>TrangaBellam at 14:27, 1 July 2021

2021-07-01T14:27:42Z

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{{short description|Battle recounted in the Rigveda}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Battle of the Ten Kings
| date = {{circa}} 14th century BCE
| place = Near Parusni River (modern [[Ravi River|Ravi]]), [[Punjab region|Punjab]]
| result = Decisive [[Trtsu]]-[[Bharatas (tribe)|Bharata]] victory
| territory = [[Rigvedic tribes]] conquered by [[Sudas]]
*[[Bharatas (tribe)|Bharata]]s settle in Kurukshetra
*Emergence of [[Kuru Kingdom]]
| combatant1 = [[Trtsu]]-[[Bharatas (tribe)|Bharata]] ([[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]])
| combatant2 = [[Alina people|Alina]] [[Anu (tribe)|Anu]] [[Bhrigus]] ([[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]]) [[Bhalanas]] [[Dasa]] ([[Dahae]]?) [[Druhyus]] (Gandharis) [[Matsya Rajya|Matsya]] ([[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]]) Parsu ([[Persian people|Persians]]) [[Puru (Vedic tribe)|Purus]] ([[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]]) [[Panis]] ([[Parni]])
| commander1 = [[Sudas|King Sudas]] [[Vashishta]]
| commander2 = The Ten Kings Samvaran [[Vishvamitra]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Witzel|first=Michael|date=1997|title=The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools: The Social and Political Milieu|url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/canon.pdf|journal=Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora|volume=2|pages=264}}</ref>
| strength1 = Unknown but less
| strength2 = More than 6,666
| casualties1 = Unknown but less
| casualties2 = 6,666 ([[Mandala 7]])
}}

The '''Battle of the Ten Kings''' ({{lang-sa|दाशराज्ञ युद्ध|translit=Dāśarājñá yuddhá}}) is a battle, first alluded to in the [[Mandala 7|Book 7]] of the [[Rigveda]] (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 [[Mandala 3|Book 3]], the [[Bharatas (tribe)|Bharatas]] are noted to have crossed [[Beas River|Beas]] and [[Sutlej]], in their progress towards Kurukshetra where they came across a nascent (and temporary) inter-tribal alliance.<ref name=":0" /> 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]] argues that it might have been a product of intratribal resentment or intrigues of an ousted family-priest{{Efn|Book 3 was composed by Vishwamitra, the family priest of the Bharatas and makes no mention of the battle. Book 7 was composed by Vasistha, who replaced Vishwamitra. However, Jamison rejects that there exists any evidence of Vasistha-Vishwamitra feud in RV.<ref name=":3" />}} while Ranabir Chakravarti argues that the battle was probably fought for controlling the rivers, which were a lifeline for irrigation.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sinha|first=Kanad|date=2015|title=PROFESSOR V.K. THAKUR MEMORIAL PRIZED PAPER: WHEN THE BHŪPATI SOUGHT THE GOPATI'S WEALTH: LOCATING THE "MAHĀBHĀRATA ECONOMY|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44156566|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|volume=76|pages=67-68|issn=2249-1937}}</ref><ref name="schmidt1980" /><ref name=":3" /> The hymns also mention of the tribes seeking to steal cows from the Bharatas.<ref name=":3" />

== Battle ==
[[Hanns-Peter Schmidt]], 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.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="schmidt1980" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stuhrmann|first=Rainer|date=2016-10-11|title=Die Zehnkönigsschlacht am Ravifluß|url=https://crossasia-journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/ejvs/article/view/933|journal=Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies|language=de|volume=23|issue=1|pages=1–61|doi=10.11588/ejvs.2016.1.933|issn=1084-7561}}</ref> 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.<ref name="schmidt1980" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|isbn=9780199370184|editor-last=Brereton|editor-first=Joel P.|volume=I|pages=880, 902-905, 923-925, 1015-1016|editor-last2=Jamison|editor-first2=Stephanie W.}}</ref>

=== First phase ===
The first phase of the battle took place on the banks of the river [[Ravi River|Ravi]] (then Parusni) near Manusa, west of Kurukshetra.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=The Rigveda: A Guide|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2020|isbn=9780190633363|editor-last=Brereton|editor-first=Joel P.|pages=34|editor-last2=Jamison|editor-first2=Stephanie W.}}</ref> 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|Yajurveda Samhitas]].<ref name=":0" /> The principal antagonist is doubtful{{Efn|[[Karl Friedrich Geldner]] deemed it to be Bheda, incorrectly. Witzel proposes Trasadasyu.}} and names of the participating tribes are difficult to retrieve, in light of the phonological deformations of their names.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="schmidt1980" /><ref name=":3" /> Plausible belligerents of the tribal union include (in order) — [[Puru (Vedic tribe)|Purus]] (erstwhile master-tribe of Bharatas), [[Yadu]] (probably commanded by Turvasa), Yaksu (relatively unimportant or a pun for Yadu), [[Matsya Rajya|Matsyas]], [[Druhyus]], [[Pakthas]], [[Bhalanas]], [[Alina people|Alina]]s, Vishanins, Sivas, Vaikarna, and [[Anu (tribe)|Anu]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="schmidt1980" />

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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Witzel|first=Michael|url=|title=The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity|publisher=De Gruyter|year=1995|isbn=978-3-11-081643-3|editor-last=Erdosy|editor-first=George|series=Indian Philology and South Asian Studies|location=|language=en|chapter=4. Early Indian history: Linguistic and textual parametres|doi=10.1515/9783110816433-009|chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110816433-009/html}}</ref><ref name=":3" />

=== Second phase ===
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.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" />

=== Aftermath ===
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.<ref name=":0" /> 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 [[Khandava Forest|Khāṇḍava Forest]] to the south, which was inhabited by the despised non-Indo-Aryan [[Kikata Kingdom|Kikatas]]<ref name=":0" />

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.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=Witzel|first=Michael|date=1997|title=The development of the Vedic canon and its schools: the social and political milieu|url=http://crossasia-repository.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/110/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-15|website=crossasia-repository.ub.uni-heidelberg.de|page=263, 267, 320|doi=10.11588/xarep.00000110}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

==Historicity==
Numerous translators since the 1800s including [[Karl Friedrich Geldner|K. F. Geldner]] have considered the battle as a historical event, based on the narration-characteristics of the verses.<ref name="schmidt1980">{{cite journal|last=Schmidt|first=Hans-Peter|date=March 1980|title=Notes on Rgveda 7.18.5–10|journal=Indica|volume=17|pages=41–47|issn=0019-686X}}</ref> Witzel dates the battle between approximately 1450 and 1300 BCE; he deems the concerned hymns to be late interpolations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Witzel|first=Michael|date=2000|title=The Languages of Harappa: Early Linguistic Data and the Indus civilization|url=http://crossasia-repository.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/120/|journal=|pages=37|doi=10.11588/xarep.00000120}}</ref>

[[Stephanie W. Jamison]] notes it to be the most famous historical conflict in RV, if it indeed secured the dominance of Bharatas over the Vedic tribes; however she warns against using it as a major source to reconstruct history since the description of the battle is "anything but clear".<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" /> 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.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" />

=== Mahabharata ===
Witzel notes this battle to be the probable archetype/prototype of the [[Kurukshetra War]], narrated in the [[Mahabharata]] (MbH).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Witzel|first=Michael|title=Recht, Staat und Verwaltung im klassischen Indien / The State, the Law, and Administration in Classical India|publisher=Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag|year=1997|isbn=978-3-486-59435-5|editor-last=Kölver|editor-first=Bernhard|chapter=Early Sanskritization Origins and Development of the Kuru State|doi=10.1524/9783486594355-005|chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1524/9783486594355-005/html}}</ref> [[John Brockington (Academic)|John Brockington]] takes a similar approach.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Hiltebeitel|first=Alf|title=Rethinking the Mahabharata: A Reader's Guide to the Education of the Dharma King|date=2001-10-30|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-34054-8|pages=2|language=en|chapter=Introduction}}</ref> S. S. N. Murthy goes to the extent of proposing the battle as the very "nucleus" of the [[Kurukshetra War]]; [[Walter Ruben (Indologist)|Walter Ruben]] adopts a similar stance.<ref name="Murthy 2016 pp. 1–15">{{cite journal | last=Murthy | first=S. S. N. | title=The Questionable Historicity of the Mahabharata | journal=Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies | volume=10 | issue=5 | date=8 September 2016 | issn=1084-7561 | doi=10.11588/ejvs.2003.5.782 | pages=1–15 | url=https://crossasia-journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/ejvs/article/view/782 | access-date=26 January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ruben|first=Walter|date=1977|title=KṚṢṆA, PARIS, AND SEVEN SIMILAR HEROES|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41691699|journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute|volume=58/59|pages=299|issn=0378-1143}}</ref> However, Witzel maintains the nucleus text of MbH 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.<ref name=":0" /> [[Alf Hiltebeitel]] rejects Witzel's and Brockington's arguments as "baffling fancy" and note a complete lack of means to "connect the Vedic Battle of the Ten Kings with the fratricidal struggle" of MbH.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hiltebeitel|first=Alf|date=2000-06-01|title=John Brockington, The Sanskrit Epics|url=https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003953706398|journal=Indo-Iranian Journal|language=en|volume=43|issue=2|pages=162|doi=10.1023/A:1003953706398|issn=1572-8536}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

== Legacy ==
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.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /> The Purus went on to survive as a marginal power in Punjab; Witzel and some other scholars believe [[Porus]] (c. early 300 BC) to be a king from the same tribe.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" />

==See also==
* [[Kurukshetra War]]
* [[Mahabharata]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Rigveda]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Indian kingdoms|the Ten Kings]]
[[Category:Wars by period]]

Battle of the Ten Kings - Revision history

>TrangaBellam at 14:27, 1 July 2021