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Tribes in Ancient India c14: Chapter X. The Uśīnaras

Tribes in Ancient India c14

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Chapter X. The Uśīnaras

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The Uśīnaras were an ancient, petty tribe dwelling to the north of the Kuru country.¹ The *Gopatha Brāhmaṇa* (II, 9) tells us that the Uśīnaras and Vasas (Vatsas) were regarded as northerners. In the *Ṛgveda* (X, 59, 10) the tribe is alluded to in a passage which refers to their queen Uśīnarāṇī. Pāṇini, the grammarian, also refers to the Uśīnara country.² The *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* contains a geographical passage (VIII, 14) which assigns the Kurus and Pañcālas, together with the Vasas and Uśīnaras, to the Middle Country, the later Madhyadeśa. In the *Kauśītakī Upaniṣad* (IV, 1) too, the Uśīnaras are associated with the Kuru-Pañcālas and the Vasas.

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¹ *Cambridge History of India*, Vol. I, p. 84.

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² *Sūtras*, II, 4, 20; IV, 2, 118.

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Zimmer thinks that the Uśīnaras earlier lived farther to the north-west. This theory is based on the fact that the *Anukramaṇī* of the *Ṛgveda* ascribes one hymn (X, 179) to Śivi Auśīnara; and that the Śivis were known to Alexander the Great’s followers as the Siboi, living between the Indus and Akesines (Chenab). The authors of the *Vedic Index*³ do not accept Zimmer’s view, and observe: ‘This is in no way conclusive, as the Sibis, at any rate in Epic times, occupied the land to the north of Kurukṣetra, and there is no reason whatever to show that in the Vedic period, the Uśīnaras were farther west than the Middle Country’. Pargiter,⁴ however, holds that Uśīnara and his descendants occupied the Punjab. Uśīnara established separate kingdoms on the eastern border of the Punjab, viz. those of the Yaudheyas, Ambaṣṭhas, etc., and his famous son Śivi Auśīnara originated the Śivis in Śivapura and, extending his conquests westwards, founded, through his four sons, the kingdoms of the Vṛṣadarbhas, Madras, Kekayas and Suvīras, thus occupying the whole of the Punjab except the north-west corner.⁵ According to tradition, King Uśīnara was descended from the Ānavas.⁶ He had five wives, Mṛgā, Kṛmi, Navā, Darvā and Dṛṣadvatī, who respectively had five sons, Mṛga, Kṛmi, Nava, Suvrata and Śivi. The city of Mṛga was Yaudheya; and the *Harivaṃśa* connects the Yaudheyas with Uśīnara.⁷

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³ Vol. I, p. 103.

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⁴ *Ancient Indian Historical Tradition*, p. 109.

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⁵ *Ibid.*, p. 264.

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⁶ *Ibid.*, p. 88.

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⁷ Pargiter, *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa*, p. 380.

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The story of Uśīnara’s offering to sacrifice himself for a pigeon, and his subsequently being granted a boon by Indra, is one of the favourites of Indian mythology, and is too well-known to repeat here.¹ In the *Śāntiparvan* of the *Mahābhārata*,² we read that Nārada said to Sañjaya: ‘Uśīnara Śivi was dead. He encircled the whole world like a skin’. Elsewhere in the same *parvan*³ it is stated that Uśīnara became the sole emperor of the world, a patent exaggeration.

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¹ Mbh., *Vanaparvan*, Chaps. 130, 131.

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² Chap. 29, 39.

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³ *Ibid.*, 40; and see 41-3.

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In the *Śrīmadbhāgavatam* we read that a famous king of Uśīnara named Suyajña was killed in battle.⁴

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⁴ Chap. II, śloka 28, 7th Skandha, p. 393.

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The Buddhist Jātakas refer more than once to King Uśīnara.⁵ For instance, in one Jātaka we read that there once reigned a king named Uśīnara. His people were wicked and followed unrighteousness. During his reign, the religion of the Buddha began to disappear. Sakka (Sakra) observed the miserable plight of the people, due to the decadence of the religion of the Buddha. He turned the god Mātali, his charioteer, into the shape of a huge black hound and entered the city with him. The people were terrified by the loud barking of the hound. Sakka said that it was hungry; but even when all the food in the city was given to the hound, it did not stop barking. The king said that it must be a goblin, not a hound. Sakka then explained that he had come with the hound to revive the religion of the Buddha, and thus to establish the people in the virtues of liberality.⁶

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⁵ See, e.g. Nimi Jātaka (Fausböll), VI, p. 99; and *Mahānāradakassapa Jātaka*, *ibid.*, Vol. VI, p. 251.

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⁶ Jātaka, (Fausböll), Vol. IV, pp. 181 foll.

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A mountain named Usīragiri or Usīraddhaja is referred to in the *Divyāvadāna* (p. 22) and elsewhere; and Dr. H. C. Ray Chaudhuri points out that this may be identical with the Uśīnaragiri mentioned in the *Kathāsaritsāgara* (Ed. Durgāprasād and Kāśīnāth, 3rd Edn., p. 5). Uśīnaragiri is placed near Kanakhala,⁷ and Usīraddhaja is mentioned in the *Vinaya Piṭaka*⁸ as forming the northern boundary of the Middle Country; accordingly, it is possible that the two are identical and associated with the Uśīnara country.

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⁷ *Political History of Ancient India*, 4th Ed., p. 55.

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⁸ Vinaya, I, p. 197 (Oldenberg).

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