Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahabharata: Upayana Parva c5.15

c5.15

The problem of identifying the Ṛṣikas with the Yüe-Chi is not a new one and is closely connected with the problem of Ārśi the language of the Śakas in the Central Asian texts, the Ārśi Kanta, i.e., Ārśi tongue.¹⁵ It has been also suggested to connect Yüe-chi with Ārśi on certain phonetic peculiarities in the Chinese which used üe to understand ri, ūr and o in the transliteration of Indian words.¹⁶ Klaproth derived the Yü-chï from Yetes. Franke takes them to be the people of Yet or Get; Baron von Stael Holstein infers a pronunciation Kurshi or Gurshi, and F. W. K. Müller maintains that Yüe-chï is probably a rendering of the same word which we have learned to know as Ārśi as a designation of the language of the Tocharians the view to which Franke has subsequently agreed.¹⁷ The battle royal over Ārśi has not yet finished. H. W. Bailey¹⁸ derives Ārśi from the Sanskrit Araya. Pelliot¹⁹ rejects the derivation of Ārśi from Ṛṣika as Pandit's etymology and the same author²⁰ finds the rejection of Ārśi as convincing.