Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Tribes in Ancient India c22: Chapter XVIII. The Kārūṣas or Karūṣas

Tribes in Ancient India c22

Language
English

Chapter XVIII. The Kārūṣas or Karūṣas

c22.2

The Kārūṣas or Karūṣas were a well-known tribe of ancient India, who are often referred to in the Epics, particularly in the *Mahābhārata* and the Purāṇas. Throughout the whole range of early and later Vedic literature they are scarcely mentioned, and their sudden emergence in the period of the Epics and Purāṇas suggests that they had been an insignificant tribe inhabiting a region included in or continuous with the *janapada* of the Cedis, with whom they are constantly associated in the *Mahābhārata*.¹ The *Padmapurāṇa* (IV, Chap. 274, 16-17) moreover, tells us that Dantavakra, King of Karūṣa, was of Caidya lineage. The evidence as recorded in the *Mahābhārata* and the Purāṇas seems to point to the fact that Dantavakra and his father Vṛddhaśarman had been reigning in the time of the Pāṇḍavas.² According to the *Viṣṇupurāṇa* (Bk., IV, Chap. XIV) Vṛddhaśarman married Śrutadevī, who bore him the fierce Asura Dantavakra. The *Vāyupurāṇa*, however, does not call him an Asura, but King of the Karūṣas. According to the *Padmapurāṇa* (*Pātala*, Chap. 35) Dantavakra was killed by Kṛṣṇa in Mathurā (vide also N. L. Dey, *G.D.A.M.I.*, p. 2). King Dantavakra is said to have had a foster-daughter named Pṛthā, who was married to Pāṇḍu.³ Their contemporaries in the contiguous territories were Dāmaghoṣa, his son Śiśupāla Sunītha, and grandson Dhṛṣṭaketu, kings of Cedi; and Virāṭa, king of Matsya.⁴ The Karūṣa royal family was connected by marriage not only with that of the Cedis but also with those of the Yādavas (i.e. Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa and all his relations, and the Pauravas).⁵

c22.3

¹ Bhīṣmaparvan, Chap. 47, 4; Chap. 54, 8; Chap. 56, 9; Droṇaparvan, Chap. 8, 28; Chap. 20, 23; Karṇaparvan, Chap. 56, 2, etc.

c22.4

² Mbh., II, Chap. 13, 575, 577; Vāyu Purāṇa, Chap. 96, 255; Viṣṇu P., IV, Chap. 14, 11; Brahmāṇḍa P., III, Chap. 71, 156, etc.

c22.5

³ Brahma P., Chap. 14, 122.

c22.6

⁴ Pargiter: A.I.H.T., p. 119.

c22.7

⁵ Ibid., 166-7, f.n. 1; Vāyu Purāṇa, Chap. 96, 148-159; Matsya P., Chap. 46, 3-9; Viṣṇu P., IV, Chap. 14, 10-13, etc.

c22.8

We must turn to the Purāṇas for the legendary account of the origin of the Kārūṣas. All the Purāṇas agree in saying that Vaivasvata Manu had nine sons⁶: namely Ikṣvāku, Nābhāga (= Nabhāga or Nṛga), Dhṛṣṭa, Saryāti, Narisyanta, Pramśu, Nābhānediṣṭha, Karūṣa, and Pṛṣadhra.¹ From Karūṣa were descended the numerous Kṣatriya clans of the Kārūṣas. They were all determined fighters, and are said to have protected N. India,—perhaps from southern inroads as Pargiter suggests (*A.I.H.T.*, p. 255 and f.n. 14).²

c22.9

⁶ According to the Mahābhārata, I, Chap. 75, Manu had fifty other sons, all of whom perished through mutual dissensions.

c22.10

¹ Vāyu P., Chap. 85, 3-4; Brahma P., Chap. 7, 1-2; Śiva P., VIII, Chap. 60, 1-2; Kūrma P., I, Chap. 20, 4-6, etc.

c22.11

² For references to Kārūṣas, see Vāyu P., Chap. 86, 2-3; Garuḍa P., Chap. 142, 4; Viṣṇu P., IV, Chap. I, 14; Śiva P., VII, Chap. 60, 31; Bhāgavata P., XX, 2, 16.

c22.12

The Kārūṣas had different settlements at different periods; the location of the principal ones may be described as follows:—

c22.13

I. (A) In the *Mahābhārata* they are often mentioned along with the Matsyas, Kāśīs, Cedis, and Pañcālas (*Bhīṣmaparvan*, Chap. 47, 4; Chap. 56, 13; Chap. 54, 8; *Droṇaparvan*, Chap. 8, 28; Chap. 20, 23, etc.). The *Viṣṇupurāṇa* mentions them together with the Matsyas, Cedis, and Bhojas (Wilson, II, pp. 156-90). Pargiter therefore suggests that the country of the Kārūṣas lay to the south of Kāśī and Vatsa, between Cedi on the west and Magadha on the east enclosing the Kaimur hills,—i.e. it was equivalent to the country of Rewa, from the Ken river in the west to the confines of Bihar in the east.³

c22.14

³ J.A.S.B., 1895, p. 255; J.R.A.S., 1914, p. 271; Pāṇini, IV, 1, 178.

c22.15

(B) The *Bālakāṇḍa* (XXVII, 18-23) of the *Rāmāyaṇa* would seem to indicate a slight difference of locality; it seems to locate the tribe in the district now known as Shahabad (Bihar),—whence they probably migrated south-west to the region indicated by the *Mahābhārata*. According to tradition, the southern district of Shahabad between the river Son and Karmanāśā was called Karukhdeśa or Karuṣadeśa.⁴ This tradition is supported by a modern local inscription found at Masār in the Shahabad district, designating the territory as Karūṣadeśa.⁵ Moreover, Vedagarbhapurī or modern Buxar is referred to in the *Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa* (*Purvakhaṇḍa*, Chap. 5) as being situated in Karūṣa.

c22.16

⁴ Martin's Eastern India, Vol. I, p. 405; cf. Dey, Geographical Dictionary, p. 95.

c22.17

⁵ Cunningham, A.S.R., III, pp. 67-71.

c22.18

II. The Kārūṣas probably had another settlement in the territory known in ancient times as Puṇḍra, or Puṇḍravardhana, roughly identical with N. Bengal; for according to the *Bhāgavatapurāṇa* (X, Chap. 66) Karūṣa seems to have been another name for Puṇḍra.

c22.19

III. In the *Vāyu* (Chap. 45), *Matsya* (Chap. 114, 54), and *Mārkaṇḍeya* (Chap. 57, 53-5) *Purāṇas*, the Kārūṣas are said to have occupied the ridge of the Vindhyas (*Vindhapyṛṣṭha-nivāsinaḥ*). In the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, they are mentioned along with the Keralas and Utkalas, and in the Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa with the Mālavas, Utkalas, and Daśārṇas (all dwelling in the Vindhya region); while in the Viṣṇupurāṇa (Bk. II, Chap. III) they are associated with the Arbudas and Mālavas. Further, the Viṣṇupurāṇa definitely refers to them as dwelling along the Pāripātra hills. In the Bālakāṇḍa of the Rāmāyaṇa (XXIV, 18) the Karūṣas and the Maladas are named together; the Maladas are probably the Molindae of Pliny, whereas the Kārūṣas may be identified with the Chrysei.¹

c22.20

¹ M. V. St. Martin's Etude sur la Geog. Grecque, p. 199.

c22.21

The Kārūṣas figure in the Kurukṣetra war along with the Kekayas, Pañcālas, Matsyas, Cedis and Kosalas, who rallied on the side of the Pāṇḍavas.² At one time during the war, the Cedi, Kāśī, and Kārūṣa peoples seem to have been led by Dhṛṣṭaketu, King of the Cedis.³ Another King of the Cedis was Vasu, a descendant of Kuru, who having conquered the Yādava kingdom of Cedi, extended his conquests eastwards as far as Magadha, and apparently north-west also, over Matsya. He divided his territories of Magadha, Cedi, Kauśāmbī, Karūṣa, and Matsya among his five sons (see Chap. on Cedis).

c22.22

² See Udyoga, Bhīṣma and Droṇa Parvans.

c22.23

³ Udyogaparvan, Chap. 198, 2; Bhīṣmaparvan, Chap. 56, 13.

Linked texts (15)