Itihasa
Encyclopedia
Itihasa as defined by Amarakosha
(I.6.4) refers to purvavritta, i.e. events of the past. In the Vedic age, those portions of the Brahmanas which narrated events of bygone days were known as itihasa and had some ritualistic importance. The recitation of the itihasa-purana in the pariplava nights was a part of the Asvamedha ritual. Later, the connotation of the term widened to cover all such narratives which related to past events – partly facts and partly myths.
and the Puranas
(sometimes the Ramayana
too, is included). The Mahabharata is the story of the Bharata War but also preserves the traditions of the lunar dynasty in the form of embedded tales. The Puranas narrate the universal history as perceived by the Hindus – cosmogony, myth, legend and history. The Ramayana contains the story of Rama and incidentally relates the legends of the solar dynasty. The classical Indian poets usually derive the story of their poetry and drama from the Itihasas. In our time, these traditions have been most carefully reconstructed out of the matter of the available texts and arranged in a chronological order by F.E. Pargiter in his compendium Ancient Indian Historical Tradition.
The traditions relate that the present Kalpa is called Varaha. Out of the fourteen manvantaras of this Kalpa, six have passed. The current Manvantara is called Vaivasvata after the Manu who presides over it. It is to Vaivasvata Manu that the royal genealogies of the itihasa trace their origin. It was in the Caksusa manvantara, which immediately preceded the present manvantara, that king Prthu, the great grandson of Caksusa Manu, leveled the earth, built cities and villages and developed agriculture, trade, pasture and cattle-breeding. This cycle ended after only eight more generations with the great Flood.
wipes away all life forms. Only Vaivasvata Manu is saved by Visnu, in the Fish incarnation to repopulate the earth in the next cycle. All royal lines in our cycle are traced in the itihasa from Manu Vaivasvata’s sons and his only daughter Ila
. This daughter, produced by means of a ritual, later becomes his wife. Iksvaku, the eldest son of Manu, establishes the solar line (from Vivasvan, the sun-god, the father of Vaivasvata Manu) at Ayodhya in Kosala
. Iksvaku’s younger son Nimi
migrates a little further east and founds the house of Videha. Its capital Mithila
is established by his son Mithi, also called Janaka
which later becomes the generic name the kings of Videha.
The lunar line is established at about the same time at Pratisthana in Madhyadesa (the doab
) by Pururavas
, the son of Ila and Budha, the illegitimate child of Soma
, the moon-god. The tale of his love for the nymph Urvasi
is one of the few tales that has caught the Indian imagination for generations. First told in the Rigveda
, it has been treated dramatically by Kalidasa
in his Vikramorvasiyam
. Pururava’s younger son, Amavasu founds the kingdom of Kanyakubja (modern Kannauj
).
The dynasty again splits into two after the reign of Ayus, the eldest son of Pururavas. Nahusa, the eldest son of Ayus, obtains the position of Indra
in the heaven but is banished from there when he lusts after Sachi, the wife of Indra. Ksatravrddha, another son of Ayu, establishes the dynasty of Kasi
(Varanasi). His descendents were called Kaseyas.
Nahusa’s son and successor Yayati
was a renowned conqueror and was reckoned as a cakravartin. He had five sons Yadu
and Turvasu from Devayani, the daughter of Sukra
, the preceptor of asuras and Druhyu, Anu
and Puru
from Sarmistha, the daughter of asura king Vrsaparva. Yayati installs Puru
, the youngest but the most dutiful son as his successor in the ancestral sovereignty in Pratisthana. The elder sons obtain the outlying areas. From the sons of Yayati descend the five famous royal lines of the Yadavas, the Turvasus, the Druhyus, the Anavas and the Pauravas.
Immediately after Yadu, the Yadava dynasty is bifurcated – the main line continued by Krosti and the independent line of Haihayas led by Sahasrajit. The Yadava branch first develops a great pricipality under king Sasabindu, who becomes a cakravrtin. Mandhatr, the son of Yuvansva, the king of Ayodhya marries his daughter Bindumati and rises to eminence. He follows in the footsteps of his father-in-law, extends his sway very widely and becomes a cakravrtin himself. His son Purukutsa marries Narmada
, the river goddess. Another son, also a famous king, called Mucukunda builds and fortifies a town on the bank of that river; it was Mahismati, now Mandhata on an island in the river.
Soon thereafter, the Druhyu king Gandhara retires to the northwest (modern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) and establishes the kingdom of Gandhara
there. His descendants scatter into the regions beyond India and establish many mleccha
principalities. Later, the Anavas divide into two branches under Usinara and Titiksu. The sons of Usinara establish separate tribes of the Yaudheyas, Ambasthas, Navarastras, Krimilas and Sivis in eastern Punjab
. Sivi
, the son of Usinara and the originator of the Sivis in Sivapura, is celebrated in the Indian mythology for his generosity. His sons set up the kingdoms of Vrsadarbhas, Madrakas
, Kaikayas and Sauviras, and occupy the whole Punjab. The other branch of the Anavas under Titiksu moved east and founded the principalities of Anga
, Banga
, Kalinga
, Suhma and Pundra.
The Haihaya king Krtavirya had the Bhargavas
as his priests and enriched them. His kinsmen tried to recover the wealth but the Bhargavas resisted. The Haihayas then maltreated them due to which they fled to different countries. Gadhi was then king of Kanyakubja and had a daughter Satyavati. The Bhargava rsi Rcika marries her and begets a son Jamadagni
. About the same time Gadhi has a son Visvamitra.
In the solar line, Trayyaruna, a near contemporary of Gadhi and Krtavirya, ruled the kingdom of Ayodhya at this time. On the counsel of his priest Vasistha
, he exiles his son Satyavrata, also called Trisanku. After Trayyaruna, Vasistha refuses to perform Trisanku’s consecration. A little later, Visvamitra of Kanyakubja tries to obtain the wishing cow Nandini
of Vasistha. A fierce combat follows between the two, in which Visvamitra is defeated. Convinced of the superiority of brahmins, he resolves to become a brahmarsi and relinquishes his throne. When engaged in austerities, Visvamitra is befriended by Trisanku. He then champions Trisanku's cause, performs his royal consecration and on his death elevates him in his living body to heaven.
The rivalry of Visvamitra and Vasistha continues even during the reign of Hariscandra, Trisanku’s son. Hariscandra had a son Rohita, whom he had vowed to sacrifice to Varuna
. He postponed the sacrifice for many years due to which he is afflicted with dropsy. Rohita, on Vasistha’s advice, to propitiate Varuna, buys Ajigarta's son Sunahsepa (who is Visvamitra’s grandnephew) as sacrificial victim in his stead. When about to be killed, Sunahsepa chants the varunamantra, taught to him by Visvamitra. Varuna appears, grants the boy his freedom and the king a cure from the disease. Visvamitra then adopts the boy as his chief son with the name Devarata. A number of Visvamitra's sons, who protest against the status given to Devarata, are cursed by their angry father to become outcastes. They become the ancestors of Dasyu tribes, such as the Andhras, Mutibas, Pulindas, etc. Visvamitra, subsequently, obtains the position of a brahmarsi.
In the Haihaya line, Krtavirya was succeeded by his son Arjuna Kartavirya, who was a mighty king. After a long reign he has dissension with Jamadagni. As a result, Parasurama, the son of Jamadagni by Renuka, the daughter of a minor Iksvaku king, kills Kartavirya Arjuna, whereupon Kartavirya’s son’s kill Jamadagni. In revenge, Parasurama resolves to slaughter the entire class of warriors (ksatriyas), and so far succeeds that only five survive to continue the great dynasties.
After Kartavirya, the Haihayas divided into five collateral tribes – the Talajanghas, the Vitihotras, the Avantyas, Tudikeras and Jatas. They attack Ayodhya and drive king Bahu from the throne. They also attack, defeat and drive the Kasi king Divodasa from Varanasi. Pratardana, the son of Divodasa subdues the Vitihotras and recovers the throne. A little later, Bahu begets a son Sagara, and Sagara defeats all those enemies, regains his kingdom and destroys the Haihaya power for good.
Sagara had sixty thousand sons who insult Kapila rsi and are, in turn, reduced to ashes by him. Therefore Sagara is succeeded by his grandson Amsuman on the throne of Ayodhya. With the reign of Sagara, the Krta yuga comes to an end.
, the great grandson of Sagara brings down the divine river Ganga on earth to expiate the sins of the sons of Sagara. Rtuparna is the next prominent king in the dynasty made famous by his association with Nala
, the king of Nisadas. Nala married Damayanti
, the daughter of Bhima, the Yadava king of Vidarbha. The delightful story of their marriage and the unhappy sequel of his subsequent temporary loss of his kingdom and destitution through gambling, is in the Mahabharata told to Yudhisthira suffering in similar circumstances.
After a long eclipse (corresponding to the ascendency of the solar dynasty under Mandhata), the Paurava line is revived by Dusyanta
, a near contemporary of Bhagiratha. He marries Sakuntala
, the daughter of Visvamitra and begets Bharata. Bharata is crowned as a cakravartin and later gives his name to the dynasty, to the great fratricidal war between the Kauravas and Pandavas, and to India itself (i.e. Bharatavarsa
). His fifth successor Hastin shifts the capital to a place in the upper doab and calls it Hastinapura
, after himself.
Soon after Hastin, the Bharata dynasty is divided into four separate lines – the most well-known being the main Paurava line and the Pancala line. The Pancala king Divodasa
is celebrated in the Rigveda
as the destroyer of 99 forts of the dasyu Sambara
. His sister was Ahalya
, the wife of Gautama. She was deceived by Indra
and expelled into the forest by her husband on account of her infidelity.
The solar line once again ascends under the benevolent kingship of Raghu
, Aja
and Dasaratha
. The story of Rama, Dasaratha's son, forms the subject of the poem Ramayana by Valmiki
. The intrigues of his step-mother Kaikeyi
result in the exile of Rama
, his wife Sita
and his brother Laksmana to the forest. In the forest, Sita is abducted by Ravana
, the king of raksasas and imprisoned in Lanka, his capital. Rama forms an alliance with the monkeys and the bears of the forest and lays a siege of Lanka. Ravana is ultimately defeated and slain by Rama. He then returns back to Ayodhya with his wife Sita and ascends the throne.
With Rama’s death, the Treta yuga comes to a close and the Dvapara commences. After Rama the solar dynasty goes into permanent decline.
and Vrsni
, who style their dynasties after their respective names. Ugrasena
, the father of Kamsa
was an Andhaka while Vasudeva
, the father of Krsna was a Vrsni.
The Pancala Bharata dynasty under its king Srnjaya now rises to prominence. His son Cyavana-Pijavana was a great warrior and the latter's son, Sudas
, annexed several kingdoms. A confederacy of the kings of the Pauravas, the Yadavas, the Sivis, the Druhyus, the Matsyas, the Turvasus and others, is formed against Sudas, who defeats them in a great battle near the river Parusni. This is called the Battle of the Ten Kings
. The bulk of Rigvedic hymns (Book II-IX) represents only 5 to 6 generations of kings (and of contemporary poets) of this dynasty.
The Paurava line continues through Ajamidha, the son of Hasti. In his line, king Samvarana was defeated and exiled to the forests on the bank of river Sindhu by the Pancalas. Pargiter identifies this Pancala king as Sudas but the exact relationship between the dynasties, chronological and political, is not recorded. Later, Samvarana reobtains his capital from the Pancalas and marries Tapati, a daughter of the Sun. The playwright Kulasekhara (c. 900AD) has immortalized their story in his play Tapatisamvarana. Their son was Kuru and his descendants were called Kauravas. The line continues through Kuru’s second son Jahnu.
Vasu
, a descendant of Kuru conquers the Yadava kingdom of Cedi, and establishes himself there. His eldest son, Brhadratha founds Girivraja
in Magadha
as his capital. His son Jarasandha
extends his power up to Mathura (ruled by Andhaka king, Kamsa, who acknowledged him as overlord) in the north and Vidarbha in the south. Kamsa was a tyrant. He had imprisoned his father and usurped the throne. His nephew Krsna kills him and restores the old king to his throne. This rouses Jarasandha's wrath and he attacks Mathura. Krsna along with the Andhakas and Vrsnis migrate to the West coast and build a new capital Dvaravati (Dvaraka) in Saurastra. Krsna then abducts Rukmini, the princess of Vidarbha, defeating her brother and marries her. In later life, Krsna becomes the friend of the Pandavas (see below).
The next famous king in the Kaurava line is Pratipa. His son, Santanu
supersedes his elder brother Devapi
to the throne, whereupon no rain falls for twelve years. Devapi then acts as a Hotr (chief priest) and performs sacrifice for his brother and obtains rain.
Santanu's grandsons were Dhrtarastra
and Pandu
. The former being blind, the latter ascends the throne. Dhrtarastra has many sons of whom Duryodhana
is the eldest; and Pandu has five sons, Yudhisthira
, Bhima
, Arjuna
, Nakula
and Sahadeva
. The sons of Dhrtarastra belonging to the elder branch were called Kauravas and Pandu's sons, the Pandavas. The question of succession to the throne results in a feud between the two families culminating in the appalling slaughter in the Bharata War. All the old ksatriya dynasties of India, it is said, took part in the great battle, fighting on one side or the other. In the battle, which lasts for eighteen days, the ruses of Krsna enable the hard pressed Pandavas to win. The Mahabharata narrates the story of this feud in detail.
Subsequently the Yadavas are themselves engulfed in civil war, and Krsna withdraws to the life of an ascetic in the forest. Here he is accidentally shot and killed by a hunter. His grandson is re-established at Indraprastha by the Pandavas. Soon the Pandavas themselves crown Pariksita, the grandson of Arjuna on the throne of Hastinapura and retire to the forest. The Dvapara yuga closes with the death of Krsna.
, who was a minor then, later hears his father’s death from his ministers, and resolves on revenge. He organizes a rite (sarpasatra) to destroy all snakes. The snakes enter the sacrificial fire by the power of the rite. Astika, (a half snake from his mother’s side) who was begotten to save them, enters the rite and wins a boon of his choice by singing the praises of Janamejaya. He demands the proceedings be halted. Janamejaya cannot refuse and concludes the rite. It is during this rite that Vaisampayana
, a disciple of Vyasa
narrates the Mahabharata to Janamejaya.
Nicaksu, sixth in line from Pariksita, transfers his capital from Hastinapura to Kausambi in Vasta as the former city is ravaged by a flood in Ganga. The line continues for many generations till Udayana
, the famous king of Vatsa (and a contemporary of Buddha
) who carries off Vasavadatta, the princess of Avanti. Their tale is celebrated first by Gunadhya in his novel Brhatkatha and later by Bhasa
and Sudraka
in their dramas Svapnavasavadatta and Vinavasavadatta, respectively.
In Magadha, the descendents of Brhadratha and Jarasandha retain the throne till they are replaced by the Sisunaga dynasty, which among others include the famous kings Bimbisara
and Ajatasatru. Mahapadma Nanda
usurps the throne from the last king of the Sisunaga line. He overthrows all old ksatriya dynasties - the Iksvakus, the Pancalas, the Kaseyas, the Haihayas, the Kalingas, the Asmakas, the Kurus, the Maithilas, the Surasenas and the Vitihotras – and subdues the whole central India. The Puranas, hence, call him the 'destroyer of all ksatriyas' and 'monarch of the whole earth which was under his sole sway'.
, whom the Jainas call Padma, appears as a divine hero and a Baladeva, in a variant version of his life, whilst Krsna is similarly a Vasudeva (and his brother Balarama
, a Baladeva). There are nine each of these Baladeva and Vasudeva heroes, and their nine enemies (Prativasudevas), including Ravana
and Jarasandha
. With the Jinas and the twelve universal emperors cakravartins this makes up the sixty-three ‘great men’ of their tradition. The emperors include Bharata and Sagara, and Brahmadeva or Brahmadatta who is familiar also to the Buddhists, but the others are not familiar elsewhere. Three of them, including Santi, became Jinas also. The Jaina traditions seem to draw in part on ancient sources independent of those of the brahmanas, as do the Buddhists also, and are not merely corruptions of Brahmanical traditions. It is noticeable that their legends are much more schematic and regular than the others.
(the last three known to the Brahmanical and Jain Traditions).
In this line was born a king called Karnika who had two sons Gautama and Bharadvaja. Bharadvaja ascends the throne after his father’s death, but dies without any issue. On the other hand, two children are born from eggs, which were formed from coagulated blood and semen of Gautama and hatched by the sun. From one of the eggs comes the famous Iksvaku (Pali ‘Okkaka’), who succeeds Bharadvaja and founds the solar dynasty.
The four sons and four daughters of Iksvaku are exiled to the foothills of the Himalayas due to the machinations of their step-mother. They intermarry amongst themselves to maintain the purity of their blood and later establish the towns of Kapilavastu and Koli. Their descendants were called Sakyas
. The famous Prince Visvantara (Pali 'Vessantara
') was a near descendant of Okkaka. Later, the Buddha
is born in this dynasty.
discusses the problem of associating 'major lineages of the early tradition' with archaeological evidence (e.g. with Painted Grey Ware or Chalcolithic Black and Red Ware), understanding the Puranic genealogies as 'records of a general pattern of settlements and migrations,' rather than 'factual information on history and chronology'. She tries, however, to associate the chronology of the 'obviously more significant lineages, that of the Puru and the Yadavas' with different archaeological layers. Like Pargiter, she divides the Puru lineage into three distinct phases, connecting phase I (from Manu to Bharata) with the Ochre Coloured Pottery, phase II (after a break, from Bharata's 'adopted sons' to Kuru) with the Painted Grey Ware; phase III (starting from Kuru) being terminated by the Mahabharata war. The Yadava line is associated with the Black and Red ware, the geographical distribution of which is traced in connection with the different branches and migrations of the Yadava tribe, according to the Puranic sources. She concludes, however more cautiously ('The attempt to link the Puru and Yadava lineages with certain archaeological cultures ... has resulted in some echoes of identification, but nothing more definite than that can be said at this point. The identification remains speculative...'), by considering the problem of chronology (archaeological evidence versus 'traditional' chronology) and the question of identifying the Indo-Aryan speakers, phase I (up to Bharata) being understood as a pre-Indo-Aryan lineage, which was taken over later into the tradition of the Aryan-speaking people.
(ornate epics) and natakas
(drama) should be primarily selected from the itihasa. In accordance, great mahakavyas such as Kalidasa
’s Raghuvamsa
, Kumaradasa’s Janakiharana, Bhatti’s Ravanavadha or Bhattikavya &c. have drawn their themes from the Ramayana and Bharavi
’s Kiratarjuniya
, Magha
’s Sisupalavadha
and Sriharsa’s Naisadhiyacarita &c. from the Mahabharata.
Amarakosha
The Amarakosha from amara "immortal" and kosha "treasure, casket, pail, collection, dictionary", also Namalinganushasana from nama-linga-anu-shasana "instruction concerning nouns and gender") is a thesaurus of Sanskrit written by the Jain or Buddhist scholar Amarasimha...
(I.6.4) refers to purvavritta, i.e. events of the past. In the Vedic age, those portions of the Brahmanas which narrated events of bygone days were known as itihasa and had some ritualistic importance. The recitation of the itihasa-purana in the pariplava nights was a part of the Asvamedha ritual. Later, the connotation of the term widened to cover all such narratives which related to past events – partly facts and partly myths.
Sources of Itihasa
Itihasa, as it has come down to us, consists of the MahabharataMahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
and the Puranas
Puranas
The Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...
(sometimes the Ramayana
Ramayana
The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
too, is included). The Mahabharata is the story of the Bharata War but also preserves the traditions of the lunar dynasty in the form of embedded tales. The Puranas narrate the universal history as perceived by the Hindus – cosmogony, myth, legend and history. The Ramayana contains the story of Rama and incidentally relates the legends of the solar dynasty. The classical Indian poets usually derive the story of their poetry and drama from the Itihasas. In our time, these traditions have been most carefully reconstructed out of the matter of the available texts and arranged in a chronological order by F.E. Pargiter in his compendium Ancient Indian Historical Tradition.
Cosmogony and the Antediluvian history
According to the Brahmanical traditions, the human history proceeds in cycle, dependent on the evolutions and dissolutions of the world. Time is divided time into four ages – Krtayuga, Tretayuga, Dvaparayuga and Kaliyuga – collectively forming one Mahayuga. Seventy-one Mahayugas form a Manvantara, a period of time over which a Manu resides. In each cycle, this Manu is the first man and also the first king and lawgiver. Every Manvantara has its own set of Indra, gods and seven sages. Fourteen Manvantara create a Kalpa, after which the creation comes to a close in a periodical destruction called Pralaya. After that, the creation starts all over again in an endless cycle of evolutions and dissolutions.The traditions relate that the present Kalpa is called Varaha. Out of the fourteen manvantaras of this Kalpa, six have passed. The current Manvantara is called Vaivasvata after the Manu who presides over it. It is to Vaivasvata Manu that the royal genealogies of the itihasa trace their origin. It was in the Caksusa manvantara, which immediately preceded the present manvantara, that king Prthu, the great grandson of Caksusa Manu, leveled the earth, built cities and villages and developed agriculture, trade, pasture and cattle-breeding. This cycle ended after only eight more generations with the great Flood.
The Krta Yuga
The great Flood at the end of Caksusa manvantaraManvantara
Manvantara or Manuvantara , or age of a Manu , the Hindu progenitor of mankind, is an astronomical period of time measurement. Manvantara is a Sanskrit sandhi, a combination of words manu and antara, manu-antara or manvantara, literally meaning the duration of a Manu, or his life span .Each...
wipes away all life forms. Only Vaivasvata Manu is saved by Visnu, in the Fish incarnation to repopulate the earth in the next cycle. All royal lines in our cycle are traced in the itihasa from Manu Vaivasvata’s sons and his only daughter Ila
Ila
ILA or Ila may refer to:* MV Ila, ship in service 1947-52Places:* Ila, Georgia, community in United States* Ila, Trondheim, borough in Norway* Ila, Nigeria, townPersonal names:...
. This daughter, produced by means of a ritual, later becomes his wife. Iksvaku, the eldest son of Manu, establishes the solar line (from Vivasvan, the sun-god, the father of Vaivasvata Manu) at Ayodhya in Kosala
Kosala
Kosala was an ancient Indian region, corresponding roughly in area with the region of Awadh in present day Uttar Pradesh. According to the Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya and the Jaina text, the Bhagavati Sutra, Kosala was one of the Solasa Mahajanapadas in 6th century BCE and its cultural and...
. Iksvaku’s younger son Nimi
Nimi
Nimi is considered to be the first king in lineage of Janaks. Janaks were Kings of Mithila region in ancient India. Nimi was grandson of Manu and son of Ikshwaku.,- Story of Nimi :...
migrates a little further east and founds the house of Videha. Its capital Mithila
Mithila
Mithila was a city in Ancient India, the capital of the Videha Kingdom. The name Mithila is also commonly used to refer to the Videha Kingdom itself, as well as to the modern-day territories that fall within the ancient boundaries of Videha...
is established by his son Mithi, also called Janaka
Janaka
Janaka or Raja Janaka were the kings of Videha Kingdom. Their capital was Mithila, which is believed to be present day Janakpur, Nepal...
which later becomes the generic name the kings of Videha.
The lunar line is established at about the same time at Pratisthana in Madhyadesa (the doab
Doab
A Doab is a term used in India and Pakistan for a "tongue" or tract of land lying between two confluent rivers...
) by Pururavas
Pururavas
Pururavas was the first king of the Aila dynasty or the Somavamsha. According to the Vedas, he is a mythological entity associated with the Surya and Usha , and is believed to resided in the middle region of the cosmos. The Rig Veda states that he was a son of Ila and was a pious king...
, the son of Ila and Budha, the illegitimate child of Soma
Soma
Soma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities...
, the moon-god. The tale of his love for the nymph Urvasi
Urvasi
Urvashi Urvashi Urvashi in Hindu legend. She was a celestial maiden in Indra's court and was considered the most beautiful of all the Apsaras....
is one of the few tales that has caught the Indian imagination for generations. First told in the Rigveda
Rigveda
The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...
, it has been treated dramatically by Kalidasa
Kalidasa
Kālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language...
in his Vikramorvasiyam
Vikramorvasiyam
Vikramōrvaśīyam is a Sanskrit play by medieval Indian poet Kalidasa who fluorished in the 4th Century CE, on the Vedic love story of king Pururavas and celestial nymph Urvashi...
. Pururava’s younger son, Amavasu founds the kingdom of Kanyakubja (modern Kannauj
Kannauj
Kannauj , also spelt Kanauj, is a city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is traditionally derived from the term Kanyakubja . Kannauj is an ancient city, in earlier times the capital...
).
The dynasty again splits into two after the reign of Ayus, the eldest son of Pururavas. Nahusa, the eldest son of Ayus, obtains the position of Indra
Indra
' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...
in the heaven but is banished from there when he lusts after Sachi, the wife of Indra. Ksatravrddha, another son of Ayu, establishes the dynasty of Kasi
Kasi
KASI or Kasi may refer to:* Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, South Korea* Kingdom of Kashi, or Kasi, an ancient kingdom with Varanasi as its capital* 1430KASI, a radio station licensed to serve Ames, Iowa...
(Varanasi). His descendents were called Kaseyas.
Nahusa’s son and successor Yayati
Yayati
Yayati was a Puranic king and the son of king Nahusha and one of ancestors of Pandavas. He was a great scholar of Vedas. He had five brothers, Yati, Samyati, Ayati, Viyati and Kriti. He had two wives, Devayani and Sharmishtha. Devayani was the daughter of Shukracharya, the priest of Asuras ....
was a renowned conqueror and was reckoned as a cakravartin. He had five sons Yadu
Yadu
Yadu is one of the five Indo-Aryan tribes mentioned in the Rig Veda . The Mahabharata, the Harivamsha and the Puranas mention Yadu as the eldest son of king Yayati and his queen Devayani. The prince of King Yayati, Yadu was a self-respecting and a very established ruler...
and Turvasu from Devayani, the daughter of Sukra
Sukra
Shukra may refer to:*The Sanskrit name for Venus, also Shukra*A Montserratian spirit or ghost...
, the preceptor of asuras and Druhyu, Anu
Anu
In Sumerian mythology, Anu was a sky-god, the god of heaven, lord of constellations, king of gods, Consort of Antu, spirits and demons, and dwelt in the highest heavenly regions. It was believed that he had the power to judge those who had committed crimes, and that he had created the stars as...
and Puru
Puru
The Purus were a tribe, or a confederation of tribes, mentioned many times in the Rigveda, formed around 3180 BCE. RV 7.96.2 locates them at the banks of the Sarasvati River. There were several factions of Purus, one being the Bharatas...
from Sarmistha, the daughter of asura king Vrsaparva. Yayati installs Puru
Puru
The Purus were a tribe, or a confederation of tribes, mentioned many times in the Rigveda, formed around 3180 BCE. RV 7.96.2 locates them at the banks of the Sarasvati River. There were several factions of Purus, one being the Bharatas...
, the youngest but the most dutiful son as his successor in the ancestral sovereignty in Pratisthana. The elder sons obtain the outlying areas. From the sons of Yayati descend the five famous royal lines of the Yadavas, the Turvasus, the Druhyus, the Anavas and the Pauravas.
Immediately after Yadu, the Yadava dynasty is bifurcated – the main line continued by Krosti and the independent line of Haihayas led by Sahasrajit. The Yadava branch first develops a great pricipality under king Sasabindu, who becomes a cakravrtin. Mandhatr, the son of Yuvansva, the king of Ayodhya marries his daughter Bindumati and rises to eminence. He follows in the footsteps of his father-in-law, extends his sway very widely and becomes a cakravrtin himself. His son Purukutsa marries Narmada
Narmada
Narmada may refer to:* Narmada River of central India* Narmada district of Gujarat, India* The Narmada Dam Project, involving the construction of a series of large irrigation and hydroelectric multi purpose dams on the Narmada River in India...
, the river goddess. Another son, also a famous king, called Mucukunda builds and fortifies a town on the bank of that river; it was Mahismati, now Mandhata on an island in the river.
Soon thereafter, the Druhyu king Gandhara retires to the northwest (modern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa) and establishes the kingdom of Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
there. His descendants scatter into the regions beyond India and establish many mleccha
Mleccha
Mleccha , also spelt as Mlechchha, people of foreign extraction in ancient India. Mleccha was used by the Aryans much as the ancient Greeks used barbaros, originally to indicate the uncouth and incomprehensible speech of foreigners and then extended to their unfamiliar behaviour...
principalities. Later, the Anavas divide into two branches under Usinara and Titiksu. The sons of Usinara establish separate tribes of the Yaudheyas, Ambasthas, Navarastras, Krimilas and Sivis in eastern Punjab
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
. Sivi
Sivi
Sivi is a Tamil film starring Yogi, Jayashri Rao and Anuja Iyer, directed by K. R. Senthil Nathan. It is a remake of the 2004 Thai-thriller, Shutter.-Plot:...
, the son of Usinara and the originator of the Sivis in Sivapura, is celebrated in the Indian mythology for his generosity. His sons set up the kingdoms of Vrsadarbhas, Madrakas
Madra
Madra, Mada or Madraka is the name of an ancient region and its inhabitants, located in the north-west division of the ancient Indian sub-continent.-Uttaramadra division:...
, Kaikayas and Sauviras, and occupy the whole Punjab. The other branch of the Anavas under Titiksu moved east and founded the principalities of Anga
Anga
Anga was a kingdom that flourished on the eastern Indian subcontinent in the 6th century BCE until taken over by Magadha in the same century. Counted among the "sixteen great nations" in Buddhist texts like the Anguttara Nikaya, Anga also finds mention in the Jain Vyakhyaprajnapti’s list of...
, Banga
Banga
Banga may refer to:* Places** Banga, Aklan in the Philippines** Banga, Angola, municipality in Angola** Banga, Burkina Faso, a town in Burkina Faso** Banga, Pakistan, a town in Punjab, Pakistan** Banga, India, a town and nagar panchayat in India...
, Kalinga
Kalinga
Kalinga is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Tabuk and borders Mountain Province to the south, Abra to the west, Isabela to the east, Cagayan to the northeast, and Apayao to the north...
, Suhma and Pundra.
The Haihaya king Krtavirya had the Bhargavas
Bhargava
Bhargava is a common surname in Northern India and Maharashtra, mainly around Nashik. In Maharashtra, it is pronounced as Bhargave instead of Bhargava. It is also used as a first name in parts of southern India....
as his priests and enriched them. His kinsmen tried to recover the wealth but the Bhargavas resisted. The Haihayas then maltreated them due to which they fled to different countries. Gadhi was then king of Kanyakubja and had a daughter Satyavati. The Bhargava rsi Rcika marries her and begets a son Jamadagni
Jamadagni
Jamadagni is one of the Saptarishis in the seventh, i.e. the present Manvantara. He was a descendant of the sage Bhrigu, one of the Prajapatis created by Brahma, the God of Creation...
. About the same time Gadhi has a son Visvamitra.
In the solar line, Trayyaruna, a near contemporary of Gadhi and Krtavirya, ruled the kingdom of Ayodhya at this time. On the counsel of his priest Vasistha
Vasistha
Vashist in the seventh, i.e the present Manvantara, and the Rajpurohit / Rajguru of the Suryavansha or Solar Dynasty. He was the mānasaputra of Brahma. He had in his possession the divine cow Kamadhenu, and Nandini her child, who could grant anything to their owners...
, he exiles his son Satyavrata, also called Trisanku. After Trayyaruna, Vasistha refuses to perform Trisanku’s consecration. A little later, Visvamitra of Kanyakubja tries to obtain the wishing cow Nandini
Nandini
In Sanskrit, it means daughter.It is generally used as a first name for girls.The root, nand, refers to delight, pleasure, enjoyment. The Sanskrit word nadana...
of Vasistha. A fierce combat follows between the two, in which Visvamitra is defeated. Convinced of the superiority of brahmins, he resolves to become a brahmarsi and relinquishes his throne. When engaged in austerities, Visvamitra is befriended by Trisanku. He then champions Trisanku's cause, performs his royal consecration and on his death elevates him in his living body to heaven.
The rivalry of Visvamitra and Vasistha continues even during the reign of Hariscandra, Trisanku’s son. Hariscandra had a son Rohita, whom he had vowed to sacrifice to Varuna
Varuna
In Vedic religion, Varuna is a god of the sky, of water and of the celestial ocean, as well as a god of law and of the underworld...
. He postponed the sacrifice for many years due to which he is afflicted with dropsy. Rohita, on Vasistha’s advice, to propitiate Varuna, buys Ajigarta's son Sunahsepa (who is Visvamitra’s grandnephew) as sacrificial victim in his stead. When about to be killed, Sunahsepa chants the varunamantra, taught to him by Visvamitra. Varuna appears, grants the boy his freedom and the king a cure from the disease. Visvamitra then adopts the boy as his chief son with the name Devarata. A number of Visvamitra's sons, who protest against the status given to Devarata, are cursed by their angry father to become outcastes. They become the ancestors of Dasyu tribes, such as the Andhras, Mutibas, Pulindas, etc. Visvamitra, subsequently, obtains the position of a brahmarsi.
In the Haihaya line, Krtavirya was succeeded by his son Arjuna Kartavirya, who was a mighty king. After a long reign he has dissension with Jamadagni. As a result, Parasurama, the son of Jamadagni by Renuka, the daughter of a minor Iksvaku king, kills Kartavirya Arjuna, whereupon Kartavirya’s son’s kill Jamadagni. In revenge, Parasurama resolves to slaughter the entire class of warriors (ksatriyas), and so far succeeds that only five survive to continue the great dynasties.
After Kartavirya, the Haihayas divided into five collateral tribes – the Talajanghas, the Vitihotras, the Avantyas, Tudikeras and Jatas. They attack Ayodhya and drive king Bahu from the throne. They also attack, defeat and drive the Kasi king Divodasa from Varanasi. Pratardana, the son of Divodasa subdues the Vitihotras and recovers the throne. A little later, Bahu begets a son Sagara, and Sagara defeats all those enemies, regains his kingdom and destroys the Haihaya power for good.
Sagara had sixty thousand sons who insult Kapila rsi and are, in turn, reduced to ashes by him. Therefore Sagara is succeeded by his grandson Amsuman on the throne of Ayodhya. With the reign of Sagara, the Krta yuga comes to an end.
The Treta Yuga
BhagirathaBhagiratha
Bhageeratha was a great king in Hindu mythology who brought the River Ganges to Earth.-Early life:Bhageeratha was the king of Kosala, a kingdom in ancient India. He was a descendent of the great king Sagara of the Suryavamsa, or Sun Dynasty...
, the great grandson of Sagara brings down the divine river Ganga on earth to expiate the sins of the sons of Sagara. Rtuparna is the next prominent king in the dynasty made famous by his association with Nala
Nala
Nala , a character in Hindu mythology, is the king of Nishadha Kingdom, son of Virasena. Nala is known for his skill with horses and culinary expertise. He marries princess Damayanti, of Vidarbha Kingdom, and their story is told in the Mahabharata. His main weakness is gambling...
, the king of Nisadas. Nala married Damayanti
Damayanti
Damayanti , a character in Hindu mythology, was the princess of Vidarbha Kingdom, who married king Nala, of Nishadha Kingdom, and their story is told in the Mahabharata.-The story:...
, the daughter of Bhima, the Yadava king of Vidarbha. The delightful story of their marriage and the unhappy sequel of his subsequent temporary loss of his kingdom and destitution through gambling, is in the Mahabharata told to Yudhisthira suffering in similar circumstances.
After a long eclipse (corresponding to the ascendency of the solar dynasty under Mandhata), the Paurava line is revived by Dusyanta
Dushyanta
Dushyant or Dushyanta was a great king in classical Indian literature and mythology. He is the husband of Shakuntala and the father of the Emperor Bharatha. He appears in the Mahabarata and in Kalidasa's play The Recognition of Sakuntala .-Historical king:According to the Mahābhārata, Dushyanta is...
, a near contemporary of Bhagiratha. He marries Sakuntala
Sakùntala
La leggenda di Sakùntala is a three-act opera by Franco Alfano, who wrote his own libretto, basing his work on Kalidasa's 5th-century BC drama Abhijñānaśākuntalam .-Première, Loss, Reconstruction, Rediscovery:...
, the daughter of Visvamitra and begets Bharata. Bharata is crowned as a cakravartin and later gives his name to the dynasty, to the great fratricidal war between the Kauravas and Pandavas, and to India itself (i.e. Bharatavarsa
Names of India
The name India may refer to either the region of Greater India , or to the contemporary Republic of India contained therein....
). His fifth successor Hastin shifts the capital to a place in the upper doab and calls it Hastinapura
Hastinapura
Hastinapur is a town and a nagar panchayat in Meerut district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.-History:Hastinapur was the capital of the kingdom of the Kauravas, belonging to the Kuru dynasty of kings. The throne of this city was the prize over which the Kurukshetra War of the epic...
, after himself.
Soon after Hastin, the Bharata dynasty is divided into four separate lines – the most well-known being the main Paurava line and the Pancala line. The Pancala king Divodasa
Divodasa
Divodāsa is a name of a tribal king in the Rigveda , the son of Vadhryashva RV 6.61.5. He is the father of the famous Sudas .It is also the name of a king of Kashi surnamed Dhanvantari as per the hymn...
is celebrated in the Rigveda
Rigveda
The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...
as the destroyer of 99 forts of the dasyu Sambara
Sambara
For a village in Andhra Pradesh see Sambara, Makkuva.Sambara is a character in Hindu mythology, married to Māyāvati. He abducted the infant Pradyumna, son of Krishna and Rukmini, but Pradyumna escaped, and after eventually growing up, killed Sambara and married his wife...
. His sister was Ahalya
Ahalya
In Hinduism, Ahalya , also known as Ahilya, is the wife of the sage Gautama, primarily known for her sexual encounter with the god-king Indra, the resultant curse by her husband and her subsequent liberation by Rama – an avatar of the god Vishnu...
, the wife of Gautama. She was deceived by Indra
Indra
' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...
and expelled into the forest by her husband on account of her infidelity.
The solar line once again ascends under the benevolent kingship of Raghu
Raghu
The Great Emperor Raghu was a valorous king of the Ikshvaku dynasty. According to the Raghuvamsha, he was born to king Dilipa and his queen Sudakshina. His name in Sanskrit means the fast one, deriving from Raghu's chariot driving abilities. So celebrated were the exploits of Raghu, that his...
, Aja
AJA
Aja or AJA may refer to:In anthropology:*Aja people, a people living in Benin**Aja language , the language of the Aja people, part of the Gbe dialect continuum*Aja , an ethnic group living in Sudan...
and Dasaratha
Dasaratha
Dasharatha was a king of Ayodhya of the Ikshvaku dynasty whose life story is narrated principally in the Hindu epic Ramayana...
. The story of Rama, Dasaratha's son, forms the subject of the poem Ramayana by Valmiki
Valmiki
Valmiki is celebrated as the poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature. He is the author of the epic Ramayana, based on the attribution in the text of the epic itself. He is revered as the Adi Kavi, which means First Poet, for he discovered the first śloka i.e...
. The intrigues of his step-mother Kaikeyi
Kaikeyi
Kaikeyi , in the Hindu epic Rāmāyaṇa, was the second of King Daśaratha's three wives and a queen of Ayodhyā. She was the mother of Bharata...
result in the exile of Rama
Rama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
, his wife Sita
SITA
SITA is a multinational information technology company specialising in providing IT and telecommunication services to the air transport industry...
and his brother Laksmana to the forest. In the forest, Sita is abducted by Ravana
Ravana
' is the primary antagonist character of the Hindu legend, the Ramayana; who is the great king of Lanka. In the classic text, he is mainly depicted negatively, kidnapping Rama's wife Sita, to claim vengeance on Rama and his brother Lakshmana for having cut off the nose of his sister...
, the king of raksasas and imprisoned in Lanka, his capital. Rama forms an alliance with the monkeys and the bears of the forest and lays a siege of Lanka. Ravana is ultimately defeated and slain by Rama. He then returns back to Ayodhya with his wife Sita and ascends the throne.
With Rama’s death, the Treta yuga comes to a close and the Dvapara commences. After Rama the solar dynasty goes into permanent decline.
The Dvapara Yuga
The Yadava line is once again split into two separate lines after the reign of Bhima, the son of Satvat by his sons AndhakaAndhaka
In Hinduism, Andhaka often refers to a malevolent demon.-Story:After birth, Andhaka was given to the demon Hiranyaksha to be raised, as Hiranyaksha had no sons. Later, Andhaka became the king of Hiranyaksha's kingdom....
and Vrsni
Vrishni
The Vrishnis were an ancient Indian clan who were believed as the descendants of Vrishni, a descendent of Yadu. It is believed that Vrishni was son of Satvata, a descendant of Yadu, the son of Yayati. He had two wives, Gandhari and Madri. He has a son named Devamidhusha by his wife Madri....
, who style their dynasties after their respective names. Ugrasena
Ugrasena
Ugrasena was the King of Mathura, a kingdom that was established after the various Yadava clans, which include the Vrishnis and Bhojas decided that the dividing states would unite as one and that the Kingship would not be subject to heredity and if decided not to be so, the succeeding leader...
, the father of Kamsa
Kamsa
In Hinduism, Kamsa or Kansa , often known as Kans in Hindi, is the brother of Devaki, and ruler of the Vrishni kingdom with its capital at Mathura. His father was King Ugrasena and mother was Queen Padmavati...
was an Andhaka while Vasudeva
Vasudeva
In Hindu itihasa , Vasudeva is the father of Krishna, the son of Shoorsen, of the Yadu and Vrishni dynasties. His sister Kunti was married to Pandu. He was a partial incarnation of Rishi Kashyap....
, the father of Krsna was a Vrsni.
The Pancala Bharata dynasty under its king Srnjaya now rises to prominence. His son Cyavana-Pijavana was a great warrior and the latter's son, Sudas
Sudas
Sudās was a king in the Rig Veda. His name means "worshipping well", an s-stem, either from a root dās, or with the extra s added to avoid an archaic root noun in ā, Sudā-, which would easily be mistaken for a feminine name....
, annexed several kingdoms. A confederacy of the kings of the Pauravas, the Yadavas, the Sivis, the Druhyus, the Matsyas, the Turvasus and others, is formed against Sudas, who defeats them in a great battle near the river Parusni. This is called the Battle of the Ten Kings
Battle of the Ten Kings
Battle of the Ten Kings is a battle alluded to in Mandala 7 of the Rigveda , the ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. It is a battle between Aryans...
. The bulk of Rigvedic hymns (Book II-IX) represents only 5 to 6 generations of kings (and of contemporary poets) of this dynasty.
The Paurava line continues through Ajamidha, the son of Hasti. In his line, king Samvarana was defeated and exiled to the forests on the bank of river Sindhu by the Pancalas. Pargiter identifies this Pancala king as Sudas but the exact relationship between the dynasties, chronological and political, is not recorded. Later, Samvarana reobtains his capital from the Pancalas and marries Tapati, a daughter of the Sun. The playwright Kulasekhara (c. 900AD) has immortalized their story in his play Tapatisamvarana. Their son was Kuru and his descendants were called Kauravas. The line continues through Kuru’s second son Jahnu.
Vasu
Vasu
In Hinduism, the Vasus are attendant deities of Indra, and later Vishnu. They are eight elemental gods representing aspects of nature, representing cosmic natural phenomenon. The name Vasu means 'Dweller' or 'Dwelling'...
, a descendant of Kuru conquers the Yadava kingdom of Cedi, and establishes himself there. His eldest son, Brhadratha founds Girivraja
Rajgir
Rajgir is a city and a notified area in Nalanda district in the Indian state of Bihar. The city of Rajgir was the first capital of the kingdom of Magadha, a state that would eventually evolve into the Mauryan Empire. Its date of origin is unknown, although ceramics dating to about 1000 BC have...
in Magadha
Magadha
Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas or kingdoms in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganga; its first capital was Rajagriha then Pataliputra...
as his capital. His son Jarasandha
Jarasandha
Jarasandha was a great and legendary king of Magadha. He was the son of a vedic king named Brihadratha. He was also a great devotee of Lord Shiva. But he is generally held in negative light owing to his enmity with the Yadav clan in the Mahābhārata....
extends his power up to Mathura (ruled by Andhaka king, Kamsa, who acknowledged him as overlord) in the north and Vidarbha in the south. Kamsa was a tyrant. He had imprisoned his father and usurped the throne. His nephew Krsna kills him and restores the old king to his throne. This rouses Jarasandha's wrath and he attacks Mathura. Krsna along with the Andhakas and Vrsnis migrate to the West coast and build a new capital Dvaravati (Dvaraka) in Saurastra. Krsna then abducts Rukmini, the princess of Vidarbha, defeating her brother and marries her. In later life, Krsna becomes the friend of the Pandavas (see below).
The next famous king in the Kaurava line is Pratipa. His son, Santanu
Santanu
Shantanu was a Kuru king of Hastinapura, who is mentioned in the great epic of the Mahābhārata. He was a descendant of the Bharata race, of the lunar dynasty and the ancestor of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. The Rigveda mentions Shantanu. He was the youngest son of King Pratipa of Hastinapura...
supersedes his elder brother Devapi
Devapi
In Hindu mythology, Devapi or Devāpi Arṣṭiṣeṇa is an immortal sage. According to the Nirukta , the Brihaddevata, the Mahabharata and the Puranas, he was a Kuru prince and the eldest son of King Pratipa of Hastinapura...
to the throne, whereupon no rain falls for twelve years. Devapi then acts as a Hotr (chief priest) and performs sacrifice for his brother and obtains rain.
Santanu's grandsons were Dhrtarastra
Dhṛtarāṣṭra
Dhṛtarāṣṭra refers to an important figure in Buddhist mythology.In Buddhism, Dhṛtarāṣṭra is one of the Four Heavenly Kings and an important figure in Buddhist mythology...
and Pandu
Pandu
In the Mahābhārata epic, King Pandu is the son of Ambalika and Rishi Ved Vyasa. He is more popularly known as the father of the Pandavas and ruled Hastinapur.-Birth:...
. The former being blind, the latter ascends the throne. Dhrtarastra has many sons of whom Duryodhana
Duryodhana
In the Hindu epic the Mahābhārata, Duryodhana is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari, the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers, Emperor of the world at that time which means Emperor of India or Bharatvarsha as it was known at that time, cousin and the chief...
is the eldest; and Pandu has five sons, Yudhisthira
Yudhisthira
In the great Hindu epic Mahabharata, Yudhisthira , the eldest son of King Pandu and Queen Kunti, was king of Indraprastha and later of Hastinapura. He was the leader of the Pandava side in the Kurukshetra War...
, Bhima
Bhima
In the Mahābhārata, Bhima is one of the central characters of Mahabharata and the second of the Pandava brothers...
, Arjuna
Arjuna
Arjuna in Indian mythology is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Arjuna, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน, Orachun, Tamil: Arjunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna,...
, Nakula
Nakula
Nakula, also spelt "Nakul" was one of the five Pandava brothers according to the epic Mahābhārata. Nakula and Sahadeva were fraternal twins born to Madri, who had invoked the Ashvins using a mantra for a son, the mantra shared by Kunti...
and Sahadeva
Sahadeva
Sahadeva was one of the five Pandava brothers according to the epic Mahābhārata. He was one of the twin sons of Madri, who invoked Ashvins using a mantra shared by Kunti for a son. His twin brother was named Nakula...
. The sons of Dhrtarastra belonging to the elder branch were called Kauravas and Pandu's sons, the Pandavas. The question of succession to the throne results in a feud between the two families culminating in the appalling slaughter in the Bharata War. All the old ksatriya dynasties of India, it is said, took part in the great battle, fighting on one side or the other. In the battle, which lasts for eighteen days, the ruses of Krsna enable the hard pressed Pandavas to win. The Mahabharata narrates the story of this feud in detail.
Subsequently the Yadavas are themselves engulfed in civil war, and Krsna withdraws to the life of an ascetic in the forest. Here he is accidentally shot and killed by a hunter. His grandson is re-established at Indraprastha by the Pandavas. Soon the Pandavas themselves crown Pariksita, the grandson of Arjuna on the throne of Hastinapura and retire to the forest. The Dvapara yuga closes with the death of Krsna.
The Kali Yuga
Pariksita, on a hunting expedition, disrespects rsi Samika and is in turn, cursed by his son Srngin to die from snake Taksaka’s poison within seven days. Taksaka buys off Kasyapa, the only person who has an antidote to the poison. At the end of seven days, Pariksit dies from Taksaka’s bite. His son JanamejayaJanamejaya
Janamejaya was a Kuru king. He was the son of Parikshit and Madravati. He was the grandson of Abhimanyu and the great-grandson of Arjuna, the valiant warrior hero of the Mahābhārata. He was ascended to the Kuru throne following the death of his father. His significance comes as the listener of the...
, who was a minor then, later hears his father’s death from his ministers, and resolves on revenge. He organizes a rite (sarpasatra) to destroy all snakes. The snakes enter the sacrificial fire by the power of the rite. Astika, (a half snake from his mother’s side) who was begotten to save them, enters the rite and wins a boon of his choice by singing the praises of Janamejaya. He demands the proceedings be halted. Janamejaya cannot refuse and concludes the rite. It is during this rite that Vaisampayana
Vaisampayana
Vaishampayana was the traditional narrator of the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. He was an ancient Indian sage who was the original teacher of the Black Yajur-Veda. The Ashvalayana Grihya Sutra mentions him as Mahabharatacharya...
, a disciple of Vyasa
Vyasa
Vyasa is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyasa , or Krishna Dvaipayana...
narrates the Mahabharata to Janamejaya.
Nicaksu, sixth in line from Pariksita, transfers his capital from Hastinapura to Kausambi in Vasta as the former city is ravaged by a flood in Ganga. The line continues for many generations till Udayana
Udayana
- Introduction :Udayana also known as Udayanācārya lived in the 10th century, in Kariyan village in Mithila, near present day Darbhanga, Bihar state, India. Udayana was a very important Hindu logician who attempted to reconcile the views held by the two major schools of logic...
, the famous king of Vatsa (and a contemporary of Buddha
Buddha
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
) who carries off Vasavadatta, the princess of Avanti. Their tale is celebrated first by Gunadhya in his novel Brhatkatha and later by Bhasa
Bhasa
Bhāsa is one of the earliest and most celebrated Indian playwrights in Sanskrit. However, very little is known about him.Kālidāsa in the introduction to his first play Malavikagnimitram writes -...
and Sudraka
Sudraka
' was an Indian King. Three Sanskrit plays are ascribed to him - Mricchakatika , Vinavasavadatta, and a bhana , Padmaprabhritaka.. He has been identified as Abhira King Indranigupta, who used the pen name Sudraka.- References :* Ryder, Arthur William. Translator...
in their dramas Svapnavasavadatta and Vinavasavadatta, respectively.
In Magadha, the descendents of Brhadratha and Jarasandha retain the throne till they are replaced by the Sisunaga dynasty, which among others include the famous kings Bimbisara
Bimbisara
Bimbisara was a King, and later, Emperor of the Magadha empire from 543 BC to his death and belonged to the Hariyanka dynasty.-Career:There are many accounts of Bimbisara in the Jain texts and the Buddhist Jatakas, since he was a contemporary of Mahavira and Gautama Buddha. He was the king of...
and Ajatasatru. Mahapadma Nanda
Mahapadma Nanda
Mahapadma Nanda was the first king of the Nanda dynasty. He was the son of Mahanandin, a Kshatriya father from the Shishunaga dynasty, with a shudra wife. Sons of Mahanandin from his Kshatriya wives opposed the rise of Mahapadma Nanda, on which he eliminated all of them to claim the throne...
usurps the throne from the last king of the Sisunaga line. He overthrows all old ksatriya dynasties - the Iksvakus, the Pancalas, the Kaseyas, the Haihayas, the Kalingas, the Asmakas, the Kurus, the Maithilas, the Surasenas and the Vitihotras – and subdues the whole central India. The Puranas, hence, call him the 'destroyer of all ksatriyas' and 'monarch of the whole earth which was under his sole sway'.
Conclusion
This lengthy history of kings and sages is rounded off by the bards with a hint of cynicism regarding the ephemeral nature of fame:Jaina Tradition
The Jainas have their own version of traditional history, brought into line with their legends of the 24 Jinas who from time to time have refounded their religion on earth. RamaRama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
, whom the Jainas call Padma, appears as a divine hero and a Baladeva, in a variant version of his life, whilst Krsna is similarly a Vasudeva (and his brother Balarama
Balarama
Balarama , also known as Baladeva, Balabhadra and Halayudha, is the elder brother of the divine being, Krishna in Hinduism. Within Vaishnavism Hindu traditions Balarama is worshipped as an Avatar of Vishnu, and he is also listed as such in the Bhagavata Purana...
, a Baladeva). There are nine each of these Baladeva and Vasudeva heroes, and their nine enemies (Prativasudevas), including Ravana
Ravana
' is the primary antagonist character of the Hindu legend, the Ramayana; who is the great king of Lanka. In the classic text, he is mainly depicted negatively, kidnapping Rama's wife Sita, to claim vengeance on Rama and his brother Lakshmana for having cut off the nose of his sister...
and Jarasandha
Jarasandha
Jarasandha was a great and legendary king of Magadha. He was the son of a vedic king named Brihadratha. He was also a great devotee of Lord Shiva. But he is generally held in negative light owing to his enmity with the Yadav clan in the Mahābhārata....
. With the Jinas and the twelve universal emperors cakravartins this makes up the sixty-three ‘great men’ of their tradition. The emperors include Bharata and Sagara, and Brahmadeva or Brahmadatta who is familiar also to the Buddhists, but the others are not familiar elsewhere. Three of them, including Santi, became Jinas also. The Jaina traditions seem to draw in part on ancient sources independent of those of the brahmanas, as do the Buddhists also, and are not merely corruptions of Brahmanical traditions. It is noticeable that their legends are much more schematic and regular than the others.
Buddhist Tradition
The Buddhists preserve another different version of the traditional history. According to them, in the beginning of the cosmic cycle mankind lived on an immaterial plane where there was no need of food and clothing and no private property, family, government or laws. Then gradually the process of cosmic decay sets in and mankind becomes earthbound and feel the need of food and shelter. As men lose their primeval glory distinctions of class (varna) arise and they enter into agreements with one another, accepting the institutions of private property and the family. With this theft, murder, adultery and other crime begin. So, the people meet together and decide to appoint one man among them to maintain order in return for a share of the produce of their fields and herds. This, then, was the first king called Mahasammata (‘the great chosen one’). He receives the title of raja because he pleased the people. The first cakravartin, Mandhata is sixth in descent from Mahasammata. Mandhata is followed by a long succession of kings – the most famous among them include Sudarsana, Sagara, Bharata and Rama DasarathiRama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
(the last three known to the Brahmanical and Jain Traditions).
In this line was born a king called Karnika who had two sons Gautama and Bharadvaja. Bharadvaja ascends the throne after his father’s death, but dies without any issue. On the other hand, two children are born from eggs, which were formed from coagulated blood and semen of Gautama and hatched by the sun. From one of the eggs comes the famous Iksvaku (Pali ‘Okkaka’), who succeeds Bharadvaja and founds the solar dynasty.
The four sons and four daughters of Iksvaku are exiled to the foothills of the Himalayas due to the machinations of their step-mother. They intermarry amongst themselves to maintain the purity of their blood and later establish the towns of Kapilavastu and Koli. Their descendants were called Sakyas
Sakyas
Sakyas can refer to:*The Śākya people, the ethnic group of which Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism was a member*The members of Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism...
. The famous Prince Visvantara (Pali 'Vessantara
Vessantara Jataka
The Vessantara Jataka is one of the most popular avadānas of Theravada Buddhism. The Vessantara Jataka tells the story of one of Buddha's past lives, about a compassionate prince, Vessantara, who gives away everything he owns, including his children, thereby displaying the virtue of perfect charity...
') was a near descendant of Okkaka. Later, the Buddha
Buddha
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
is born in this dynasty.
Itihasa as a source of actual history
Eminent historian Romila ThaparRomila Thapar
Romila Thapar is an Indian historian whose principal area of study is ancient India.-Work:After graduating from Panjab University, Thapar earned her doctorate under A. L. Basham at the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of London in 1958...
discusses the problem of associating 'major lineages of the early tradition' with archaeological evidence (e.g. with Painted Grey Ware or Chalcolithic Black and Red Ware), understanding the Puranic genealogies as 'records of a general pattern of settlements and migrations,' rather than 'factual information on history and chronology'. She tries, however, to associate the chronology of the 'obviously more significant lineages, that of the Puru and the Yadavas' with different archaeological layers. Like Pargiter, she divides the Puru lineage into three distinct phases, connecting phase I (from Manu to Bharata) with the Ochre Coloured Pottery, phase II (after a break, from Bharata's 'adopted sons' to Kuru) with the Painted Grey Ware; phase III (starting from Kuru) being terminated by the Mahabharata war. The Yadava line is associated with the Black and Red ware, the geographical distribution of which is traced in connection with the different branches and migrations of the Yadava tribe, according to the Puranic sources. She concludes, however more cautiously ('The attempt to link the Puru and Yadava lineages with certain archaeological cultures ... has resulted in some echoes of identification, but nothing more definite than that can be said at this point. The identification remains speculative...'), by considering the problem of chronology (archaeological evidence versus 'traditional' chronology) and the question of identifying the Indo-Aryan speakers, phase I (up to Bharata) being understood as a pre-Indo-Aryan lineage, which was taken over later into the tradition of the Aryan-speaking people.
Influence on the Classical Indian Poetry
The rules of classical Indian poetics prescribe that the themes of the mahakavyasIndian epic poetry
Indian epic poetry is the epic poetry written in the Indian subcontinent, traditionally called Kavya . The Ramayana and Mahabharata, originally composed in Sanskrit and translated thereafter into many other Indian languages, are some of the oldest surviving epic poems on earth and form part of...
(ornate epics) and natakas
Sanskrit drama
The earliest-surviving fragments of Sanskrit drama date from the 1st century CE. The Mahābhāṣya by Patañjali contains the earliest reference to what may have been the seeds of Sanskrit drama. This treatise on grammar from 140 BCE provides a feasible date for the beginnings of theatre in India.Its...
(drama) should be primarily selected from the itihasa. In accordance, great mahakavyas such as Kalidasa
Kalidasa
Kālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language...
’s Raghuvamsa
Raghuvamsa
Raghuwamsa or Raghu race is a legendary lineage of warrior kings tracing its ancestry to the Hindu solar deity Surya. Kalidasa's famous work, Raghuvaṃśa depicts the legend of this race. The progenitor of the lineage was Raghu, son of the emperor Dileepa. Raghu was father of Aja, and thus...
, Kumaradasa’s Janakiharana, Bhatti’s Ravanavadha or Bhattikavya &c. have drawn their themes from the Ramayana and Bharavi
Bharavi
Bharavi was a Sanskrit poet known for his Mahakavya , the Kirātārjunīya in 18 cantos based on an episode from the Mahabharata.-Time and place:...
’s Kiratarjuniya
Kirātārjunīya
Kirātārjunīya is a Sanskrit kavya by Bhāravi, written in the 6th century or earlier. It is an epic poem in eighteen cantos describing the combat between Arjuna and lord Shiva in the guise of a kirāta or mountain-dwelling hunter. Along with the Naiṣadhacarita and the Shishupala Vadha, it is one of...
, Magha
Magha
Magha may refer to:* Magha , a month in the Hindu calendar* Magh , the same month in the Bengali calendar* Magha , an 8th century Sanskrit poet, who wrote Shishupala-vadha...
’s Sisupalavadha
Shishupala Vadha
The Shishupala Vadha is a work of classical Sanskrit poetry composed by Māgha in the 7th or 8th century. It is an epic poem in 20 sargas of about 1800 highly ornate stanzas, and is considered one of the six Sanskrit mahakavyas, or "great epics". It is also known as the Māgha-kāvya after its author...
and Sriharsa’s Naisadhiyacarita &c. from the Mahabharata.
Primary Sources (Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit and Tamil)
- Vyasa, MahabharataMahabharataThe Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
. See translation at www.sacred-texts.com - Valmiki, RamayanaRamayanaThe Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
. See translation at www.sacred-texts.com - RigvedaRigvedaThe Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...
- AtharvavedaAtharvavedaThe Atharvaveda is a sacred text of Hinduism and one of the four Vedas, often called the "fourth Veda"....
- Satapatha Brahmana
- PuranasPuranasThe Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...
- Visnu Purana
- Harivamsa Purana
- Vayu PuranaVayu PuranaThe Vayu Purana is a Shaiva Purana, a Hindu religious text, dedicated to the god Vayu , containing about 24,000 shlokas.-Date:Banabhatta refers to this work in his Kadambari and Harshacharita...
- Matsya PuranaMatsya PuranaMatsya Purana is the sixteenth purana of the Hindu scriptures. During the period of mahapralaya, Lord Vishnu had taken Matsya Avatar to save the seeds of all lives and Manu...
- Devi Bhagavatam
- Manu SmritiManu Smriti' , also known as Mānava-Dharmaśāstra , is the most important and earliest metrical work of the Dharmaśāstra textual tradition of Hinduism...
- Tripitaka
- Mahavastu
- Lalitavistara
- Bhagavati Sutra
- Hemacandra, Trisastisalakapurusacaritra
- KalidasaKalidasaKālidāsa was a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language...
- Abhijnanasakuntalam
- Raghuvamsa
- Vikramorvasiyam
- BhasaBhasaBhāsa is one of the earliest and most celebrated Indian playwrights in Sanskrit. However, very little is known about him.Kālidāsa in the introduction to his first play Malavikagnimitram writes -...
- Svapnavasavadatta
- Pratijnayaugandharayana
- Balacarita
- Karnabhara
- Dutavakya
- Urubhanga
- Madhyamavyayoga
- Pancaratra
- Dutaghatotkacha
- Pratimanataka
- Abhishekanataka
- Sarvasena, Harivijaya
- Panini, Jambavativijaya
- Ksemendra, Sasivamsa
- Mentha, Hayagiva vadha
- BhavabhutiBhavabhutiBhavabhuti was an 8th century scholar of India noted for his plays and poetry, written in Sanskrit. His plays are considered equivalent to the works of Kalidasa...
- Mahaviracarita
- Uttararamacarita
- Bhattanarayana, Venisamhara
- Jayadeva, Gitagovinda
- Venkatanatha Vedanta Desika, Yadavabhyudaya
- Murari, Anargha Raghava
- Pratapa Rudra Deva, Yayati Caritra
- Rajasekhara, Pracanda Pandava
- Damodar Misra, Hanumananataka
- AsvaghosaAsvaghosa' was an Indian philosopher-poet, born in Saketa in northern India to a Brahmin family. He is believed to have been the first Sanskrit dramatist, and is considered the greatest Indian poet prior to Kālidāsa. He was the most famous in a group of Buddhist court writers, whose epics rivaled the...
- BuddhacaritaBuddhacaritaBuddhacharita is an epic poem in the Sanskrit mahakavya style on the life of Gautama Buddha by , composed in the 2nd century AD...
- Saudarananda
- Buddhacarita
- Vimala Suri, Pauma cariya
- Pravarasena, Setubandha
- Silacharya, Caupanna mahapurisa cariya
- Jinasena, Harivamsa purana
Further Reading
- Pargiter, F.E.
- Ancient Indian Historical Tradition. Delhi. 1972.
- The Purana Text of the Dynasties of the Kali Age. Oxford. 1913.
- Winternitz, M. History of Indian Literature. Vol. I-II. Delhi. 1987.
- Rapson, E.J. The Cambridge History of India. Vol. I Cambridge. 1922.
- Warder, A.K. Indian Kavya Literature, Vol. I-VII. Delhi. 2004.
- Smith, R. Morton Dates and dynasties in earliest India: translation and justification of a critical text of the Purana dynasties, Shastri, J. L. (ed.). Delhi. Motilal Banarasidass. 1973.
- Smith, Mary Carroll The core of India's great Epic. Harvard University. 1972.
- Thapar, Romila
- "Puranic Lineages and archaeological cultures" in Ancient Indian Social History: some interpretations. New Delhi. Orient Longmans. 1978.
- "Origin Myths and the early Indian historical tradition" in Ancient Indian Social History: some interpretations. New Delhi. Orient Longmans. 1978.
- "Genealogy as a source of social history" in Ancient Indian Social History: some interpretations. New Delhi. Orient Longmans. 1978.
See also
- Hindu mythologyHindu mythologyHindu religious literature is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Nepali and Indian culture...
- Buddhist mythologyBuddhist mythologyBuddhist mythology operates within the Buddhist belief system. It is a relatively broad mythology, as it was adopted and influenced by several diverse cultures such as Gandhara which was the capital of Bactria. Later on, it also came to incorporate aspects from countries such as China and Japan...
- Jain cosmologyJain cosmologyJain cosmology is the description of the shape and functioning of the physical and metaphysical Universe and its constituents according to Jainism, which includes the canonical Jain texts, commentaries and the writings of the Jain philosopher-monks...
- History of IndiaHistory of IndiaThe history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from...
- Hindu Epics
- RamayanaRamayanaThe Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is ascribed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon , considered to be itihāsa. The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India and Nepal, the other being the Mahabharata...
- MahabharataMahabharataThe Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
- PuranasPuranasThe Puranas are a genre of important Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religious texts, notably consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods, and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.Puranas...
- Ramayana