Bharatas (tribe)

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Bharatas
Early Vedic Culture (1700-1100 BCE).png
The Bharatas and other early Vedic tribes
EthnicityIndo-Aryan
LocationNorthern Indian subcontinent
Parent tribePuru (originally)
BranchesTṛtsu. Sṛñjaya
LanguageVedic Sanskrit
ReligionHistorical Vedic religion
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The Bharatas were a Rigvedic tribe that existed during the Vedic period in the latter half of the second millennium B.C.E.[1][2][3]

The earliest mentioned location of the Bharatas was on the first Sarasvati River in southern Afghanistan. Under the tribal king Divodāsa, the Bharatas moved through the Hindu Kush mountains and defeated Śambara. Divodāsa's descendant, Sudās, won the Battle of the Ten Kings against a Puru-led coalition, which set the scene for the initial compilation of hymns of the Rigveda. After the battle, the Bharatas would eventually form the Kuru Kingdom, which was the first attested state in Indian history.

Etymology[edit]

The name Bharata is of Indo-Aryan and Indo-Iranian origin.[4]

History[edit]

Two Bharatas, Devaśravas Bhārata and Devavāta Bhārata, are mentioned as living near the Āpayā, Sarasvatī and Dṛṣadvatī rivers.[5]

Devavāta's son, Sṛñjaya Daivavāta, defeated the Turvaśas, and is mentioned alongside Abhyāvartin Cāyamāna who defeated the Vṛcīvants under Varaśikha. These battles took place at the at the Hariyūpiyā (modern Hali-āb) and Yavyāvatī rivers (modern Zhob) in what is now eastern Afghanistan.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12] In a hymn to Sarasvatī, it is stated that she aided (or is sought to aid) Vadhryaśva in defeating niggards, foreigners, insulters of gods, haters, and the sons of Bṛsaya. Witzel notes that the name Bṛsaya is of non-Indo-Aryan origin,[13][14] and Parpola proposes that the name came from the language of the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex. He states that Bṛsaya was a hereditary regnal title in the region, and that it existed even till the time of Alexander the Great.[15] In addition, the poet expresses the desire not to leave the Sarasvati river (modern Helmand and Arghandab).[16][17][18][19] Both hymns mentioning the two are attributed to Bharadvāja Bārhaspatya.[20]

Under the chieftain Divodāsa Atithigva, the Bharatas moved through the Hindu Kush mountain range in the northwest Indian subcontinent. [21][22] Divodāsa was adopted by Vadhryaśva after the former was given to him by the river goddess Sarasvatī.[18][19] Divodāsa defeated the aboriginal mountain chief Śambara in the autumn of the fortieth year of campaigns, after destroying ninety-nine of the latter's forts.[23][18] Under Divodāsa, the Bharatas were also enemies of the Yadu-Turvaśas.[24] Divodāsa's allies were Prastoka, Aśvatha, and Sṛñjaya's son. Scholars differ on whether Sṛñjaya's son was a different person from Prastoka or Aśvatha.[25][26] Several Rigvedic poets mention a patron-client relationship between Divodāsa and Bharadvāja. According to a hymn attributed to Suhotra Bhāradvāja, Bharadvāja was involved in Divodāsa's battles with Śambara. In another hymn, Garga Bhāradvāja enumerates the gifts that were donated to the Bharadvajas by Divodāsa and his allies, of which included part of the booty that was looted from Śambara.[27][28]

Under Sudās Paijavana (a descendant of Divodāsa)[29][30] and his purohita Viśvāmitra Gāthina, the Bharatas crossed the Vipāś and Śutudrī rivers (modern Beas and Sutlej).[31] Eventually Viśvāmitra was replaced by Vasiṣṭha Maitrāvaruṇi.[32]

Battle of the Ten Kings[edit]

Main article: Battle of the Ten Kings

Under Sudās and Vasiṣṭha, the Tṛtsu-Bharatas win the Battle of the Ten Kings.[33] The first phase of the battle took place on the banks of the river Ravi (then Parusni) near Manusa, west of Kurukshetra.[33][34] The principal antagonist is doubtful[lower-alpha 1] and names of the participating tribes are difficult to retrieve, in light of the phonological deformations of their names.[33][36][37] Plausible belligerents of the tribal union include (in order) — Purus (erstwhile master-tribe of Bharatas), Yadu (probably commanded by Turvasa), Yaksu (relatively unimportant or a pun for Yadu), Matsyas, Druhyus, Pakthas, Bhalanas, Alinas, Vishanins, Sivas, Vaikarna, and Anu.[33][36]

Though seemingly an unequal battle, going by the numbers (this aspect is highlighted multiple times in the hymns), Sudas decisively won against the tribal alliance by strategic breaching of a (natural) dyke on the river thereby drowning most (?) of the opponents; the victory is attributed to the benevolence and strategizing of Indra, the patron-God of Bharatas, whose blessings were secured by Vasistha's poetics.[33][37]

Thereafter, the battleground (probably) shifted to the banks of river Yamuna, wherein the local chieftain Bhida was defeated along with three other tribes — Ajas, Śighras, and the Yakṣus.[33][37]

Aftermath[edit]

The Battle of the Ten Kings led Bharatas to occupy the entire Puru territory (Western Punjab) centered around Sarasvati River and complete their east-ward migration.[33] Sudas celebrated his victory with the Ashvamedha ritual to commemorate the establishment of a realm, free of enemies from the north, east, and west. He still had enemies in the Khāṇḍava Forest to the south, which was inhabited by the despised non-Indo-Aryan Kikatas[33]

A political realignment between Purus and Bharatas probably followed soon enough and might have included other factions of the tribal union as well; this is exhibited from how the core collection of RV prominently features clan-hymns of both the sides.[38][33]

There is no clear mention of Sudās’ descendants or any succeeding Bharata king in the Rigveda.[39][40] The Bharatas eventually evolve into the Kuru Kingdom; however, there is no record of this development due to the time gap between the Rigveda and other Vedas.[41][42]

Legacy in later literature[edit]

In the epic Mahābhārata, the ancestor of Kurus becomes Emperor Bharata, and his ruler and kingdom is called Bhārata.[43] The Bharata clan mentioned in Mahabharata is a Kuru clan which is a sub clan of the Puru clan who were the cousins of the Yadavas.[44] "Bhārata" today is an official name of the Republic of India.[45]

Notes[edit]

  1. ↑ Karl Friedrich Geldner deemed it to be Bheda, incorrectly. Witzel proposes Trasadasyu. Palihawadana proposes Purukutsa, Trasadasyu's father.[35]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Scharfe, Hartmut E. (2006), "Bharat", in Stanley Wolpert (ed.), Encyclopedia of India, vol. 1 (A-D), Thomson Gale, pp. 143–144, ISBN 0-684-31512-2
  2. ↑ Thapar, Romila (2002), The Penguin History of Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300, Allen Lane; Penguin Press (published 2003), p. 114, ISBN 0141937424
  3. ↑ Witzel, Michael (1995b), "Early Sanskritization. Origins and Development of the Kuru State." (PDF), Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies, 1–4: 1–26, archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-20, retrieved 2017-09-16
  4. ↑ Witzel 1999, p. 19.
  5. ↑ Palihawadana 2017, p. 38.
  6. ↑ Palihawadana 2017, pp. 38-40.
  7. ↑ Jamison, Stephanie; Brereton, Joel (2014). The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India. Oxford University Press. pp. 810–811.
  8. ↑ Macdonell, Arthur Anthony; Keith, Arthur Berriedale (1912). Vedic Index of Names and Subjects. John Murray. p. 380.
  9. ↑ Witzel 1995a, p. 247-248.
  10. ↑ Gonda, Jan (1975). A History of Indian Literature: I.1 Vedic literature (Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas). Otto Harrassowitz. p. 130.
  11. ↑ Witzel, Michael (2000). "The Home of the Aryans". In Hintze, A.; Tichy, E. (eds.). Anusantatyai : Festschrift für Johanna Narten zum 70. Geburtstag. Dettelbach: Röll. p. 34.
  12. ↑ Witzel 1999, p. 31.
  13. ↑ Witzel, Michael (2001). "Autochthonous Aryans? The Evidence from Old Indian and Iranian Texts" (PDF). Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies. 7: 23. doi:10.11588/ejvs.2001.3.830.
  14. ↑ Witzel, Michael (1999). "Aryan and non-Aryan Names in Vedic India. Data for the linguistic situation, c. 1900-500 B.C". In Bronkhorst, J.; Deshpande, M. (eds.). Aryans and Non-Non-Aryans, Evidence, Interpretation and Ideology. Vol. 3. Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora.
  15. ↑ Parpola 2015, p. 81, 97-98, 105.
  16. ↑ Palihawadana 2017, p. 40.
  17. ↑ Jamison & Brereton, p. 857-859.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Parpola 2015, p. 97.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Velankar, H. D. (1942). "Divodāsa Atithigva and the other Atithigvas". Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. 23 (1/4): 659. JSTOR 44002604 – via JSTOR.
  20. ↑ Jamison & Brereton, p. 810, 857.
  21. ↑ Witzel, Michael (1995a). "Ṛgvedic history: poets, chieftains and polities". In Erdosy, George (ed.). The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity. De Gruyter. pp. 244–246.
  22. ↑ Parpola, Asko (2015). The Roots of Hinduism: The Early Aryans and the Indus Civilization. Oxford University Press. p. 94.
  23. ↑ Witzel 1995a, p. 244-246.
  24. ↑ Velankar 1942, p. 663.
  25. ↑ Palihawadana 2017, p. 36.
  26. ↑ Witzel 1995a, p. 247.
  27. ↑ Sarmah, Thaneswar (1991). The Bharadvājas in Ancient India. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. pp. 7–8. ISBN 81-208-0639-5.
  28. ↑ Jamison & Brereton 2014, p. 815, 833, 837.
  29. ↑ Witzel, Michael (1995). "Ṛgvedic history: poets, chieftains and polities". In Erdosy, George (ed.). The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity. De Gruyter. p. 216.
  30. ↑ Palihawadana 2017, p. 37.
  31. ↑ Witzel 1995a, p. 248–249, 251.
  32. ↑ Jamison & Brereton 2014, p. 465.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 33.4 33.5 33.6 33.7 33.8 Witzel, Michael (1995). "4. Early Indian history: Linguistic and textual parametres". In Erdosy, George (ed.). The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity. Indian Philology and South Asian Studies. De Gruyter. pp. 85–125. doi:10.1515/9783110816433-009. ISBN 978-3-11-081643-3.
  34. ↑ Brereton, Joel P.; Jamison, Stephanie W., eds. (2020). The Rigveda: A Guide. Oxford University Press. p. 34. ISBN 9780190633363.
  35. ↑ Palihawadana 2017, p. 51.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Schmidt, Hans-Peter (March 1980). "Notes on Rgveda 7.18.5–10". Indica. 17: 41–47. ISSN 0019-686X.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 Brereton, Joel P.; Jamison, Stephanie W., eds. (2014). The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India. Vol. I. Oxford University Press. pp. 880, 902–905, 923–925, 1015–1016. ISBN 9780199370184.
  38. ↑ Witzel, Michael (1997). "The development of the Vedic canon and its schools: the social and political milieu". crossasia-repository.ub.uni-heidelberg.de: 263, 267, 320. doi:10.11588/xarep.00000110. Retrieved 2021-04-15.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  39. ↑ Witzel 1995a, p. 337.
  40. ↑ Palihawadana & Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies, p. 52.
  41. ↑ Witzel 1995b, p. 1-2.
  42. ↑ B. Kölver, ed. (1997). Recht, Staat und Verwaltung im klassischen Indien [Law, State and Administration in Classical India] (in Deutsch). München: R. Oldenbourg. pp. 27–52.
  43. ↑ Julius Lipner (2010) "Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices.", p.23
  44. ↑ National Council of Educational Research and Training, History Text Book, Part 1, India
  45. ↑ Article 1 of the English version of the Constitution of India: "India that is Bharat shall be a Union of States."

Bibliography[edit]

  • Palihawadana, Mahinda (2017). "The Indra Cult as Ideology: A Clue to Power Struggle in an Ancient Society". Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies. 24 (2): 19–166. doi:10.11588/ejvs.2017.2.2667.
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