Yayati- The Empire Builder
Among the ancient rulers of India, the name of Yayati (6587 B.C. /5969 B.C.) stands conspicuous as an empire builder and progenitor of various dynasties. Yayati the sixth in descendant from Manu was the son of Nahusha belonging to the lunar dynasty.
Soon after ascending the throne Yayati organised a very strong army and launched a campaign against the Asuras, defeated the Yakshas and made the Nagas accept his suzerainty. He conquered all territories west of Ayodhya and Kanyakubja and north-west as far as the River Sarasvathi as well as the countries west, south and south-west of Pratisthana (present Allahabad) which was his capital. He had the titles of Samrat and Sarvabhauma, both meaning Emperor. The Rigveda mentions Yayati as an ancient sacrificer and a seer of some hymns.
Jewel of the Lunar dynasty
Acclaimed as the ‘Jewel of the Lunar dynasty’, Yayati was a very powerful, popular and virtuous ruler and probably ruled for around fifty years. He had two chief queens, Sharmista, daughter of Asura king Vrishaparvan and Devayani, daughter of Sukracharya, the guru of the Asuras. Yayati had five sons, Yadu and Turvasa from Devayani and Druhyu, Anu and Puru from Sarmishta. Except Puru the youngest son, his other children who were impatient to rule revolted against Yayati but their revolt was put down by Yayati and the princesses were pardoned. Later Yayati declared Puru as his heir and he succeeded to his kingdom with capital at Pratisthana. Yadu got the region around south-west, Turvasa, the south-east, Druhyu the west and Anu the north of Puru’s territory. In this way five distinguished dynasties sprang up from the five sons of Yayati, all of whom are honoured in the Rigveda for their valour and munificent donations to the seers.
Mandhata, the first Samrat of Ancient India
The Ikshavaku dynasty also known as the solar dynasty ruling from Ayodhya produced a number of illustrious kings like Mandhata, Harishchandra, Sagara, Bhagiratha and Sri Rama . Though these kings ruled in the remote past they are remembered with reverence even to this day. Of these rulers Mandhatri or Mandhata through his accomplishment became the first ruler of this dynasty to earn the title Chakravarthi and Samrat.
Mandhata (5987 B.C./5369 B.C) was son of Yuvanashva and Gauri, the daughter of Matinara of the Pauravas. It is said that his mother died while giving birth to him and his father who loved her very much named his son as Matradhata meaning ‘killer of his mother’, which later probably came to be pronounced as Mandhata. Mandhata’s name figures among the sixteen celebrated monarchs of ancient India in the Puranic list called Sodasha Rajika. As his empire was so extensive, a verse mentions that as far as the sun rises and as far as he sets; all that is called Mandhata’s territory and hence even the earth was named after him as Mandhatra Kshetra.
His Campaigns
Mandhata on assuming power organized a strong army and led a series of expedition against his neighbouring kingdoms. The rulers of Kashi and Maithila and his uncle Tansu, the ruler of Prathisthan accepted his suzerainty. Other important rulers whom Mandhata vanquished were Janmejaya the king of Anavas, the Yadava king Sasabindu of Mahishamati and Marutta a king described as one of the five great emperors of ancient India and ruling over territory around North West India. The Asura kingdoms of Varshikha and Narmani were also subdued. Mandhata had a long war with the Druhyu king Angara who ruled over Punjab and finally killed him and conquered his kingdom. Angara’s son Gandhara accepted the suzerainty of Mandhata, moved towards North-West (Afghanistan) and gave his name to that region.
Incarnation of Vishnu
In ancient India a sovereign who conquered the surrounding kingdom and brought them under his control was conferred with the title Chakravarthi. Similarly, the king who conquered the whole of Bharatavarsha was celebrated as a Samrat. Mandhata possessed both these titles apart from considered as a fifth incarnation of Vishnu. He is said to have defeated a king named Indra and conquered his capital Amaravati situated near Manasarovar lake in Tibet. To commemorate this victory a hill near Manasarovar lake was named after him and even now known as Gurla Mandhata and is 7739 metres high. Mandhata is said to have performed Ashvamedha and Rajasuya yajnas and his name is also included in the list of kings who gained fame by their gifts of cattle. Mandhata’s reign marks the first great stage of the progress in complexity and popularity of the Vedic yajnas. Hence in later ages he was described as “the ornament of the krita yuga”; the first of the four great ages of history according to Hindus. Mandhata was also a hymn composer and was reckoned as a Rajarishi, one who exercised the functions of both of a Brahmana and Kshatriya. He was a just and virtuous ruler. When a 12 yearlong famine broke out in North-West India during his period, he took all possible steps to provide relief to the people and end their sufferings. Mandhata had married Bindumati the daughter of Sasabindu the Yadava king and had three sons, Purukutsa, Ambarisha and Muchukunda. The descendants of Ambarisha were known by the name Harita Brahmanas and were composers of hymns.
Mandhata met with a tragic end when while returning with his army through Mathura (Muttra) ruled by the Daithyas. Mandhata and his whole army were attacked by the Daithyas and exterminated to the last man and thus ended the glorious career of the greatest Indian monarch after a long reign of some 60 years.
Kartavirya Arjuna, the Sahasrabaahu
Kartavirya Arjuna (5587 / 4969 B.C.) was a great monarch belonging to the Haihaya dynasty. Son of Kartavirya he was called samrat and chakravartin. Sage Dattatreya, belonging to Atri family was his guru.
Kartavirya Arjuna who ruled for a long period raised the Haihaya power to preeminence. He extended his conquests from the mouth of the river Narmada as far as the Himalayas and captured Mahismati from the Karkotaka Nagas and made it his capital. He defeated, captured, imprisoned and later released Ravana a king from Deccan. (Ravana is a title and not to be confused with Ravana who fought with Rama of Ayodhya)
Kartavirya Arjuna had the epithet Sahasrabaahu as he had the power and strength to wield 500 bows together or a single bow equal to them. Another possible explanation may be as he possessed a 1000 oared ship or a fleet of 1000 ships which was built with the help of Dattatreya.
Kartavirya Arjuna’s conflict with the Bhrigus/Bhargavas
The Bhrigus/Bhargavas though belonging to the priestly class were great navigators, expert mariners and enterprising tradesmen who controlled the trade between India and the western world. They acted as intermediaries between Indians and foreigners such as Assyrians. They had amassed great wealth by helping foreigners at the cost of indigenous population. Arjuna wanted trade and commerce of Indian people under Indian control and did not like the Bhargavas who were the against of the foreigners. Arjuna’s effort at getting control of the sea trade by taking the help of Dattatreya who was an expert in ship building was an eyesore to the Bhargavas. This was the main reason of the Bhargava-Haihaya conflict.
Karkotaka Naga, Ravana and others who were defeated by Arjuna were seeking some opportunity to wreak vengeance on him. When Arjuna’s sons killed Jamadagni of the Bhargava family, his son Parushurama organised a confederacy of various kingdoms including Vaishali, Videha, Kashi, Kanyakubj and Ayodhya, fought the Haihayas on various battles and finally killed Arjuna.
Kartavirya Arjuna is described as an ideal monarch unparalled in penance, charities, learning and virtues; who conquered the whole world and ruled it with perfect justice.
Sagara- Restorer of Ikshavaku Fortunes
Sagara (5187/4569 B.C.) was one of the greatest rulers belonging to the Ikshavaku dynasty. He was born at a time when the fortunes of his dynasty was at its lowest ebb. His father Bahu (Asita) had to face the joint attack of the Haihayas and the Talajanghas who along with their allies from the north-west like the Yavanas, Kambojas, Paradas, Sakas, Pahlavas and Hunas captured Ayodhya. Bahu along with his two queens fled to a forest and died near the hermitage of sage Aurva. The sage prevented one of Bahu’s queen Yadavi who was pregnant from ascending the funeral pyre and took her to his hermitage. Bahu’s other queen out of jealousy had earlier poisoned Yadavi. But sage Aurva saved Yadavi and she delivered a baby boy. As the baby was born with poison, he was name Sagara (sa meaning with and gara meaning poison)
Recaptured Ayodhya
Sagara was educated by sage Aurva and when he reached adulthood, with the material assistance provided by Aurva defeated the Talajanghas and regained Ayodhya. He then extended the campaign and subdued all north India, marched south and crushed the Haihayas in their own territories and their capital Mahishmati was reduced to ashes. The foreign tribes who had allied with the Haihayas and helped them drove away Bahu from Ayodhya had settled down in Ayodhya and were called kshtriyas. They respected Brahmins, observed Brahmanical rites and rituals and had a member of the Vasishta family acting as their priest. After defeating the Haihayas, Sagara completely crushed the Shakas, Yavanas and other foreign tribes and was about to annihilate them. But on the intercession of sage Vasishta he spared their lives after imposing certain signs of symbolical defeat and disgrace and rendering them unfit for Vedic ceremonials.
Emperor of North India
Sagara had subjugated all contemporary powers and was the emperor of the whole of north India. The Vedic culture and sacrificial cult were introduced all over his domain. Sagara was very pious and popular and celebrated the Ashvamedha sacrifice. He had two queens, Sumati, daughter of Arishtanemi Kasyapa and Kesini. The latter was the daughter of Vidarbha, the Yadava king who sought peace with Sagara by offering his daughter to him and retired towards deccan into the country named after him. After ruling for over fifty years Sagara took to religious retirement. As his eldest son Asamanjas was cruel, his son Amshumant succeeded Sagara.
Initiated world’s greatest irrigational project
Sagara initiated a project to construct a channel to carry Ganga water to irrigate tracts in the eastern region of India. This channel more than thousand miles in length was one of the greatest irrigational works undertaken in the ancient world and involved the efforts of several generation of the rulers of Ayodhya like Sagara, Amshumant, Dilipa and Bhagiratha.
Bhagiratha, the originator of Ganga worship
Bhagiratha one of the successors of Sagara is included in the list of sixteen celebrated kings called Sodasha Rajika. Tradition makes him one of the five great emperors of ancient India. He was very pious, wise, learned, brave and kind. It is said that after Mandhata, India had not witnessed a more powerful king than Bhagiratha to whom bowed all the kings of India. He showed his greatness by not taking any tribute from them. He was famous for his charities and gave to all whatever they asked. Bhagiratha was a very popular king and had the titles of chakravartin and samrat. He was a devotee of Shiva and originator of the worship of river Ganga. The river Ganga is also named Bhagirathi in his honour.
Bharata, the Emperor who gave his name to our Country
Bharata (5067 B.C./ 4449 B.C.), the emperor who gave his name to our country was one of the greatest ruler of ancient India and whose achievements are extolled in Vedic literature. Belonging to the Paurava dynasty, he was the son of Dushyanta and Shakuntala. Even as a child he was able to seize and restrain wild animals and hence was named Sarvadamana by sage Kanva who was the guardian of his mother Shakuntala.
Bharata was a contemporary of Dilipa I, father of Bhagiratha of Ayodhya. As a ruler he was pious, affectionate to his people and hospitable to strangers and guests. He reigned in central Madhyadesha and his territory stretched from the river Saraswathi to the Ganges with Hastinapura as his capital. (One of Bharata’s successor Hastin enlarged the city and gave it his name). Bharata had the titles Chakravarti and Sarvabhauma. After conquering the whole territory of Indian sub continent, Bharata planted a flag atop mount Meru or Sumeru (now known as Kailasa). There he saw numerous such flags of world conquerors before him. This made him feel very insignificant and he took a diksha to attain nirvana.
In Vedic literature, the epics and the puranas, Bharata is represented as a universal ruler and a tireless performer of sacrifices. With sage Kanva’s aid he performed Ashwamedha, Vajapeya, Agnishtoma, Atiratra, Ukta, Ishti and Satra yagas, erected sacrifical pillars and gave rich gifts to priests including Kanva. The Vedic yajnas reached the climax of development under Bharata and a great number of Rishis lived in his times and the bulk of the Vedic mantras were composed.
Bharata had three wives and sons from them, all of whom had predeceased him. At the suggestion of his family priest Dirghatama, Bharata adopted a Brahmin by name Bharadvaja as his son (Dirghatama’s relative). Bharadvaja later consecrated his son by name Vitatha as the successor of Bharata. From this time onwards the Pauravas came to be called as Bharatas and their domain, as Bharata. There is a verse in Vishnu Purana which describes the territory of the Bharatas-
“Uttaram yatsamudrasya
Himadreshchaiva dakshinam
Varsham tad Bharatam nama
Bharati yatra santatih”
“The country that lies north of the ocean and the south of the snowy mountains is called Bharata; for there dwell the descendants of Bharata”
Bharatavarsha the domain of Bharata represented the ideal of great empires wherein prevailed social harmony, truth, knowledge, wealth and prosperity.
Sudasa the Hero of Dasharajna Battle
After the death of Ajamidha, son of Hastin (a descendant of Bharata and founder of Hastinapura), his eldest son Rksha continued to rule at Hastinapura and his two other sons, Nila and Brhadvasu became the rulers of the Krivi country (Panchala) dividing it into northern with capital at first at Ahichchatra and then at Chattravati and southern kingdom with capital at first at Kampilya and then at Makandi.
Sudasa, son of Cyavana/Paijavana was the thirteenth descendant of Nila and raised the dynasty to new heights. Both Cyavana and Sudasa extended their kingdom’s territory. They seem to have conquered both the Dvimidha dynasty (Dvimidha was the brother of Ajamidha who had founded a separate dynasty) and the south Panchalas as there appears to be gaps in the genealogical lists of the Dvimidha dynasty of that period. Sudasa drove the Paurava king Samvarana out of Hastinapura after defeating him on the banks of Yamuna. His conquests stirred up a confederacy of the neighbouring kings to resist him. Puru king Samvarana, the Yadava king of Mathura, the Sivas (Anavas), Druhyus (of Gandhara), Matsyas (west of Shurasena) Turvasha (the Turvasu prince apparently in Rewa) and other smaller states (the Pakhtas, the Alinas, the Bhalanas, the Shivis and the Vishnanins) formed a confederation against Sudasa who defeated them in a great battle near river Parusni (Ravi). Samvarana took refuge in a fortress near the river Sindhu for many years and later recovered his kingdom of Hastinapura with the aid of Vasishta.
The Dasharajna war has been described in the 18th, 33rd and 83rd hymn in Rig Veda mandala VII ascribed to sage Vasishta. Accordingly, the small army of Sudasa was almost to be routed as the enemy hosts hemmed in on all three sides with the river Parusni threatening in the rear. At that time Vasishta by his persuasive hymns made the river Parusni (Ravi) render herself shallow enough for the armies of Sudasa to cross over and by the time the enemies pursued the stream swelled to its original volume and velocity so that the rank and file of the enemy were simply washed down. The few who succeeded in swimming across were easily destroyed by Sudasa. About 6600 soldiers belonging to the Anus and Druhyus were killed in the war. Sudasa collected much booty and distributed it to his followers and favoured Vasishta with rich gifts. Some scholars say that Vishwamitra took side with the ten kings while Vasishta took the side of Sudasa. The reason for Vishwamitra to oppose Sudasa was because the latter had replaced Vishwamitra by Vasishta as his family priest. But this opinion has not been accepted as both Vishwamitra and Vasishta were entertained by Sudasa and two different occasions.
Some of the kings who fought against Sudasa in the Dasharajna war were the distant descendants respectively of Anu, Druhyu and the sons of Yayati. Druhyu, Turvasa, Shivi, Bharata were the titles of the descendants of the famous ancestors bearing those names. Of these, the chief titled as Druhyu opposed Sudasa and was drowned while Yadava and Turvasa submitted and the latter was killed. Sudasa having attained a victory over the ten kings became very haughty and this haughtiness became the cause of his downfall. The battle of ten kings which took place at a remote corner of India was an insignificant battle as compared with those described in the Ramayana and Mahabharata and as such could not form the subject of a historical epic although Vasishta and Vishwamitra who were directly concerned with it have preserved it in their poetical composition. Another probable reason for the authors of Rig Veda to insert the Dasharajna war in the text was because the vanquished were non-sacrificing kings who were converts to the new Zoroastrian faith. Sudasa also fought another battle on the banks of river Yamuna in which he defeated several tribes like Ajas, Shigrus and Yakshus who had united under king Bheda.
Rig Veda composed during Sudasa’s Period
Shrikant Talageri in his work Rig Veda, An Historical Analysis says that mandalas II to VII from the oldest core of the Rig Veda. Of these mandalas’, mandala III ascribed to Vishwamitra and mandala VII ascribed to Vasishta refers to Sudasa who had patronised both the seers at one time or the other. Besides Sudasa eleven kings of the Bharata dynasty are referred in the Rig Veda. Of these kings Mudgala, Vadhryasva, Divodasa, Srnjaya, Pijavana, Sudasa, Sahadeva and Somaka belong to the Northern Panchala dynasty. This means that the earliest composition of the Rig Vedic verses took place during the time of Sudasa as they have reference to him and the battle of ten kings. According to P. T. Srinivasa Iyengar, the hymns in Rig Veda which refers to Sudasa and the battle of ten kings were composed a few centuries before the Mahabharata war. R. K. Pruthi is of the opinion that the Dasharajna war occurred three or four generations after Rama. As Sudasa lived three generations after Sri Rama, the probable date which we can assign to Sudasa is 4107/3489 B.C. He was succeeded by his son (uncle?) Sahadeva.
Parikshit – The first ruler of Kali Age
When the Mahabharata War ended, Yudhishthira after ruling for some time abdicated the throne in favour of Arjunas grandson, Parikshit. The accession of Parikshit marks the beginning of the Kali Age. Born as a premature baby, he was the son of Abhimanyu and Uttara. He was well versed in the science of duties of the kings and was endowed with noble qualities. His kingdom extended from the river Saraswathi to the river Ganga and was divided into three parts; Kurujangala, the Kurus and Kurukshetra. The capital of his kingdom was Asandivant probably another name for Hastinapura. During his rule there was peace and prosperity in the kingdom. He was married to Madravati and had four sons namely Janamejaya III, Ugrasena, Bhimasena and Shrutasena.
The Nagas who had established themselves in Taksashila under their king Takshaka attacked Hastinapura and fighting against them Parikshit lost his life and was succeeded by his son Janamejaya III.
Janamejaya III, the destroyer of the Nagas
Janamejaya was a minor when he was installed as a king. To avenge his father’s death, he invaded Taksashila and slaughtered the Nagas in great number, but Takshaka managed to escape. For some time Janamejaya made Taksashila his head quarter. Later Sage Astika, whose mother was the sister of Vasuki, the king of Sarpas managed to bring about a treaty of mutual good will between king Janamejaya and the Nagas and Sarpas who had inhabited the country around the river Oxus and Jaxrates. Janamejaya performed a horse sacrifice and took the title ‘Sarvabhauma’. He had married Vapustama, daughter of Suvarnavarman, king of Kasi and had two sons, Shatanika and Shankukarna.
It was in the court of Janamejaya, Vaishampayana first recited the Bharata composed by his guru Veda Vyasa. After a quarrel with the Brahmana priests, Janamejaya was forced to abdicate his throne in favour of his son Shatanika and retire to the forest. After the Mahabharata war the power of the Brahmanas had increased and that of the kshatriyas had diminished.
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