The traditional learning is that India was called Bhārata,
which was the name of the son of Dhushyanta and Shakuntala and one of the early
monarchs. But Dr. Mugda Gadgil of Bhandarkar Oriental Institute says in her
scholarly lecture that the name Bhārata is mentioned in the Rg Veda and
was the name of a clan.
Prof. Gadgil goes on to describe a war mentioned in the Rg
Veda called the Dasharajna war, or the War of Ten Kings. It was probably the
earliest record of a war in the history of India. Since this is in Rg Ved, this
war probably took place several decades or centuries earlier than 1,500 BCE.
Prof. Gadgil says that in the ancient literature, when they say “ten”, they
usually mean several and not exactly ten.
One conclusion that can be made by the passages in the Rg
Veda is that there was a king by name Sudas, in the family of Paijavana. He
belonged to the Bharata clan. There was a war on the banks of the river
Purushni, which is now called Raavi, involving many kings whose names are mentioned
in various passages. King Sudas was the ultimate winner and established one of
the earliest mini empires in an area which is now in Pakistan. Since he was
from the Bharata clan, the country was named Bharatavarsha.
It is interesting to note that reference to this war and to
the names of kings are mentioned in two books from the Rg Veda. One is in Book
3 and another one, more elaborate, is in Book 7. Book 3 is attributed to
Vishwamitra and Book 7 to Vasishta. Interesting, isn’t it?
Prof. Gadgil presents the actual passages from the Rg Veda
on the screen and gives the meaning. She also summarizes the views of many
scholars on the passages. Given that the text is ancient and, we do not even
know the contexts, customs and motives of people involved, our speculations are
just that – speculations. But there is no doubt about the name of the King and
the war.
When I read the entire Maha Bharata and also visited
Kurukshetra, I got the feeling that there probably was a major conflict in that
part of India several centuries back and the book is a chronicle written much
later based on anecdotes and storytelling passed on from generation to
generation.
Making gods out of participants of the event might have been
from the imagination of our ancestors who wanted to instill bhakti in the minds
of the people or because in those times kings were considered to be earthly
representatives of the heavenly gods. In the process they teach us moral
values, ethics and customs. They also
show that Dharma is complex and has to be applied in context.
No comments:
Post a Comment