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It would be absurd to maintain that the names of al great men born before Buddha were forgotten and substituted by fake ones. Neverthless, the puranas, the main source for the political hstory of the pre Buddha period, are so corrupt and so full of mythology that if there was no other independent source for corroroborating them, we would have been compelled to discard their evidence. The fact however is that the same great kings and sages, as are found in the Puranas enveloped in mythology, are also found practically without any myths in the Vedic literature,which is not only absolutely independent of but also far moreancient than the Puranas in their present shape. If the names and pedigree of a whole series of kings or seers are found to be identical in two independent sources, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that these kings or seers could not have been mere figments of imagination. One has, however, to be extremely cautious and careful in extricting the grain of truth from the husk of myths if one wishes to deal with the account of any of these men in a hstorical perspective.
An attmept has been made in the following pages to give the life stories of ten great men of pre-Buddha India from a historical point of view suitable for laymen as well as scholars. These ten men in chronological order are Bharata, Visvamitra, Parasurama, Sudas, Bhagiratha, Rama, Vyasa, Krishna, Janamejaya and Valmiki. Ths shold, however nt be taken to mean that tere were no other great personages who laid India under obligation by their achievements. A great rishi like Agastya, who took the light of Vedic religion and culture to South India, an eminent sage like Yajnavalka, who graced court of king Janaka(not the father of Sita), a learned lady like Gargi, who adorned the same court and a lover of all beings like the Jain prophet Parsvanatha, who was the precursor of Mahavira, cannot be excluded from the list of those who laid the foundation of Indian civilisation.
The literature of ancient India can be divided into two classes, the religious and the secular. The religious literature, which is more ancient and has been more carefully preserved, is called Vedic literature. In chronological order it consists of Samhitas, Brahmanas and Upanishads.
The four Vedas, Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda, are called Samhitas or collections, and consist for the most part of prayers addressed to gods. The most ancient as well as the most important of these Samhitas is Rigveda. The period dring most of its hymns were composed is called Rigvedic period. This period began somewhat before the middle of the third millenium B.C. and lasted roughly up to 1800 B.C. The composition of the Rigvedic hymns, however, continued even in the period of the composition of the prayers of later Vedas and hence some of htese hymns belong to later vedic period.
The three later Vedas are the Samaveda, the Yajurveda and the Atharvaveda. Of these, the Yajurveda is found in two recensions called the Black Yajurveda and the white Yajurveda. The period when the hymns and prayers of these Vedas were composed is called the later Vedic period, which lasted till about 1100 B.C. These three Vedas also contain some allusions to historical persons though they are not as copious as those found in the Rigveda.
The Samhitas were followed by works called the Brahmanas which deal with the sacrificial ceremonial. Each Veda has its own Brahmanas. The most noted Brahamans are as following. To the Samaveda belong the Pancavimsa and Jaiminiya Brahmanas. and to the white Yajurveda belongs the Satapatha Brahmana. At the end of some of the Brahmanas are found portions called Aranyakas.
The last division of the Vedic literature are the Upnisads which are the sources of the great Vedanta philosophy. The principal Upnisads are the Aitareya, the Kausitaki, the Chandogya,the Kena, the Katha, the Taittiriya, the Svetasvaara, the Isa, the Brhadaranyaka, the Mundaka, the Prasna, and the Mandukya Upnisads. The first two belong to Rigveda and next two to Samveda, the next three to the Black Yajurveda, the next two to the White Yajurveda and the last three to the Atharveda.
The period when the vast Brahmana and Upnisad literature was composed lasted for about five hundred years, roughly from 1100 B.C. to 600 B.C. This period is called the period of Brahmanas and Upnisads. The works belonging to this period, particularly the Aitareya and Satapatha Brahmanas, contain much historical information of the period when they were composed as well as of the Rogvedic and the later Vedic periods.
THE KING AFTER WHOM INDIA IS CALLED BHARATA
A people who called themselves Aryas, and whose religion and culture have been inherited both by the Hindus and Parsees, crossed over to the east of the rived Sindhu or Indus and settled in its valley at at date not later than 2600 B.C. The earliest Aryan patriach mentioned in both Hindu scripture Rigveda and the Parsee scripture Avesta was Vivasvant (called Vivanhant in the Avasta). His son Manu, whose name is usually preceded or followed by his patronumic Vaivasvata, was the leader of the Aryans who crossed the river Sindhu and settled in its Valley. He is said to have been forced to leave his original homeland on account of a huge flood that devastated it. Vaivasata Manu along with three other patriachs, Bhrgu, Atri, and Kasyapa, laid the foundation of ARYAN Civilisation in India. Vaivasvata Manu was the progenitor of all the Ksatriya or ruling families and from the other three patriachs were descended the earliest Brahman or priestly families.
The region where Aryans settled after crossing the river Sindhu came to be called Saptsindhu or the land of seven rivers.(Punjab, which is now land of five rivers). The most important of these rivers was, of course the Sindhu. Its five great eastern tributaries wee the Vitasta or Jhelum, the Asikni or Chenab, the Parusni or Ravi, the Vipas or Beus and the Sutudri or Sutlej. The seventh river was holy Sarasvati. This region saw the rise of four kingdoms founded by the four sons of Manu named Sudyumma, Iksvaka, Pramsu, and Saryati, the most famous of whom were the first two. Sudyumma seems to have established a kingdom on the banks of the Sarasvati. Being probably childless, he adopted a son of his sister Ila. This was the celebrated Pururavas Aila, whose great-grandson Yayati made his kingdom so prosperous that according to both Rigveda and Mahabharta, the river Sarasvati yielded milk nd ghee to him.
Yayati had five sons, Yadu, Turvasa, Drhuya, Anu and Puru. The youngest of them, Puru, succeeded him, while the other four founded new kingdoms towards the west of the river Sarasvati, probably by conquering part of the territory over which the descendants of Pramsu ruled. The descendants of Puru were called the Purus or Pauravas. (Same Pauras of Alexander fame, was descendant of Puru). Fifteen generation after Puru, a king named Dusyanta was born in his dynasty. Dusyanta married the beautiful maiden Sakuntala. The son of Dusyanta and Sakuntla wa the illustrious king Bharata.
Bharata was a king with difference. The Rigveda, the Aitareya Brahmana, the Satapatha Brahmana, the Mahabharta and the Purana all sing his eulogies. He was a pious king, a great conquerer, a magnificient scrificer and a man of high principles.
The Bharata was a pious king, loved by his subjects, is proved by a verse of Rigveda. In this verse a rishi or seer of the Atri family tells us that the Maruts, the atmospheric deities, pleased by his peity, bestowed on Bharata horses and food in ample mesure and made the king happy. This eulogy clearly indicates that the prosperity ofthe kingdom of Bharata was in the opinion ofthe rishi, attributable to his devotion to the Aryan religion.
Bharat was perhaps the greatest conquerer of the early Vedic age. He made conquest both in the west and the east of his kingdom, which lay on either side of the river Sarasvati. In the west the defeats of Satvants, the descendants of Yadu, by him is recorded in the Satpatha Brahmana. In the east he went further than any previous Aryan king had gone. He is the first recorded Aryan king who carried arms beyond the Yamuna up to the river Ganga. The Aitareya Brahmana and the Mahabharata imply that he made conquests up to the river Ganga when they speak of his sacrifices on the banks ofthe sarasvati, the Yamuna, and the Ganga.
One of the reasons for Bharata's celebrity was the performance of a number of horse sacrifices by him. A king wishing to establish his suzerainty over other kings in ancient time, sent a horse with gurads in different directions and when this horse returned unchallenged he performed a grand sacrifice which was attended by all the kings who acknowledge his suzerainty. A verse of Rigveda attributed to the rishi Bharadvaja, a contemporary of Bharata, tells us that Bharata propitiated Agni by numerous horses sacrifices. This is confirmed by the Satapatha Brahmana s well as the Aitareya Brhmana and the Mahabharata. The performance of a number of horse sacrifices by Bharata is a positive proof of the fact that he had led many successful military expeditions in different directions and made wide conquests. The aitareya Brahmana further informs us that in recognition of his wide sway he ws consecrated by the celebrated rishi Dirghatamas with an exalted form of coronation rite called the Aindra Mahabhiseka, signifying universal sovereignty.
Bharata was a man of high principles, and his first concern was the well-being of his subjects. He had nine sons, but since he did not find any of them fit to govern his kingdom after him, he disinherited all of them and adopted a descendant of rishi Bharadvaja named Vidatha as his son and successor. This selfless and courageous act further raised him in the esteem of the people.
Bharata's descendans were called Bharatas or Bharatas. Among them were born some of the most illustrious peresonages of ancient times and the gret epic Mahabharta was composed to commemorate their deeds of valor. Their prestige rose so high that the whole country from Kashmir to Cape Comorin came to be called Bharatavarsa, the land of Bharatas. An oft-quoted verse of the Puranas which succinctly states this fact runs as follows in its English translation:
The country that is north of the ocean and south of the Himalayas bears the name Bharata. The people of this country are the inheritors of Bharata's glory.
Originally posted by: Sandeep S Bajwa on soc.culture.indian
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