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Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c13.s2: The Videha Dynasty

Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c13.s2

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The Videha Dynasty

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This dynasty was descended from Ikṣvāku’s son Nimi (or Nemi)² who is called Videha,³ and so was a branch of the Solar race.⁴ It is given by five Puranas, and its early part down to Sīradhvaja by the Rāmāyaṇa.⁵ All are in substantial agreement down to Sīradhvaja, except that the Garuḍa, as mentioned above, omits the first two kings and makes Udāvasu of this dynasty son of Prasuśruta of Ayodhyā. The Puranas fairly agree about the rest of the genealogy, except that after Śakuni the Viṣṇu, Garuḍa and Bhāgavata insert twelve kings, Añjana to Upagupta, whom the Vāyu and Brahmāṇḍa omit. No doubt these three Puranas are right and the two latter have lost this portion, because the table of genealogies, with the synchronisms, shows that there must have been many more kings than the Vāyu and Brahmāṇḍa have.

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² Vā 88, 9; 89, 1, 3.

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³ Vā 89, 4. Bḍ iii, 64, 4. Viṣ iv, 5, 12.

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⁴ Gar i, 139, 1 says so expressly.

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⁵ Bḍ iii. 64, 1–24. Vā 89, 1–23. Viṣ iv, 5, 11–14. Gar i, 138, 44–58. Bhāg ix, 13. Rām i, 71, 3–20: but vii, 57, 18–20 gives a fabulous beginning.

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Kuśadhvaja was Sīradhvaja’s brother and was king of Sāṅkāśyā, as the Puranas generally say and also the Rāmāyaṇa.⁶ The Bhāgavata confuses the genealogy here, and gives Kuśadhvaja’s successors thus. Its account is supported by the Viṣṇu in a story about Keśidhvaja and Khāṇḍikya,⁷ and may be true.

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⁶ Rām i, 70, 2–3; 71, 14–16, 19. Bḍ iii, 64, 18–19 and Vā 89, 18 invert two lines and corrupt Sāṅkāśyā; they should read thus:—

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⁷ Viṣ vi, 6, 7 to 7, 104.

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Kuśadhvaja

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Dharmadhvaja

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| . . . . .
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Kṛtadhvaja Mitadhvaja

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Keśidhvaja Khāṇḍikya

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bhrātā Kuśadhvajas tasya Sāṅkāśyādhipatir nṛpaḥ
Sīradhvajāt tu jātas tu Bhānumān nāma Maithilaḥ.

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From the second king Mithi Janaka (whom the Rāmāyaṇa makes two) it is said the capital Mithilā was named,¹ and hence the kings were called Maithilas.² From him, too, the kings were also styled Janaka, and this was the family name, for he was the first king Janaka,³ and the Janakas are expressly mentioned as a family,⁴ and two Puranas conclude with the remark that with Kṛti ends the race of the Janakas.⁵ The kings were thus collectively ‘Janakas’, and many are individually so named, as Sīradhvaja,⁶ Dharmadhvaja,⁷ Janadeva,⁸ Daivarāti,⁹ Khāṇḍikya,¹⁰ and also Karāla¹¹ and Aindra-dyumni¹² (who are not named in the genealogy).¹³ The references to ‘Janaka’ in the brahmanical books do not therefore necessarily mean one and the same king, but the name is used generically there¹⁴ according to the brahmanical custom and lack of the historical sense, just as various Vasiṣṭhas and Viśvāmitras are mentioned merely as Vasiṣṭha and Viśvāmitra, and are sometimes confused as one Vasiṣṭha and one Viśvāmitra. Moreover, the brahmanical Bhāgavata says of these Maithilas generally that they were skilled in knowledge of the Ātman,¹⁵ so that it is erroneous to assume that only one Janaka is meant in the brahmanical books.

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¹ Bḍ iii, 64, 6. Vā 89, 6. ² Bḍ iii, 64, 24. Vā 89, 23. Viṣ iv, 5, 14. ³ Rām i, 71, 4, *prathamo Janako rājā*. ⁴ *Janakānāṁ kule*, Mārk 13, 11. *Janakānāṁ variṣṭha*, MBh iii, 133, 10637. *Janakas*, Rām i, 67, 8; Br 88, 24. *Janaka-rājāno bahavas*, Br 88, 22. ⁵ Vā 89, 23; Bḍ iii, 64, 24—*vaṁśo Janakānām*. ⁶ MBh iii, 273, 15880. ⁷ MBh xii, 322, 11855. Viṣ iv, 24, 54: vi, 6, 7. See table in chap. XXVII. ⁸ MBh xii, 218, 7883; 219, 7930; 321, 11839-40. See above table. ⁹ MBh xii, 312, 11545-6. ¹⁰ Viṣ vi. 5, 81; 6, 5, 8. ¹¹ MBh xii, 304, 11220; 310, 11504. Br 240, 5. ¹² MBh iii, 133, 10624. ¹³ Unnamed ‘Janakas’, MBh ii, 29, 1087: xii, 99, 3664-5; 292, 10699; 311, 11518-19; 328, 12260: xiii, 45, 2466. ¹⁴ Also Br 88, 2-3. Cf. ‘Pharaoh’. Weber conjectured this, *Hist. of Ind. Lit.*, p. 135. ¹⁵ ix, 13, 27 (and 20). Cf. Viṣ vi, 6, 7, 9; 7, 27 f.

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*The Vaiśāla Dynasty.*

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This dynasty was descended from Manu’s son Nābhānediṣṭha, and is given by seven Puranas, and also partially by the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata.¹ None of these works however carries the genealogy beyond Pramati or Sumati, who was the contemporary of Daśaratha, king of Ayodhyā, according to the Rāmāyaṇa.² Only four lists are complete, those in the Vāyu, Viṣṇu, Garuḍa and Bhāgavata. The others show various limitations or omissions: thus the Liṅga mentions only the first four kings; the Mahābhārata list is incomplete at the beginning, goes down only to Marutta, and wrongly inserts an Ikṣvāku; the Brahmāṇḍa omits from Prajāni to Avīkṣit, though Marutta was well known as son of Avīkṣit;³ the Mārkaṇḍeya narrates the doings of these kings at great length but only down to Rājyavardhana; and the Rāmāyaṇa begins the dynasty with Viśāla, wrongly calling him ‘son of Ikṣvāku’. Subject to these shortcomings the lists are in substantial agreement.

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¹ Bḍ iii, 61, 3–18; and 8, 35–7. Vā 86, 3–22. Lg i, 66, 53. Mārk 113 to 136, and 109 to 110. Viṣ iv, 1, 15–19. Gar i, 138, 5–13. Bhāg ix, 2, 23–36. Rām i, 47, 11–17. MBh xiv, 4, 65–86.

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² i, 47, 17, 20.

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³ MBh vii, 55, 2170: xii, 20, 613; 29, 910.

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No name is given to this dynasty or kingdom at first, but king Viśāla is said to have founded Viśāla or Vaiśālī as his capital, and thenceforward the kingdom was that of Vaiśālī, and the kings were styled Vaiśālaka kings.⁴ These names may conveniently be extended retrospectively to include the whole dynasty. The first two kings named are Bhalandana and Vatsaprī. Bhalandana is said to have become a vaiśya,⁵ and it is declared there were three vaiśya hymn-makers, Bhalandana, Vatsa or Vāsāśva (read Vatsaprī?) and Saṅkila.⁶ This Vatsaprī Bhālandana is the reputed author of Rigveda ix, 68, and probably x, 45 and 46. Accordingly some Puranas add that these vaiśyas became brahmans.⁷

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⁴ Vā 86, 17, 22. Bḍ iii, 61, 12, 17. Viṣ iv, 1, 18–19. Bhāg ix, 2, 33, 36. Gar i, 138, 13.

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⁵ Mārk 113, 36; 114, 2; 116, 3–4. Br 7, 26. Viṣ iv, 1, 15. Bhāg ix, 2, 23.

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⁶ Bḍ ii, 32, 121–2. Mat 145, 116–7.

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⁷ Br 7, 42. Hv 11, 658. Śiv vii, 60, 30.

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