Tribes in Ancient India c10.16

c10.16

The next Cedi monarch who appears to have acquired considerable power in the Epic period is Śiśupāla who is called Damaghoṣasuta (Mbh., I, 7029) or Damaghoṣātmaja (II, 1594; III, 516). He allied himself with the great Jarāsandha and on account of his heroism was appointed generalissimo of the Magadhan emperor.⁶ His conduct appears to have roused the displeasure of many of the Kṣatriya tribes of his time, but he was looked upon with such fear that he was considered as an incarnation of the great Daitya Hiraṇya-Kaśipu,⁷ and the Epic tells us that he bore a charmed colours like a deer.¹ The Cedi king along with Bhīma and others was placed in the front of the Pāṇḍava army.² He and his brother Suketu were killed in the Kurukṣetra war.³ Bhīma mentioned eighteen kings who by their great strength ruined their friends and relations, and among them was Sahaja of the Cedi dynasty.⁴ From the Aśvamedhaparvan of the *Mahābhārata*,⁵ we learn that Arjuna fought and defeated Sarabha, the son of Śiśupāla, at the city of Śukti in the kingdom of Cedi.