The Dāśarājña Battle or Battle of Ten Kings
India’s Earliest Historical Battle and Its International Repercussions
[This is the power-point presentation used by me in my "Sangam Talks" talk on 15-5-2021, which will probably be uploaded on youtube by the "Sangam Talks" organizers hopefully in a day or two. I tried to upload the actual powerpoint but the process of uploading a powerpoint presentation on a blogspot was too complicated for me, so I converted the powerpoint pdf into a text document and then into a wordfile which I am uploading below.
For details please see the youtube video when it is uploaded (probably in two parts, since the talk itself was almost one and a half hours and the QA session which followed stretched from the scheduled 20 minutes to over one and a half hours].
What is the value of the Rigvedic data?
• The Rigveda is the oldest recorded text in the whole world.
With its 1028 hymns and 10552 verses it is a huge reservoir
of ancient data. But what is the value of this data? To what
extent can it help us to reconstruct or understand the
details of Vedic history?
• Today we have film songs, bhajans, abhangs and kritis
giving us the names of people rescued or helped by the
Gods or some particular God when in distress. We
immediately recognize the contexts behind these names,
with or often without the accompanying clues, because we
have the even older stories recorded in the Puranas, Epics
and other traditional texts to give us the details.
• But the Rigveda being the oldest text, there are no older
records giving us the details and contexts of the names
given in the text unless the Rigveda itself gives them, so we
are left clueless.
What actually is the Rigvedic data?
• The Rigvedic data consists of two types of references:
• 1. Names of people helped or rescued by the Aśvins when
they are in distress.
• 2. Names of enemies destroyed by Indra for the sake of
certain protagonists.
• But, except for the names, and often single clues, we do not
have any details to reconstruct any history from these
references. Most of these names and events have been
totally forgotten by the time the Puranas and even the later
Vedic texts were composed, and a few names which appear
in the later texts contain later fabricated stories having no
actual connection with the possible events of Rigvedic
times.
• So by and large the data has little practical historical value,
except the more detailedly recorded Bharata Pūru battles.
The Pūru Wars of Ancient pre-Buddhist
India - 1
• Everyone knows about the most famous historical war in
ancient pre-Buddhist India: the Mahābhārata war, fought
between two clans of the Kuru Bharatas, who were a
branch of the Pūrus, one of the great mega-tribes of
ancient India. Most of the then kingdoms of North India are
believed to have participated in this Great War.
• But very few know about much more ancient earlier battles
fought by other Bharata Pūrus in more ancient times and
recorded in the Rigveda: even later Vedic and Puranic texts
are blank about these events, which were not so crucial for
Indian history and tradition. But these battles were
extremely important events from the point of view of Indo-
European, and particularly Indo-Iranian, history and the
history of world civilization.
The Pūru Wars of Ancient pre-Buddhist
India - 2
• The Bharata Pūrus, who lived mainly in the Kurukṣetra area
in Haryana, were a sub-tribe of the Pūrus. The Bharata Pūru
wars of the Rigveda spanned many generations of kings of a
clan descended from ancestral Bharata, and including many
important kings like Devavāta, Sṛñjaya, Divodāsa, Sudās,
Sahadeva and Somaka.
• Many generations separated Sudās from the earlier and
later kings.
• The Rigveda in its Old Books (Books 6,3,7,4,2) was a Book of
the Bharata Pūrus, and later, by the time of the New Books
(Books 5,1,8,9,10) it was a book of Pūrus in general, and the
kings of this dynasty were the heroes and protagonist kings
of the Old Books.
The Pūru Wars of Ancient pre-Buddhist
India - 3
• The Rigveda describes many battles, but the references to
them are so vague, ambiguous and skimpy that we cannot
derive any definite historical data from them.
• However the battles fought by the Bharatas at the time of
Sṛñjaya, Sudās and Sahadeva-Somaka stand apart because
they form a very important trans-generational continuum
of events which led to the emigration of the last four
(Iranian, Armenian, Greek and Albanian) of the twelve
branches of Indo-European (Aryan) languages from the
Original Proto-Indo-European Homeland in North India.
• 46% of the world speaks Indo-European languages as a first
language alone. The records of these battles in the Rigveda
provide us with the only recorded evidence in the world of
the Indo-European Homeland and Migrations.
The Pūru Wars of Ancient pre-Buddhist
India - 4
• These historical battles were:
• 1. The Battle of Hariyūpīyā in Haryana at the time of
Sṛñjaya.
• 2. The Battle of Ten Kings in the Punjab, the most important
of the numerous battles of Sudās.
• 3. The Vārṣāgira Battle in Afghanistan at the time of
Sahadeva and Somaka.
• These battles are important because they show the
progressive westward shifting of the battle lines between
the Bharata Pūrus (the Vedic Aryans) and the Anus (mainly
the Proto-Iranians) from Haryana to Afghanistan as the
Proto-Iranians emigrated out of India. The first battle stands
out since in the earliest period the two are still allies against
other tribes to their south.
First: Who are the "Vedic Aryans"?
• To understand Vedic history, we must first get out of
the false belief that the Rigveda, the oldest Vedic text,
is the ancestral text of all the people of India. It is not.
• It is a text of the Pūrus. In the period of the Old Books
(Books 6,3,7,4,2), it was a text of the Bharata Pūru sub-
tribe of the Pūru tribal conglomerate. Later in the
period of the New Books, it became a more general
Pūru book.
• The Pūrus were just one of the many Indo-European
tribal conglomerates of North India. They were settled
in Haryana and western and central Uttar Pradesh. The
Bharata Pūrus were the sub-tribe who lived in Haryana.
Other Pūru groups lived to their east.
Second: Who are the "Other" or non-
Vedic Indo-Europeans of North India?
• The other non-Vedic Indo-Europeans of North India were:
• 1. The Yadus (in the west) and the Turvasus (in the east) to
the south of the Pūrus: in southwestern U.P. and areas
south (their different sub-tribes extending perhaps up to
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra).
• 2. The Anus to the north and west of the Pūrus (in the
Punjab and areas further north) and the Druhyus (in
northwestern Punjab and further areas).
• 3. The Ikṣvākus to the east of the Pūrus in northeastern U.P
and Bihar.
• Further east and south were the Austric and Dravidian
language speaking people.
The Hariyūpīyā Battle
• This, the first of the historical Bharata-Pūru battles took
place in Haryana during the time of Sṛñjaya (the father of
Divodāsa). It is described in Book 6, in hymn VI.27.
• This battle took place on the banks of the Yavyāvatī and
Hariyūpīyā, two sister tributaries of the Sarasvatī.
• The Turvasus and the Yadus (Vṛcīvants) appear to have
invaded up to Haryana, and the Bharata Pūrus (under
Sṛñjaya) and their western neighbours the Anus (under the
Pārthava king Abhyāvartin Cāyamāna) jointly defeated the
Turvasus and Yadus.
• This battle is important only because it shows that in the
early period, the Bharata Pūrus and the Anus were allies, in
contrast to the situation in later times. Also it explains early
references to Haryana (Lake Manusha) in the Avesta.
The Battles of Sudās- 1
• Book 3 of the Rigveda (the book of the Viśvāmitras)
describes the commencement of the military activities of
the Bharata Pūru king Sudās, who comes many generations
after Divodāsa.
• 1. Hymn III.33 shows the Bharata Pūrus under Sudās
expanding westwards, crossing the Vipāś and Śutudrī
rivers.
• 2. Hymn III.53 describes a great yajña undertaken by the
Viśvāmitras for Sudās, after which a horse is released so
that Sudās can conquer "east, west and north" and gain
riches.
• However, specific battles and victories are not mentioned.
It is possible that this failure to achieve concrete results
induced Sudās to replace Viśvāmitra with Vasiṣṭha as his
priest.
The Battles of Sudās- 2
• The saga continues in Book 7 (the book of the Vasiṣṭhas).
hymns 18, 33 and 83 are the main hymns dealing with the
battles of Sudās, with supplementary references in hymn
19, and post-battle references in hymns 5 and 6.
• The hymns deal with Sudās’ battles in the east (mainly
around the banks of the river Yamunā) and his Great Battle,
the dāśarājña, in the west on the banks of the river
Paruṣṇī, the third and central river of the Punjab.
• It will be noticed that while the enemies on the east are
tribes recognizable as purely Indian even in the post-
Rigvedic scenario or by name, the enemies on the west are
not: the western ones in sharp contrast are tribes
identifiable with Iranian and other people of later times:
the linguistic ancestors of the Iranians, Armenians, Greeks
and Albanians.
The Eastern Opponents of Sudās-1
• The Battle Hymn VII.18 refers to the eastern as well as
the western battles of Sudās. The eastern battles are
referred to mainly in VII.18-20 and also in verses 6 and
13.
• Verse 19 makes it clear these battles took place on the
Yamunā .
• The enemies in these eastern battles are Bheda (18),
Bheda, Ajas, Śigrus and Yakṣus (19), Devaka
Manyamāna (20), Turvaṣa, Yakṣu and Matsya (6) and
perhaps also the ambiguous reference to Pūrus (13).
• It will be seen that these eastern names are very much
Indian even in post-Rigvedic times and are not
connected with the names of latter day Iranian or
other Indo-European tribes.
The Eastern Opponents of Sudās-2
• In short, the eastern opponents of Sudās were the Yadus,
Turvasus and the eastern (non-Bharata) Pūrus:
• 1. The Turvaṣas are directly mentioned (verse 6).
• 2. The Yadus are mentioned indirectly by a pun on the name
as Yakṣus (verses 6, 19). The Yadus and Turvasus are almost
always found together, and the word Yakṣu is identified by
Witzel as a pun on Yadu.
• 3. The Matsyas (verse 6) are clearly an eastern Pūru sub-
tribe, identifiable as the people (in all traditional historical
references) of the kingdom of Matsya on the Yamunā.
• The Ajas, Śigrus and Bheda and Devaka Manyamāna are not
exactly identifiable, but the words are certainly found in
later Sanskrit with other meanings. They may well be other
sub-tribes and kings of the Yadus, Turvasus and the eastern
(non-Bharata) Pūrus.
The Western Opponents of Sudās-1
• VII.83.1 names Dāsas, the Pṛthus/Pārthavas and Parśus/Parśavas
among the opponents of Sudās. All the others are named in hymn
VII.18:
• Verse 5: Śimyus.
• Verse 6: Bhṛgus, Druhyus.
• Verse 7: Alinas, Pakthas, Bhalānas, Śivas, Viṣāṇins.
• Verse 8. Kavi Cāyamāna.
• Verse 11. Vaikarṇas.
• Verse 12. Kavaṣa, Druhyu.
• It will be seen that all these names (mostly missing in later Indian
literature) are identifiable with the names of later historical Iranian,
Armenian, Greek and Albanian tribes, or are found in the Iranian
Avesta.
• Their exodus westward is referred to in VII.5.3 and VII.6.3.
The Western Opponents of Sudās-2
• Iranian tribes of Later Times:
• Afghanistan (in Avesta): Sairima (Śimyu), Dahi (Dāsa), Vaēkərəta
(Vaikarṇa).
• NE Afghanistan: Nuristani/Piśācin (Viṣāṇin).
• Pakhtoonistan (NW Pakistan), South Afghanistan: Pakhtoon/Pashtu
(Paktha).
• Baluchistan (SW Pakistan), SE Iran: Bolan/Baluchi (Bhalāna).
• NE Iran: Parthian/Parthava (Pṛthu/Pārthava).
• SW Iran: Parsua/Persian (Parśu/Parśava).
• [NW Iran: Madai/Mede (Madra): an Anu tribe not actually named
in the battle hymn].
• Uzbekistan: Khiva/Khwarezmian (Śiva).
• W. Turkmenistan: Dahae (Dāsa).
• Ukraine, S. Russia: Alan (Alina), Sarmatian (Śimyu).
The Western Opponents of Sudās-3
• Thraco-Phrygian/Armenian tribes of Later Times:
• Turkey: Phryge/Phrygian (Bhṛgu).
• Romania, Bulgaria: Dacian (Dāsa).
• Greek Tribes of Later Times:
• Greece: Hellene (Alina).
• Albanian/Illyrian Tribes of Later Times:
• Albania: Sirmio/Sirmium (Śimyu)
• Avestan Names:
• Kaoša (Kavaṣa the "old" priest of the Anu coalition and)
Kauui (Kavi the king leader of the Anu coalition).
The Western Opponents of Sudās-4
• All these tribes, located in the Punjab at the time of the
Dāśarājña, are found later spread out in a continuous belt
from the Punjab westwards to southeastern and eastern
Europe.
• They are all names found in just six verses from two hymns
out of the 1028 hymns and 10552 verses of the Rigveda, all
these names pertaining to a single historical event. They
cannot all be coincidentally cognate names.
• The above named historical Iranian tribes (particularly the
Alans and Sarmatians) include the linguistic ancestors of
almost all other prominent historical and modern Iranian
groups not named above, such as the Scythians (Sakas),
Ossetes and Kurds, and even the presently Slavic-language
speaking (but formerly Iranian-language speaking) Serbs,
Croats, Bulgarians and others.
The Western Opponents of Sudās-5
• We also see here an important historical phenomenon of
the trail of names: the tribal group which migrates furthest
retains its linguistic identity, while those of that tribe who
remain behind, or on the way, get linguistically absorbed
into the surrounding linguistic group:
• 1. Anu Alina, Iranian Alan, Greek Hellene.
• 2. Anu Śimyu, Avestan Sairima, Iranian
Sarmaha/Sarmatian, Albanian Sirmio/Sirmium.
• 3. Anu Bhṛgu/Atharvan, Iranian Athravan, Thraco-Phrygian
Bryge/Phryge.
• 4. Anu Madra, Iranian Mada.
• 5. Anu Dāsa, Avestan Dahi, Iranian Dahae, Thraco-Phrygian
Dacian.
The Vārṣāgira Battle-1
• This, the last of the historical Bharata-Pūru battles, took
place in Afghanistan during the time of Sahadeva and
Somaka (later descendants of Sudās), described or referred to in
Books 1 and 4: in hymn I.100 and in verse IV.30.18. Somaka
and Sāhadeva are also referred to in hymn IV.15.
• The importance of this battle is:
• 1. It represents the culmination of the Bharata Pūru
westward thrust.
• 2. It is also a battle recorded and remembered on both
sides, in the Rigveda as well as in the Iranian records (in the
Avesta and even in the far later traditions recorded in the
Shahnameh).
• 3. Its continuity with the Dāśarājña is reconfirmed by the
reference to the Śimyus (VII.18.5 and I.100.18), who are
not referred to anywhere else in any Vedic or later record.
The Vārṣāgira Battle-2
• Unlike the Dāśarājña references, the Vārṣāgira references
do not give details of the names of the proto-Iranian or Anu
enemies, except the Śimyus (I.100.18). But they name Arṇa
and Citraratha (IV.30.18) as enemies killed beyond the
Sarayu, and they are both emphatically described as
"āryas": i.e. they were Bharata Pūrus who had joined up
with the opponents.
• The five heroes of the hymns are Ṛjrāśva, Sahadeva,
Surādhas, Ambarīṣa and Bhayamāna (I.100.17).
• Another important word in this battle is grāma (I.100.10)
which is a special name for the troops of the Vārṣāgiras
(the five "heroes" named in I.100.17).
• As many of these "names" are cryptic, a little analysis is
required to decipher them, but with clear clues from the
Rigveda and the Iranian records.
The Vārṣāgira Battle-3
• 1. Arṇa and Citraratha are recorded as "aryas" (i.e.
Bharata Pūrus) who fought from the enemy side.
• Curiously, the Avesta records an Indo-Aryan hero who
fought on the Iranian side: Manušciθra. The Pahlavi
texts describe him as being born near the Manusha of
Yasht 19.1, i.e. in Haryana. According to the Cambridge
History of Iran, his name "means 'from the race of
Manu', and refers to the ancient mythical figure,
History of Iran, his name "means 'from the race of
Manu', and refers to the ancient mythical figure,
Manu, son of Vivasvant, who was regarded in India as
the first man and founder of the human race. He has
no place in Iranian tradition, where his role is played
by Yima and later Gayōmard".
• Farvardīn Yasht 131 refers to him as "(Manuš)ciθra,
son of Airyu": in the Rigveda Citra(ratha) son of Arṇa.
The Vārṣāgira Battle-4
• 2. Ṛjrāśva is directly identifiable. The Iranian traditions
distinctly remember the main leader of the Turanian
(enemy) side in the conflict: the leader is Arəjəţ.aspa
(in later texts, Arjāspa). Clearly, this is Ṛjrāśva.
• 3. Sahadeva is also clearly identifiable. The Shahname
(chapter 462) records another main companion or
brother of Arəjəţ.aspa who led his troops from the
rear: Hushdiv. Clearly this is Sahadeva (whose
equivalent name in the Avestan language would be
Hazadaeva, which becomes Hushdiv in the late
Shahname).
The Vārṣāgira Battle-5
• 4. Surādhas is more cryptic, but equally definite: it is clearly
a family nickname for Sudās (meaning "bountiful", the
same meaning as Sudās) and his descendants, and in this
case since Sahadeva is already named it must stand for
Somaka:
• a. In all the six family books (2-7) this word is found only in
two hymns: III.33 and 53: exactly the two hymns in Book 3
which deal with the battles of Sudās, and thrice in Book 4,
the book of Somaka Sāhadevya: IV.2.4; 5.4; 17.8.
• b. The Avesta (Aban Yašt 113) refers to Arəjəţ.aspa along
with his brother Humayāka who is referred to as the
"worshipper of the Daevas". Clearly this is Somaka.
• c. Parsi scholar E. Sheheriarji also connects up Surādhas
with Humayaka on the ground that both mean "one with
much wealth".
The Vārṣāgira Battle-6
• 5. Ambarīṣa and Bhayamāna are not found in similar
forms in the Iranian records, and are therefore not so
immediately identifiable in the Iranian records.
[Ambarīṣa is an Ikṣvāku family name, and as the
northwestern branch of the Ikṣvākus were allies of the
Bharata Pūrus, it is possible that they were
northwestern Ikṣvākus, but that is irrelevant here].
• But, for what it is worth, E. Sheheriarji identifies them
with two other family members of Arəjəţ.aspa:
Vidarafshnik, a brother of Arəjəţ.aspa, and
Vandaremaini, father of Arəjəţ.aspa (who is named in
the Aban Yašt 116 with Arəjəţ.aspa) on the grounds
that Ambarīṣa and Vidarafshnik both mean "the one
with beautiful garments", and Bhayamāna and
Vandaremaini both mean "the fearless one".
The Vārṣāgira Battle-7
• 6. Finally the word grāma: the name for the troops of
the Bharata Pūrus. This word is found only twice in the
Old Books of the Rigveda (2,3,4,6,7): in III.33.1 it refers
to the Bharata Pūru troops under Sudās. In II.12.7 it is
found in its later, new and present meaning of "village".
In the New Books (1,5,8,9,10) it is found 10 times as
"village" and it is only in I.100.10 that it is used for the
Bharata Pūru troops of Sahadeva and his companions.
• In the oldest part of the Avesta, Zarathushtra (in Yasna
32.12-14) refers to the grәhma as the most powerful
and persistent of his enemies.
• The Vārṣāgira battle is thus recorded in both the
Rigveda as well as the Iranian records.
Parthian kings: Haryana to Afghanistan
• The ancient Parthians seem to have been the leaders of the
Iranians in their earliest times:
• 1. In the oldest book of the Rigveda, book 6, the leader of
the proto-Iranian Anus is Abhyāvartin Cāyamāna, a
Pārthava (Parthian) in Haryana.
• 2. In book 7, the leader of the all-Anu (proto-Iranian)
coalition is Kavi Cāyamāna, in the Punjab.
• 3. In the Avesta, the Royal Dynasty of the Iranians is the
Kauuiiān dynasty (descended from Kauui), in Afghanistan.
• In later times, it is the Parthians who claimed that the
Kauuiiān dynasty of the Avesta were a Parthian dynasty.
• The emigration of the Iranians from the borders of Haryana
to the mountains of Afghanistan, long before they entered
Iran and Central Asia, is therefore a matter of record.
The Bigger Picture-1
• The Rigveda and other Vedic texts and the Puranas and
Epics refer to countless battles and wars. Most of them
were local affairs and did not leave detailed traditional
memories in the Indian psyche. The Bharata Pūru battles
were just such battles, which did not leave details beyond
the few hymns and verses which deal with them, and were
therefore forgotten by Indian tradition.
• However, they are extremely important to us in the modern
context, particularly the Dāśarājña and the Vārṣāgira
battles, because they provide us with actual recorded
details about extremely crucial ancient events, and help us
to solve the biggest historical mystery of all time: the
problem of the Original Homeland and the migrations of
the speakers of the Indo-European ("Aryan") family of
languages (which are today first languages to 46% of the
population of the world).
The Bigger Picture-2
• As per the linguistic analysis of the Indo-European languages, there
are twelve known branches which were settled in and around the
Original Homeland (wherever it was) until roughly around 3000 BCE
after which they started emigrating out of the Homeland.
• The Anatolian (Hittite) and Tocharian branches in that order were
the first two to emigrate.
• The next to emigrate were the five "European" or "northwestern"
branches: Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Baltic and Slavic.
• Finally only the five "Last Branches" were left in the Homeland:
Albanian, Greek, Armenian/Thraco-Phrygian, Iranian and Indo-
Aryan (Vedic).
• This linguistically arrived-at paradigm is found actually recorded in
the names of the tribes in the Battle of Ten Kings in the Rigveda,
where all the tribes in the battle belong to these very same five
"Last Branches" , thus settling the issue of the geographical location
of this Original Homeland once and for all.
The Bigger Picture-3
• There were three streams of migrations of the Indo-
European tribes and branches from India:
• 1. The events of the Bharata-Pūru battles led to the Third
Great Migration of the Four (Anu) Last Branches: Albanian,
Greek, Armenian and Iranian westwards through
Afghanistan into West Asia and beyond.
• 2. The first Early Migrations were of the Anatolian and
Tocharian branches which migrated northwards from
Afghanistan into Central Asia and settled down there for
many centuries (Tocharian till it became extinct) in the
western and eastern parts of Central Asia: they are
remembered in later Puranic traditions as the Uttara-
Madra and Uttara-Kuru respectively.
• Detailed and conclusive evidence on all the migrations are
given in greater detail in my books and blogs.
The Bigger Picture-4
• 3. The Second Great Migration of the Druhyu tribes,
linguistic ancestors of the five European Branches (Italic,
Celtic, Germanic, Baltic and Slavic) took place in the pre-
Rigvedic period.
• The early stage of these migrations are actually recorded in
the Puranic traditions (Vāyu P. 99.11-12; Brahmāṇḍa P.
III.74-11-12, Matsya P. 48.9; Viṣṇu P. IV.17.5; Bhāgavata P.
IX.23.15-16). The tribes migrated northwards from
Afghanistan into Central Asia. Later on, they migrated
northwestwards all the way to Europe.
• Remnants of the Druhyus are still found as western allies of
the Anus in the Dāśarājña Battle. But later they fade away
from the pages of traditional Indian history.
• The priestly class of the Druhyus (the Celtic Druids) are
remembered as enemy priests in the Rigveda and Avesta.
The Bigger Picture-5
• In sum, it is impossible to arrive at a correct understanding
of Rigvedic history without understanding that Vedic
culture and religion were not the ancestral culture or
religion of the whole of India but only of the Pūrus. There
was a type of religion common to the Druhyus, Anus and
Pūrus, consisting of ritual fire worship (yajñas, etc.), nature
worship and the composition, memorization and recitation
of hymns.
• As the Pūru culture spread over India, all the religions of
India merged together into what we call Hinduism today:
the Vedic culture of the Pūrus, the nature religions of the
Yadus, the philosophical systems of the Ikṣvākus, the
tantric systems of the east, the idol culture and temple
culture of Central and South India, etc.
The Bigger Picture-6
• The most important aspect of the data on the Bharata Pūru
battles in the Rigveda is that it provides direct recorded
evidence that the PIE Homeland from where the Last
Branches emigrated was North India.
• This location of the Homeland (the OIT) is further proved
independently and equally conclusively by:
• 1. An examination of all the Linguistic evidence.
• 2. The datable evidence of the recorded Mitanni material in
West Asia which proves that the Rigveda goes back to
beyond 3000 BCE in Haryana.
• 3. An examination of the fake and fraudulent "genetic"
evidence claimed by fraudulent geneticists.
• But these are independent subjects not part of the subject
of this particular talk
