Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s3.30

v2.c4.s3.30

Bharata is the name of a people of great importance in the Rigveda and the later literature. In the Rigveda they appear prominently in the third and seventh Maṇḍalas in connexion with Sudās and the Tṛtsus,¹ while in the sixth Maṇḍala they are associated with Divodāsa.² In one passage³ the Bharatas are, like the Tṛtsus, enemies of the Pūrus: there can be little doubt that Ludwig’s view of the identity of the Bharatas and and Tṛtsus is practically correct. More precisely Oldenberg⁵ considers that the Tṛtsus are the Vasiṣṭhas, the family singers of the Bharatas; while Geldner⁶ recognizes, with perhaps more probability, in the Tṛtsus the royal family of the Bharatas. That the Tṛtsus and Bharatas were enemies, as Zimmer⁷ holds, is most improbable even on geographical grounds, for the Tṛtsus in Zimmer’s view⁸ occupied the country to the east of the Paruṣṇī (Ravi), and the Bharatas must therefore be regarded as coming against the Tṛtsus from the west, whereas the Rigveda⁹ recognizes two Bharata chiefs on the Sarasvatī, Āpayā, and Dṛṣadvatī—that is, in the holy land of India, the Madhyadeśa. Hillebrandt¹⁰ sees in the connexion of the Tṛtsus and the Bharatas a fusion of two tribes; but this is not supported by any evidence beyond the fact that in his opinion some such theory is needed to explain Divodāsa’s appearing in connexion with the Bharadvāja family, while Sudās, his son, or perhaps grandson (cf. Pijavana), is connected with the Vasiṣṭhas and the Viśvāmitras.