Bharatas (Vedic tribe)

The Bharatas (Sanskrit: भरत, romanized: Bharata, lit.'bearers or carriers'), also known as the Bharatavaṃśa (Sanskrit: भरतवंश, lit.'race of Bharata'), were an Indo-Aryan clan-based tribe of the Bharata clan, founded by King Bharata of the Rigvedic Puruclan, that existed in the latter half of the second millennium B.C.E. The earliest mentioned location of the Bharatas was on the Sarasvatī River. Led by the Bharata king Divodāsa, the Bharatas moved through the Hindu Kush mountains and defeated aboriginal mountain chief named Śambara. Divodāsa's descendant, Sudās, won the Battle of the Ten Kings against a Pūru-led coalition. After the battle, the Bharata and other Pūru clans eventually formed the Kuru kingdom, which was the first attested state in Indian history.