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Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c3.s2.t1: The Kurus

Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jātaka Stories c3.s2.t1

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The Kurus

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The Kuru kingdom, as known to the Jātakas,⁷ had an extent of three hundred leagues. Its capital was Indapatta,⁸ (modern Indrapat near Delhi) which is sometimes said to have extended over seven leagues.⁹ The reigning dynasty belonged to the Yudhiṭṭhila gotta, i.e., the family of Yudhiṣṭhira,¹⁰ a fact which shows that the Jātakas are familiar only with the events that occurred after the Great war, one of which was the inclusion of the Pāṇḍavas in the famous Kuru line.¹¹ The date of the Bhārata war is still a matter of controversy. But between the two plausible extremes of 15th century B. C.¹ and the 10th century B. C.,² we may take the 12th century B. C. as the via media.³

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⁷ J., II, pp. 214-G, 154, 366; III, p. 400; IV, pp. 361, 444; V, pp. 57, 474, 481—"tiyojanasate"; VI, pp. 255, 329.

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⁸ The older capital Asandivat of Janamejaya Pārikṣita had already vanished: Ved. Ind., I, p. 72; Raychaudhury, P. H. A. I., pp. 16, 24. The Jātakas do not know of Hastināpura.

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⁹ J., V, p. 484. But these measurements are only conventional.

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¹⁰ J., III, p. 400; V, p. 457.

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¹¹ See Law, Ancient Mid-Indian Kṣatriya Tribes, I, p. 33; Pargiter, op. cit., pp. 283-4.

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¹ Jayaswal, J. B. O. R. S., I. p. 111.

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² Pargiter, *A. I. H. T.*, p. 182.

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³ Pradhan, *Chronology of Ancient India*, pp. 248 *ff.* on the Paurāṇic, astronomical and other evidences, actually comes to this date.

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The *Jātakas* mention only a few kings of this line. Those who find mention are: Koravya,⁴ Dhanañjaya Koravya,⁵ Sutasoma⁶ and perhaps Reṇu⁷. Of these, Dhanañjaya Koravya appears to have been the most familiar, as he must have been also very popular in those times, and his relation with his minister Vidhurapaṇḍita forms the subject of some of the stories, Who is this Dhanañjaya? In the Epic Dhanañjaya is an ordinary epithet of Arjuna.⁸ But there are indications in the *Jātakas* themselves which tend to connect it with Yudhiṭṭhila himself. Thus the *gāthās* of the *Sambhava Jātaka* have the refrain:

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⁴ J., IV, p. 361; V, p. 457.

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⁵ J., II, p. 366; III, p. 400; V, p. 57; VI, pp. 255.

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⁶ J., V, p. 457.

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⁷ J., IV, p. 444.

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⁸ See Sørensen, *Index to the Mahābhārata*, sub. voc.; Dhanañjaya is a king of Benares in J. III, pp. 97 *ff.*
9. J., V, pp. 57 *ff.*-GG. 145, 149, 171.

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*Rañño 'hampahito dūto koravyassa yasassino*
*Atthaṃ dhammaṃ ca pucchesi 'iccabravi Yudhiṭṭhilo*.⁹

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Again Dhanañjaya is said to have been remembered for his skill in the game of dice (*jūtavittako*),¹⁰ which qualification, according to the Epic, applies well to Yudhiṣṭhira¹¹. He is moreover described as a pious, righteous and charitable king,¹² which again is in complete agreement with what we know of Yudhiṣṭhira from the Epic¹³ and later Hindu tradition¹⁴.

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¹⁰ J., VI, pp. 255, 271.

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¹¹ Cf. M.B.H., II, 59, 19. "who is there who can stake equally with me?" asks Yudhiṣṭhira to Sakuni.

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¹² J., V, pp. 57-8-GG. 135-141.

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¹³ See Siddhanta, op. cit., p. 28: "Yudhiṣṭhira, on the other hand, is made to be the pattern of a virtuous prince."
14. The tradition has passed down even to the south where in Māmallapuram near Madras we find a temple raised in his honour (*Dharmarāya ratha*) in the 7th century A.D. See Havell, *The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India*, p. 86.

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With Dhanañjaya Koravya is mentioned his almost inseparable companion Vidhurapaṇḍita¹⁵ who is generally known as a minister and a teacher of law, morality and polity. One *Jātaka*¹⁶ prose unnecessarily makes him the *purohita* of a king of Benares, though the *gāthās* do not suggest anything of the kind. Similarly the prose of the *Vidhurapaṇḍita Jātaka*¹⁷ seeks to describe him as a Brāhmaṇa and the son of a Brāhmaṇa Canda, while the *gāthās* are clear in representing him as a Kuru councillor, holding the status of a noble of the royal family of the Kurus, though born in a natural state of servitude¹ That he was born of a slave is proved by his own declaration ‘addhā hi yonito aham pi jāto’,² thus agreeing with the Epic account of his birth, though related in the usual miraculous manner.³

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¹⁵ He is of course the Epic Vidura who is however there associated with Dhṛtarāṣṭra. MBH., I, 63, 100 *ff.* For the difference in spellings of his name, see Barua and Sinha, *Brāhmi Inscriptions*, pp. 95-6.

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¹⁶ J., V, pp. 57 *ff.*

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¹ Barua and Sinha op. cit., p. 95.

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² J., VI, p. 285-G. 1239.

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³ MBH. I, 63, 113-4; 106, 23-28, V. 41, 5—“Sūdrayonāvahaṃ jāta.”

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Vidura is a just and truthful man, possessing great power of eloquence, so much so that all kings from India are said to have approached him and—sat at his feet to hear the Dhamma.⁴ His discourse on a householder’s life and happiness, and his advice to young aspirants to the king’s court, testify to his genius and political insight.⁵ In the Dasa-Brāhmaṇa Jātaka,⁶ he figures as an advocate of a revolting opinion about the Brāhmaṇas of his time, which may well have some historical significance.⁷ The Vidhurapaṇḍita Jātaka relates at length, predominently in gāthās which run in the epic strain, the story of Vidhura and the Yakkha prince Puṇṇaka :⁸ the Nāga queen Vimalā’s desire for the heart of Vidhura, the princess Irandatī’s search for a husband to fullfil that desire, her union with the Yakkha prince Puṇṇaka, his victory at a dice play with king Dhanañjaya and the consequent winning over the wise man, their return to the Nāga capital, the queen’s humbling down at the sight of the great man, and his final release and a gift of a precious jewel from Puṇṇaka which he delivered to the Kuru king—all this may only be a fable, pure and simple, though as old as the second century B. C..⁹

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⁴ J., VI, pp. 255-6.

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⁵ J., VI, pp. 286-7-GG. 1244-50.

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⁶ J. IV, pp. 361 ff.

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⁷ Dr. Winternitz remarks in his valuable essay on the “Ascetic Poetry,”.... “though the majority of the verses in this section (i.e., the Vidhurahitavākya, MBH., V, 32-40) contains rules of morality and wisdom, it aslo contains a great number of verses which teach what I call ascetic morality—verses which sound quite Buddhistic and some of which have actually been traced in the Pāli literature.” Calcutta Review, Oct. 1923, p. 8.

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⁸ The story is found depicted in the sculptures of one of the railings of the Barhut Stupa, with a label bearing the inscription “Vitura-Punakiya-Jātakam”—of the seccond century B.C. See Barua and Sinha, op. cit., pp. 94-5; Cunningham, Stupa of Barhut, plate XVIII.

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⁹ See above; Vidhura also occurs as the name of a wise monk in the Majjhimanikāya 1, 5, 10 and the Therigāthā, 1188.

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One more point to be noticed in connection with Dhanañjaya Koravya. In the Dhūmakārī Jātaka¹⁰ he is represented as showing favour to new comers (āgantukānam yeva saṃgahaṃ akāsi) neglecting the old and faithful soldiers (porāṇakayodhe agaṇetvā). This policy was responsible for his defeat in a battle in a disturbed frontier province. He came to realize his mistake with the help of his wise councillor Vidhura. How far this incident can be taken as historical, we are not able to ascertain, it being left uncorroborated, as far as we know, by further evidence.

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¹⁰ J., III, pp. 400 ff.

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For Sutasoma’s historical existence, we cannot vouch. In the long, dreary and epic-like story related in the *Mahāsutasoma Jātaka*,¹ we find him as the Lord of the Kurus.² The king of Benares turns out a man-eater. Sutasoma, with his masterly genius, restores him to his senses and, at the end, establishes him on his throne. In the intervening *gāthās* we are given a glorious description of Sutasoma’s virtuous reign.³ The man-eater king, who is in the *gāthās* towards the end⁴ named Kammāsapāda, restores the kings whom he had captured to liberty. The story of Kalmāṣapāda, the king of Ayodhyā, is well-known in the *Mahābhārata* and the *Purāṇas*.⁵ But it has no reference to Sutasoma or any other person named in the *Jātaka* story. The story, with almost the same oft-repeated *gāthās*, occurs in the *Jayaddisa Jātaka*,⁶ where however the hero-king is Jayaddisa of Pañcāla. All this makes us doubtful of the real existence of Sutasoma.⁷

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¹ J., V, pp. 457 ff.

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² Ibid., p. 479-G. 396 : “*Koravyaseṭṭha Sutasoma*.”

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³ Ibid., pp. 491-2 GG. 429-438.

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⁴ Ibid., p. 503-GG, 471-2 This shows the inconsistent nature of the *Jātakas*—between the prose and the *gāthās*.

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⁵ MBH., I, 178-9; *Viṣṇu P.*, IV, 4; See Pargiter, *A. I. H. T*, pp. 208 ff. According to the *Jātaka* story, it was after this king Kammāsapāda that a town named Kammāsadhamma was founded in Kuru Kingdom. Cf. Law, *op cit.*, I, p. 18; Rhys Davids, *Buddhist India*, p. 27.

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⁶ J. V, pp. 21 ff

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⁷ Sutasoma appears as the name of a son of Bhima in the MBH., I, 63, 122 ; 95, 74 ; the story of Sutasoma is referred to in the *Milindapañho* (1st cent. B.C.); The *Jātaka* is also depicted in a fresco at Ajaṇṭā.

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Such is perhaps also the case with King Reṇu mentioned in the *Somanassa Jātaka*.⁸ The *Jātaka* makes him the king of Kuru with Uttarapañcāla as his capital city, which is rather interesting. We cannot say whether this statement is based on fact or is an outcome of the confused ignorance of the *Jātaka* compiler. It must however be admitted that there is nothing improbable in this, since we know that ‘a great struggle raged in ancient times between the Kurus and the Pañcālas for the possession of Uttarapañcāla’.⁹ And king Reṇu, in this case, might in all probability have taken possession of Uttarapañcāla after a bitter struggle with a Pañcāla king and made it his seat of government.

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⁸ J., IV, pp. 444 ff. Only one *gāthā*, 192, names him.

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⁹ Raychaudhury, P. H. A. I., p. 94, cf. MBH., I, 140.

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The story relates, that once a rebellion broke out in the frontier. The king went to suppress it, leaving his son Prince Somanassa (by queen Sudhhammā¹⁰) in charge of the government. On his return a false charge was brought against his son by a deceitful ascetic. Trusting upon the ascetic, the king ordered the prince to be executed. He however soon came to realize the falsity of the charge, and then began to implore his son to take the charge of the kingdom which the latter forsook in disgust and turned an ascetic. This is a story on which little reliance can be placed, in absence of further evidence to corroborate it. A king by the name of Reṇu is indeed mentioned in the Dīgha-Nikāya¹ and the Mahāvastu,² but the name of the kingdom over which he ruled is not specified.³ The Epic and the Purāṇas also mention a king Reṇu of Ayodhyā whose daughter Reṇukā was married to Jamadagni, father of Paraśurāma⁴. But these scanty and imperfect evidences carry us no further.

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¹⁰ J., IV, pp. 452-G. 215.

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¹ II, 230 ff; Dialogues of the Buddha, II, pp. 266 ff.

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² See Law, A Study of the Mahāvastu p. 146. He is also referred to in the Dīpavaṃsa, III, 40, apparently as the king of Benares.

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³ In the Nikāya passage his kingdom is said to have been, in the middle of the seven kingdoms of Kaliṅga, Assaka, Avanti, Sovira, Videha, Aṅga and Kāsi. Prof. Rhys Davids in a note on the above passage, says: ‘None of the seven kingdoms is in the midst of others. Benares would suit that position less badly than any other.’ op. cit., p. 270. If Reṇu’s kingdom is not to be included in the list, Kuru may well be a better substitute.

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⁴ Pargiter, A. I. H. T., pp. 151, 199.

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Dr. Raychaudhury⁵ draws our attention to the Jaina Uttarādhyayana Sūtra which mentions a king Iśukāra ruling at the town called Iśukāra in the Kuru country.⁶ We are at once reminded of a king of the same or similar name Esukārī of the Hatthipāla Jātaka,⁷ who seems to have been passed unnoticed by the learned Doctor. The story of Esukārī, as related in the above Jātaka, agrees remarkably well with that found in the Jaina Sūtra. Even some of the gāthās in both the versions agree literally.⁸ These facts lead us to identify the two kings—Iśukāra and Esukārī. But there is one chief difference between the two that cannot be passed over. The Jātaka-Esukārī reigned in Benares and not in Iśukāra (in Kuru kingdom) as the Jaina Sūtra says. But here again, is not the Jātaka in all probability guilty of foisting upon the Kuru king its own pet kingdom of Benares? It seems the Jaina tradition is much more reliable, and we may take it that Esukārī was a Kuru king. The interesting and untoward reference in a gāthā of our Jātaka,⁹ to the fact that Esukārī’s queenconsort was a Pañcālī, may, indeed, lend a significant support to our conclusion.

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⁵ P. H. A. I., p. 94.

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⁶ It must be stated here that it is the commentary, and not the Sūtra text itself, that places the town in Kuru country: Jacobi, Jain Sūtras, S.B.E., XLV, p. 61 note.

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⁷ J., IV, pp. 473 ff.

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⁸ Some of the verses occurring in both are traced even in the Great Epic, xii, 175, and the Dhammapada. It appears that this remarkable dialogue between Father and Son must have been very ancient to be the common source of the Buddhists, the Jainas and the Brāhmaṇas: Winternitz, History of Indian Literature, I, pp. 417-8 note; J. Charpentier, Z. D. M. G., 62 (1908) p. 725 ff.

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⁹ J., IV, p. 486-G. 312: “Eva pi mam tvam udatāri bhoti Pañcāli gāthāhi subhāsitāhi.” It is not improbable, we think, that herein is to be traced an unrecorded alliance between the Kuru and the Pañcāla kings, the outcome of which was the marriage of a Pañcāla princess with the Kuru king.

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The long and short of the story itself, even if we confine ourselves to the gāthās alone, is this: King Esukārī had no son. So he wanted to make one of the Purohita’s sons king, but all of them turned out ascetics. So did also the Purohita and his wife; then the king also embraced religious life, and last the queen:

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“Thus Esukārī, mighty king, the lord of many lands,
From King turned hermit, like an elephant that bursts his bands”.¹⁰

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¹⁰ Ibid., G. 313 (abhisambuddha gāthā); Cf. the Jaina Sūtra, loc. cit. which quotes similar gāthā.

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"It seems probable," says Dr. Raychaudhury,¹ "that after the removal of the main royal family to Kauśāmbi,² the Kuru realm was parcelled out into small states of which Indapatta and Iśukāra were apparently the most important. Later on the little principalities gave place to a Saṅgha or republic" known to Kauṭilya.³

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¹ P. H. A. I., p. 94.

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² This happened in the reign of Nicakṣu, the fifth successor of Janamejaya Pārikṣita when Hastināpura the old capital was destroyed by the Gangas 'flood' or rather by the inroads of the locusts (malachi) presumably a few centuries after the Great War, Ibid., pp. 27, 46-7.

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³ Arthaśāstra, XI, 1. The existence of the Kurus can be traced as late as the time of King Dharmapāla of Bengal (800 A.D.) Dutt, Aryanisation of India, p. 125.

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Here finishes our information about the Kuru kings as supplied by the Jātakas, and we may now take up the Pañcāla Kings.

Cites (16)