterpretation of the ritual of dismemberment known to have been practiced by Iron Age cultures who are believed to have spoken Iranian languages.