The Battle of the Ten Kings ( sa, दाशराज्ञ युद्ध, translit=Dāśarājñá yuddhá) is a battle, first alluded to in the
7th Mandala of the
Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ('' śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one ...
(RV), between a Bharata king and a confederation of tribes. It resulted in a decisive victory for the Bharatas and subsequent formation of the Kuru polity.
Background
In
Book 3, the
Bharatas are noted to have crossed
Beas
Beas is a riverfront town in the Amritsar district of the Indian state of Punjab. Beas lies on the banks of the Beas River. Beas town is mostly located in revenue boundary of Budha Theh with parts in villages Dholo Nangal and Wazir Bhullar. ...
and
Sutlej, in their progress towards Kurukshetra where they came across a nascent (and temporary) inter-tribal alliance.
This led to the battle, which is described in the 18th hymn (verses 5-21) of Book 7; the exact motivations are doubtful —
Michael Witzel
Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943) is a German-American philologist, comparative mythologist and Indologist. Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (volumes 50–80).
Witz ...
argues that it might have been a product of intratribal resentment or intrigues of an ousted family-priest while Ranabir Chakravarti argues that the battle was probably fought for controlling the rivers, which were a lifeline for irrigation.
The hymns also mention of the tribes seeking to steal cows from the Bharatas.
Battle
Hanns-Peter Schmidt
Hans-Peter Schmidt (1930 – 31 March 2017) was a German Indologist and Iranologist who was Professor of Indo-Iranian Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. He specialized in the comparative study of the Gathas and Vedas.
Biograph ...
, whom Witzel deems to have produced the most "detailed, and ingenious reinterpretation" of the hymns, locates a unique poetic moment across the RV corpus, in their extraordinarily abundant usage of sarcastic allusions, similes and puns to mock the tribal alliance.
Some of those allusions seem to be heavily context-specific and (still) remain unrecognized; there exist considerable disputes about interpretations of particular words, in light of the employed figures of speech and other poetic devices.
First phase
The first phase of the battle took place on the banks of the river
Ravi (then Parusni) near Manusa, west of Kurukshetra.
The Bharata King and their priest are respectively mentioned as Sudas Paijavana and Vasistha, in the Rig Veda; however the names change in
Samaveda and
Yajurveda Samhitas.
The principal antagonist is doubtful and names of the participating tribes are difficult to retrieve, in light of the phonological deformations of their names.
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.
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 dyke on the river thereby drowning most (?) of the opponents.
This sudden change in fortunes is attributed to the benevolence and strategizing of
Indra, the patron-God of Bharatas, whose blessings were secured by Vasistha's poetics.
Second phase
Thereafter, the battleground (probably) shifted to the banks of river
Yamuna
The Yamuna ( Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of B ...
, wherein the local chieftain Bhida was defeated along with three other tribes — Ajas, Śighras, and the Yakṣus.
Aftermath
The Battle of the Ten Kings led Bharatas to occupy the entire Puru territory (Western Punjab) centered around
Sarasvati River
The Sarasvati River () is a deified river first mentioned in the Rigveda and later in Vedic and post-Vedic texts. It played an important role in the Vedic religion, appearing in all but the fourth book of the Rigveda.
As a physical river, i ...
and complete their east-ward migration.
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.
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.
Historicity
Numerous translators since the 1800s including
K. F. Geldner have considered the battle as a historical event, based on the narration-characteristics of the verses.
Witzel dates the battle between approximately 1450 and 1300 BCE; he deems the concerned hymns to be late interpolations.
Stephanie W. Jamison warns against using it as a major source to reconstruct history since the description of the battle is "anything but clear."
Both Witzel and Jamison find the very next hymn (7.19, verse 3) to show a striking shift of allegiance with Indra helping Sudas as well the Purus, who won land.
Possible Prototype for the Mahabharata War
Witzel notes this battle to be the probable archetype/prototype of the
Kurukshetra War, narrated in the
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...
.
John Brockington
John Stanley Brockington (born September 7, 1948) is a former American football player, a running back
in the National Football League (NFL) with the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs. He was a first round draft choice out of Ohio State ...
takes a similar approach.
S. S. N. Murthy goes to the extent of proposing the battle as the very "nucleus" of the
Kurukshetra War;
Walter Ruben adopts a similar stance.
However, Witzel maintains the nucleus text of the Mahabharata to be in description of some event in the Late Vedic spans; it was since reshaped (and expanded) over centuries of transmission and recreation to (probably) reflect the Battle of the Ten Kings.
Alf Hiltebeitel rejects Witzel's and Brockington's arguments as "baffling fancy" and notes a complete lack of means to connect the battle with the "fratricidal struggle" of the Mahabharata.
Legacy
Stephanie W. Jamison notes it to be the most famous historical conflict in RV—in that, it secured the dominance of Bharatas over Vedic tribes—as does Witzel.
The territory would eventually become the first South-Asian "state" under the Kuru tribe in post-RV span and serve as the heart-land of Brahminical culture.
The Purus went on to survive as a marginal power in Punjab; Witzel and some other scholars believe
Porus
Porus or Poros ( grc, Πῶρος ; 326–321 BC) was an ancient Indian king whose territory spanned the region between the Jhelum River (Hydaspes) and Chenab River (Acesines), in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. He is only ment ...
(c. early 300 BC) to be a king from the same tribe.
See also
*
Kurukshetra War
*
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...
*
Historicity of the Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuru ...
Notes
References
{{reflist
Rigveda
the Ten Kings
2nd-millennium BC conflicts
Wars involving ancient India