Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Studies in the Epics and Puranas c11: Chapter IV: Kuruśravaṇa and Kuru-Saṃvaraṇa

Studies in the Epics and Purāṇas c11

Language
English

Chapter IV: Kuruśravaṇa and Kuru-Saṃvaraṇa

c11.2

It was my proud privilege some time back to get guidance regarding methods of comparative study to be employed in studying Vedic and Purāṇic problems from Shri K. M. Munshi. Many a time I was wonderstruck by his profound study and scholarship, perfect grasp of the subject, clear insight and rare intuition which enabled him to portray ancient history as it happened thousands of years ago. Not only did he stress on me his point of view in the matter of the historicity of the Bhārata war, but impressed on me, from the very beginning, his firm belief that Kuruśravaṇa and Kuru-Saṃvaraṇa were one and the same person; the latter word, according to the Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata, denotes two names, viz. Kuru and Saṃvaraṇa, of son and father. It may, however, be noted that Kuru-Saṃvaraṇa can be taken to show the patronymic of Kuru, meaning Kuru, son of Saṃvaraṇa. This problem of the identity of Kuruśravaṇa and Kuru-Saṃvaraṇa fascinated me for some time, and I am recording below my investigations which go to make at least a prima facie case for the identity of the personages.¹

c11.3

¹ In this chapter, I have given references to original sources, as I have tapped them at every point. I refer occasionally to the Vedic Index, modern interpreters and authorities, especially when my views differ from them.

c11.4

Now, apart from the fact that philologically the word Kuruśravaṇa may well degenerate into Kuru-Saṃvaraṇa,² there are other factors pointing to the identity of the pair. It seems, as I have tried to show later on, that Kuru-śravaṇa of the Ṛgveda appears as Kuru-Saṃvaraṇa—Kuru, son of Saṃvaraṇa, —of the Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata. In order to understand properly the exact significance attached to these names in the Vedic literature and the Purāṇas, it is necessary to collect references to Kuru-śravaṇa, Saṃvaraṇa and Kuru from these sources—Vedic as well as Purāṇic.

c11.5

² By anaptyxis, śravaṇa gets changed to saravaṇa (cf. Gune, Introduction to Comparative Philology, p. 51), and by metathesis, saravaṇa is transformed into savaraṇa (op. cit., p. 52). For insertion of the nasal, cf. G. A. Grierson, "Spontaneous Nasalisation in the Indo-Aryan Languages," JRAS, 1922, pp. 381 ff; also, Hoernle, ERE, I, p. 259.

c11.6

The name Kuruśravaṇa appears in the tenth Maṇḍala of the Ṛgveda, where, in a dānastuti, he is referred to as still living, a contemporary of Kavaṣa or Kavaṣa Ailūṣa, the singer of the hymn.³ Kuru-śravaṇa is mentioned in the hymn as a king and a son of Trasadasyu.⁴ The name Kuruśravaṇa shows him

c11.7

³ Ṛgveda, X. 32. 9; 33. 4:

c11.8

⁴ I prefer to follow Sāyaṇa in interpreting Trāsadasyava as the son of Trasadasyu, and also in maintaining that there is no connection between Kuruśravaṇa on the one hand and Mitrātithi and Upamaśravas on the other. Cf. Ṛgveda, Sāyaṇa-bhāṣya, Bombay Edn., pp. 526, 528:

c11.9

एतानि भद्रा कलशं क्रियाम कुरुश्रवण ददतो मघानि ।
दान इष्टो मघवानः सो अस्त्वयं च सोमो हृदि यं बिभर्मि।। ऋ. १०.३२.९।।
कुरुश्रवणावृणि राजानं त्रासदस्यूं । महिष्टं वाघतामृषिः।। ऋ. १०.३३.४।।

c11.10

The authors of the Vedic Index (I, pp. 143-144) state the possibility of the identity of Ṛgvedic Kavaṣa with Kavaṣa Ailūṣa mentioned in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, II. 19, Anandasrama Edn., p. 216.

c11.11

कुरुश्रवणावृणीति द्वाभ्यां त्रसदस्युपुत्रस्य कुरुश्रवणनाम्नो राज्ञो दानं तुष्टाव अतस्तदेवताके अथ यस्य प्रस्वादस इत्यादिभिश्चतसृभिः मित्रातिथिनाम्नि राज्ञि परलोकं गते शोकाभिभूतं तस्य पुत्रं उपमश्रवो नामानं कवयऋषिः स्नेहवशादवगत्य विगतशोकंअकरोत् . . . । . . . हे कुरुश्रवणस्य त्रसदस्यवस्य दानस्तुतिः पराभिर्मते मित्रातिथौ राज्ञि तत्स्नेहवशादथिरुपमश्रवसं पुत्रमस्य व्यशोकयदिति ।।

c11.12

Contra, Macdonell and Keith, Vedic Index, I, p. 170; Geldner, Ved. Stud., II, p. 150; Rapson, CHI, I, p. 120 (Keith).

c11.13

to be a Kuru, and his being the son of Trasadasyu makes him one of the Pūrus,—chief opponents of king Sudās in the famous Dāśarājña. The fact that Kuruśravaṇa belonged to the side of the confederacy of kings is further supported by his association with Kavaṣa Ailūṣa, his priest, who, as an enemy of Sudās, was thrown into waters by Indra.5 Being a son of the participant in the struggle, Kuruśravaṇa apparently follows the Dāśarājña closely in time. His proximity with the Dāśarājña is again evidenced by his connection with Kavaṣa as just shown. Thus the Ṛgveda presents both Kuruśravaṇa and Kavaṣa Ailūṣa as products of the Dāśarājña period, and both belonged to the opposing forces of Sudās. There are no other references to Kuruśravaṇa in the Vedic literature, nor does the name occur in the Purāṇas so far as I could see,—not definitely in the genealogy of the Pauravas, descendants of Vedic Pūrus.6

c11.14

Saṃvaraṇa in the Ṛgveda is the name of a Ṛṣi, who, according to the Sarvānukramaṇī, was the seer of Ṛg. V. 33, and the son of Prajāpati.7 In that hymn, Saṃvaraṇa mentions Paurukutsya Trasadasyu, Māru-

c11.15

5. Ṛgveda, VII. 18. 12:

c11.16

अथ श्रुतं कवषमप्सुवन् दुह्युं निवृण्वन्ज्रबाहुः ।
वृपाना अत्र सख्याय सख्यं त्वायन्तो ये अमदन्नु त्वा ।

c11.17

cf. also, Pargiter, AIHT, pp. 172-173; Vedic Index, I, p. 143.

c11.18

6. Pandit Durgashankar Sastri, (who, unfortunately, passed away recently), than whom it is very difficult to find a better authority on the Purāṇas, also supported me by saying that he did not come across the name Kuruśravaṇa in the Purāṇas. With regard to the Mahābhārata, Sörensen's Index shows that the name does not occur in the Mahābhārata.

c11.19

7. Sarvānukramaṇī, Ed. Macdonell, Oxford, 1886, p. 20; cf. also, Ṛgveda, V. 33. 8-10 and 'संवरणस्य ऋषेः' in Ṛg. V. 33. Vedic Index, II, p. 413, states only that "Saṃvaraṇa is the name of a Ṛṣi mentioned in one passage of the Ṛgveda."

c11.20

उत त्ये मा पौरुकुत्स्यस्य सूरेस्त्रसदस्यो हिरणिनो रराणाः ।
वहन्तु मां दश श्येनासो अस्य गैरिक्षितस्य ऋतुभिर्न सचे ॥

c11.21

tāśva Cyavatāna and Dhvanya Lakṣmaṇya as his patrons, thereby showing the contemporaneity of all these persons. Saṃvaraṇa thus belongs to the Dāśarājña period, being the contemporary of Trasadasyu. As both Kuruśravaṇa and Saṃvaraṇa belonged to the same period and as they came from different strata of the populace, one being a king and the other a Ṛṣi, there was absolutely no chance of their being mixed up with one another or of one being mistaken for the other in the Vedic literature. The invention of stories and the transference of traditions, however, seem to have been started with the Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata.

c11.22

According to the Purāṇas Saṃvaraṇa was the son of Ṛkṣa, and a scion of the Lunar Paurava family.⁸ Kuru is stated to be the son of Saṃvaraṇa through Tapati. The Mahābhārata further gives the story how Saṃvaraṇa obtained Tapati, the daughter of Sūrya, the Sun, through the aid of Vasiṣṭha who was his priest.⁹ The Mahābhārata also mentions that a Pañcāla king overthrew Saṃvaraṇa, that he fled to Sindh and then recovered his kingdom through Vasiṣṭha's help.¹⁰ This episode in the Mahābhārata has been taken by Pargiter to refer to the Dāśarājña.¹¹ The Pañcāla king has been identified with Sudās; Saṃvaraṇa with

c11.23

⁸ Matsya (Anandasrama Edn.), 50. 20-22; Vāyu (Anandasrama Edn.), 99. 214; Brahma (Venkatesvara Edn.), II, 106-107; Agni (Ven.) 278.26; Viṣṇu (Ven.), IV. 19. 75-77; Bhāgavata (Ven.), IX. 22. 3-4; Harivaṃśa (Citrasala Edn.), I. 32. 85.

c11.24

⁹ Mahābhārata (Critical Edn.), I. 160-163; Tāpatyupākhyāna.

c11.25

¹⁰ Mahābhārata (Critical Edn.), I. 89. 31-43.

c11.26

¹¹ JRAS, 1910, pp. 49-52; 1918, pp. 246-252; also, Pargiter, AIHT, p. 172; Pradhan, CAI, p. 20.

c11.27

उत त्ये मा मारुताश्वस्य शोणाः ऋत्वा मघासो विदथस्य रातो ।
सहस्रा मे च्यवतानो ददान आनुकमर्यो वपुषे नाचंत ॥
उत त्ये मा ध्वन्यस्य जुष्टा लक्ष्मणस्य सुरुचो यतानाः ।
महना रायः संवरणस्य ऋयेवंजं न गावः प्रयता अपि ग्मन ॥
ऋग्वेद. ५.३३.८-१०.

c11.28

Pūru, the opponent of Vedic Sudās; and a large confederacy of kings under the leadership of Saṃvaraṇa has been inferred; though strictly speaking, the Mahābhārata warrants none of these conjectures. There being an express mention of Purukutsa as the Pūru king, the identification of the latter with Saṃvaraṇa does not appear sound. It is possible that Kuruśravaṇa's distress, hinted in Ṛg. X. 33. 2-3, was later transformed into the defeat and exile of Saṃvaraṇa (his namesake acording to later writers) by the author of the Mahābhārata. There is, however, nothing in the Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata that would go against placing Saṃvaraṇa in the Dāśarājña period.

c11.29

In contrast to the word Kuruśravaṇa, which does not occur anywhere except in the Ṛgveda, the word Kuru as the name of a prince is not found in the Ṛgveda. Nor is the word used in the Ṛgveda as the name of a people.¹² Kuru (or Kuru-Saṃvaraṇa, to use also his patronymic), according to the Purāṇas, was a famous king in the Paurava line, which later came to be known as Kauravas, owing to the illustrious Kuru.¹³ Being a Puru, Kuru-Saṃvaraṇa naturally falls in the enemy camp of Sudās.

c11.30

¹² Cf. Vedic Index, I, p. 166; Oldenberg, Buddha, p. 409 f; Rapson, op. cit., pp. 83, 117 ff.

c11.31

¹³ Cf. the continuations of references in n. 8 above.

c11.32

In order to place this Kuru-Saṃvaraṇa in the Dāśarājña period, we have to bring in Kavaṣa Ailūṣa, who has been referred to earlier. The Aitareya Brāhmaṇa proclaims the synchronism of Tura Kāvaṣeya and Janamejaya Pārikṣita.¹⁴ Tura Kāvaṣeya, who consecrated Janamejaya Pārikṣita, was the son of Kavaṣa Ailūṣa.15 Janamejaya Pārikṣita, according to the Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata, was the grandson of Kuru-Saṃvaraṇa.16 So, Kuru-Saṃvaraṇa, the grandfather, naturally belongs to the period of Kavaṣa Ailūṣa, the father, who was old and famous at the period of the Dāśarājña.¹⁷

c11.33

¹⁴ Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, VII. 34; VIII. 21; (Anandasrama Edn. pp. 892, 946). एतम् हैव प्रोवाच तुरः कावषेयो जनमेजयाय पारिक्षिताय . . . (p. 892) ; एतेन ह वा ऐन्द्रेण महाभिषेकेण तुरः कावषेयो जनमेजयं पारिक्षितमभिपिषेच . . . (p. 946).

c11.34

¹⁷ Cf. the words वृद्ध (old) and श्रुत (famous) in Ṛg. VII. 18. 12 quoted in f.n. 5 above.

c11.35

Finally, concerning the figures of Kuruśravaṇa and Kuru-Saṃvaraṇa as represented in the Ṛgveda and the Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata, we have already seen that both come from the family of Purus or Kurus, the opponents of Sudās; that both belong to the Dāśarājña period; and that both are connected with Kavaṣa Ailūṣa as his patrons. There is, of

c11.36

Oldenberg (ZDMG, 42, 239) rightly assigns him to the end of the Vedic period, and the authors of the Vedic Index take him to be probably identical with Tura mentioned in the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa (Ved. Ind., I, p. 314). The Bhāgavata Purāṇa (Ven.), IX. 22. 37, also records the tradition of Tura Kāvaṣeya being the priest of Janamejaya Pārikṣita, but it wrongly brings in the later Janamejaya, the descendant of the Pāṇḍavas, and sarpasatra. As regards Janamejaya Pārikṣita, the views of Shri Munshi in Thakkar Vassanji Madhavji Lectures, Lect. V, merit serious consideration.

c11.37

कावषेयं पुरोधाय तुरं तुरगमेधयाट् ।
समन्तात्पृथिवीं सर्वां जित्वा यक्ष्यति चाध्वरि ॥ भाग. ९.२२.७ ॥

c11.38

15. Cf. Sāyaṇabhāṣya on Aitareya Brā., VII. 34, and also on VIII. 21, given at pp. 893, and 946 of the Anandasrama Edn., which says:

c11.39

कवषस्य पुत्रस्तुरनामको ऋषिः ।

c11.40

16. There are indeed some discrepancies in the Purāṇic texts as to the immediate successors of Kuru, as has been rightly observed by Pargiter (AIHT, p. 113). The collated text as given by him reads (loc. cit., n. 8):

c11.41

कुरोस्तु दयिताः पुत्राः सुधन्वा जह्रुरेव च ।
परिक्षितो महातेजाः प्रवरश्चारिमर्दनः ॥
परिक्षितस्य दायादो बभूव जनमेजयः ।

c11.42

course, no reference to genealogical details in the Ṛgveda; but the three factors shown above, sufficiently prove, it is submitted, the identity of Kuruśravaṇa and Kuru-Saṃvaraṇa. The name Kuruśravaṇa in later days seems to have been corrupted into Kuru-Saṃvaraṇa, then the names were split up and different persons came to be designated by the word, and then various stories came to be attached to the names Saṃvaraṇa and Kuru, without the least reference to any sort of accuracy. No doubt, the stories about Kuru and Saṃvaraṇa seem to have been invented at a pretty old stage, and possibly formed part of the Ur-text of the Purāṇas, as all the texts agree with regard to important particulars.¹⁸

c11.43

¹⁸ Cf. "Dāśarājña: A New Approach" (Munshi Diamond Jubilee Volume, II, pp. 70-79), where I have tried to correlate the Vedic and epic accounts.

c11.44

Should this identification receive the approval of competent Vedic and Purāṇic scholars, it will invalidate some current theories about ancient Indian chronology and necessitate reconsideration and re-statement of the Purāṇic genealogies.

Cites (12)