Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s17.413

v1.c3.s17.413

It is difficult exactly to determine the character of the Tṛtsus, especially in their relation to the Bharatas, who under Viśvāmitra's guidance are represented as prospering and as advancing to the Vipāś and Śutudrī.⁸ Roth ingeniously brought this into connexion with the defeat of his enemies by Sudās, which is celebrated in the seventh book of the Rigveda—a book attributed to the Vasiṣṭha family—and thought that there was a reference in one verse⁹ to the defeat of the Bharatas by Sudās. But it seems certain that the verse is mistranslated, and that the Bharatas are really represented as victors with Sudās.¹⁰ Ludwig¹¹ accordingly identifies the Tṛtsus and the Bharatas. Oldenberg,¹² after accepting this view at first,¹³ later expressed the opinion that the Tṛtsus were the priests of the Bharata people, and therefore identical with the Vasiṣṭhas. This view is supported by the fact that in one passage¹⁴ the Tṛtsus are clearly described as wearing their hair in the peculiar manner affected by the Vasiṣṭhas,¹⁵ and would in that passage thus seem to represent the Vasiṣṭhas.