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Tribes in Ancient India c75: Chapter LXXIII. The Daśārṇas

Tribes in Ancient India c75

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Chapter LXXIII. The Daśārṇas

c75.2

The Daśārṇas are mentioned in the Epics and Purāṇas, and also in Kālidāsa’s *Meghadūta*. They appear to have had more than one settlement during the Epic period. The *Mahābhārata* seems to refer to two Daśārṇas, one in the west, which was conquered by Nakula (*Sabhāparvan*, Chap. 32), and another in the east (or south-east), which was subjugated by Bhīmasena (*Sabhāparvan*, Chap. 30). The *Rāmāyaṇa* and the Purāṇas point to a Daśārṇa country grouped with those of the Mālavas, Kārūṣas, Utkalas and Mekalas, who are all said to have lived in the Vindhyan tract.¹ This Daśārṇa is probably the same as the one conquered by Bhīmasena.

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¹ *Rāmāyaṇa*; *Kiṣkindhyā K.*, 41, 8-10; *Brahmāṇḍa P.*, Chap. 49; *Vāyu P.*, Chap. 45; *Matsya P.*, Chap. 114; *Mārkaṇḍeya P.*, Chap. 57; *Vāmana P.*, Chap. 13; etc.—‘Vindhya-pṛṣṭha-nivāsinaḥ’.

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The Daśārṇa country in the west seems to have been more important than the other localities in the east or south-east. According to the *Meghadūta* (verses 24-5), the capital of this Daśārṇa country was Vidisa (mod. Bhilsā) on the Vetravatī (= mod. Betwā). The Daśārṇas thus occupied a site on the Daśārṇa river (which can still be traced in the modern Dashān river that flows through Bundelkhand, rising in Bhopal and emptying into the Betwa). According to Wilson,² a Daśārṇa river is said in the Purāṇas to rise in a mountain called Citrakūṭa (= Kāmptānāth-gir in Bundelkhand). This is doubtless identical with the modern Dashān river. The *Meghadūta* further mentions a hill called Nīcaḥ as situated in the Daśārṇa country (*loc. cit.*).

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² *Essays Analytical*, etc., Vol. II, p. 336, f.n. 1.

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As we have seen, the Purāṇas associate the Daśārṇas with the Vindhyan tribes,—Mālavas, Kārūṣas, Mekalas, Utkalas, and Niṣadhas. In the *Rāmāyaṇa*, also their country is connected with those of the Mekalas and Utkalas, whither Sugrīva sends his monkey army in quest of Sītā (*Kiṣkindhyā K.*, *loc. cit.*). The Daśārṇa country of the *Rāmāyaṇa* and the Purāṇas is thus different from the Daśārṇa of the *Meghadūta*; it is probably identical with Dosarene of the *Periplus of the Erythraean Sea*. According to Wilson,³ eastern or south-eastern Daśārṇa formed a part of the Chattisgarh District in the Central Provinces, including the native State of Patna.¹ The territory was probably situated on the river Dosaron which is mentioned by Ptolemy, and which has been identified with the river Brāhmaṇī that flows through modern Cuttack and empties itself into the Bay of Bengal. As Ptolemy did not write from personal knowledge, he could not probably give the indigenous name of the river, but named it after the people inhabiting the region. Thus 'the Dosaron is the river of the region inhabited by the Daśārṇas, a people mentioned in the Viṣṇupurāṇa as belonging to the south-east of Madhyadeśa'.²

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³ Wilson’s *Viṣṇu P.*, Hall’s Ed., Vol. II, p. 160, f.n. 3.

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¹ J.A.S.B., 1905, pp. 7, 14.

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² McCrindle's Ptolemy, Mazumder's Ed., p. 71.

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The Daśārṇas figure in the Mahābhārata as one of the tribes who fought for the Pāṇḍavas in the great Kurukṣetra war.³ The Daśārṇa king at that time was Kṣatradeva, a mighty hero, who fought valiantly on elephant-back. He attacked the enemy-generals,⁴ and the king of Prāgjyotiṣa or Kāmarūpa.⁵ The warriors of the Daśārṇa king were all mighty heroes and could fight best on elephants.⁶ According to Kautilya’s Arthaśāstra (Book II, Chap. II), the elephants of Aṅga and Kaliṅga belonged to the best of their species, while those of Karūṣa, Daśārṇa and Aparānta ranked second, those of the Saurāṣṭras and allied tribes (Saurāṣṭrikāḥ pañcajanāḥ) being the worst.

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³ Karṇaparvan, Chap. 22, 3; Bhīṣmaparvan, Chaps. 95, 41, 43; Droṇaparvan, Chap. 25, 35.

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⁴ Bhīṣmaparvan, Chap. 95, 41, 43.

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⁵ Droṇaparvan, Chap. 25, 35.

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⁶ Karṇaparvan, Chap. 22, 3.

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We read elsewhere in the Mahābhārata of another Daśārṇa king, named Hiraṇyavarman who appears also as Hemavarman and Kāñcanavarman (both Heina and Kāñcana being synonyms of Hiraṇya, 'gold').⁷ Pargiter thinks⁸ that during the period of the Kurukṣetra war, Daśārṇa was a Yādava kingdom.⁹

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⁷ Mbh., V, 190, 7419; 193, 7493, 7506, 7511 and 7518.

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⁸ A.I.H.T., p. 280.

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⁹ Mbh., V, 190, 7417ff.; Harivaṃśa, Chap. 91, 4967.

c75.19

Erakaccha, a town in the Dasaṇṇa (= Daśārṇa) country, is referred to in Pāli literature. We read in the Petavatthu and Commentary of a certain merchant of Erakaccha, and of the miseries which he suffered through lack of faith in the Buddha.¹⁰ We are told¹¹ that the Therī Isidāsī was once reborn at Erakaccha as a wealthy craftsman, a worker in gold. Dasaṇṇa was apparently a centre of the art of sword-making.¹ It is mentioned in the *Mahāvastu*² as one of the sixteen *Mahājanapadas*. We also read in the *Mahāvastu* that the Buddha distributed knowledge among the Daśārṇas who built a vihāra for him.³

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¹⁰ Petavatthu, 20; Commentary, pp. 99-105.

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¹¹ Therīgāthā, 435; see also Buddhist India, p. 40.

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¹ *Jātaka* (Fausböll), III, 338: ‘Dasaṇṇakaṃ tikhiṇadhāraṃ asim’.

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² I, 34. (Senart’s edition).

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³ Law: *A Study of the Mahāvastu*, p. 9.

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