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Tribes in Ancient India c16: Chapter XII. The Trigarttas

Tribes in Ancient India c16

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Chapter XII. The Trigarttas

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The earliest mention of the Trigarttas to which a fairly definite date can be assigned is made in the *Aṣṭādhyāyī* of Pāṇini, the celebrated grammarian, who flourished in the middle of the sixth century B.C. at the latest. Besides a direct reference to the tribe or country of the Trigarttas in a certain Sūtra,¹ there are indirect references to the tribe in at least two other Sūtras, according to the scholiast on Pāṇini. In ‘*na prācya Bhargādi Yaudheyādibhyaḥ*’ (Sūtra IV, 1, 178) *Bhargādi* is said to stand for the regions (*janapada*) of the Bhargas, Karūṣas, Kaśmīras, and Śālvas, whereas *Yaudheyādi* is taken to include the country or tribe of the Trigarttas as well as of the Yaudheyas (see chap. on Yaudheyas). The other reference to ‘*Yaudheyādi*’ is in Sūtra, V, 3, 117, which mentions the Yaudheyas (and Trigarttas implicitly) as forming an ‘*Āyudha-jīvī Saṃgha*’. We may infer, then, that the Trigarttas, like the Yaudheyas, were a Kṣatriya tribal republic depending mainly on arms. This close association of Trigarttas and Yaudheyas probably means that their territories were contiguous.

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¹ V, 3, 116: Dāmanyādi Trigarttaṣaṣṭhāchaḥ.

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In the *Mahābhārata*, also, these two tribes are often associated, both having rallied on the side of Duryodhana.² Two Trigartta heroes famous as Saṃsaptakas (bound by an oath to kill others) seem to have played an important part in the Kurukṣetra war.³ The Trigarttas along with the Śālvas, Ambaṣṭhas, and other tribes were included in the army of Bhīṣma.⁴ In the course of the war the Trigarttas seem to have had a hard fight with Nakula, the fourth Pāṇḍava,⁵ while on another occasion their King Suśarmā fought a stiff battle with Arjuna.⁶ As a result of the war, the Trigarttas along with the Kaśmīras, Mālavas, Śivis, Yaudheyas, Ambaṣṭhas, and other tribes were totally defeated, and they all paid homage to Yudhiṣṭhira.⁷

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² *Sabhāparvan*, Canto 52, 14-15; *Droṇaparvan*, Canto 18, 16.

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³ *Udyogaparvan*, Canto 57, 18. Before the actual war, five Trigartta brothers acted as agents of Duryodhana in harassing the Pāṇḍavas while they were living incognito in the Virāṭa country (*Udyogaparvan*, Canto 165, 9).

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⁴ *Bhīṣmaparvan*, Canto 20, 10, 12, 15; Canto 81, 3; Canto 82, 13.

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⁵ *Ibid.*, Canto 72, 7.

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⁶ *Ibid.*, 96, 17; 102, 22; 104, 8.

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⁷ *Sabhāparvan*, 34, 7-12; 52, 14-15.

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The Trigarttas, as described in the *Mahābhārata*, seem to have been a Punjab tribe. This is borne out not only by Hemachandra’s *Abhidhānacintāmani*,¹ which speaks of Trigartta and Jālandhara (modern Jullundur) as synonymous, but also by a reference in the *Rājataranginī* (V, 144), which implies that the tribe inhabited a region not far from Kashmir. Epigraphic evidence² as well points to the fact that modern Jullundur was the ancient Trigartta country. In the Purāṇas,³ the Trigarttas are reckoned among the mountain tribes. Cunningham identifies the Trigartta country with Kangra, which is situated in Jullundur between the mountains of Chamba and the upper course of the Beas.⁴ ‘Trigartta’ is interpreted to be the land watered by the three rivers,—the Ravi, the Beas, and the Sutlej.⁵ It is also explained as the country of the three strongholds, and is identified by some scholars with the modern hill-state of Kotoch, which is still called ‘Trigartaka Mulk’, or the region of the Trigarttas (Prof. Johnson’s *Selections from the Mahābhārata*, p. 64, f.n. 8).⁶

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¹ IV, 24—‘Jālandharās-trigarttāḥ syuḥ’.

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² *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. I, pp. 102, 116.

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³ *Mārkaṇḍeya P.*, 57, 57; *Matsya P.*, 114, 56. The *Brahmapurāṇa* (14, 46) refers to a daughter, Jijñāsā by name, of a certain Trigartta king, who was married to Śiśirāyaṇi.

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⁴ Cunningham, A.S.R., V, p. 148; cf. *Br̥hatsaṃhitā*, Chap. 14; also Stein’s *Rājataranginī*, Vol. I, p. 81.

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⁵ Cunningham, A.S.R., V, p. 148.

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⁶ According to Nundolal Dey, North Canara was also called Trigartta in ancient times (*Gokarṇa-Bhāgavata*, X, Chap. 79).

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The Trigartta tribe or country (*janapada*) is also mentioned in the *Daśakumāracaritam* in connection with Mitragupta’s travels.⁷

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⁷ B.S.S., p. 108.

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Not very much is known of the authentic political history of Trigartta, but it seems certain that from about 700 to 1150 A.D., the country was practically a dependency of one or other of the Kashmir dynasties. From the *Rājataranginī* (V, 130-50), for instance, we learn that Kārkoṭa Sankaravarman, King of Kashmir (c. 883-902 A.D.), set out on a series of expeditions to recover the lost possessions of his father Avantivarman. Then Prthvicandra, King of Trigartta, who had previously given his son Bhavacandra as a hostage, came towards Sankaravarman to do homage; but fearing capture, fled far away. Kalhaṇa’s description does not show that Trigartta was actually conquered, and Stein is probably right in assuming that no material success was achieved by Sankaravarman in the hills, east of the Ravi. The Trigartta country is said to have acknowledged the supremacy of the King of Kashmir during the reign (in Kashmir) of Ananta of the line of Abhinava (1028-63 A.D.).

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