Thursday, June 24, 2021

THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF KING YAYATI


Yayati was a powerful king who ruled seven islands of the world, whose father was King Nahusa from the Aila dynasty. Yati was the eldest son of Nahusa who became sage and he was succeeded by Nahusa’s second son Yayati. Nahusa reigned Pratishthan/Pratishthanpura, a place near #Prayagraj and married #Ashokasundari (daughter of Shiv-parvati). Pratishthanpura is currently known as Jhunsi (not Jhansi) and was the central capital. The empire was spread till Saraswati River in the west where generations of Purus later settled. Yayati had two queens; Devayani and Sharmistha.  #Devayani gave birth to Yadu and Turvasu, and #Sharmistha gave birth to Druhyu (now known as Druids), Anu and Puru. 

Puru: The central kingdom of Prathisthanpura was given to his youngest son “Puru” as he was the most righteous king. The #southeast kingdom was given to #Druhyu, #south kingdom to his son #Yadu, the #west to his son #Turvasu and #north to his son #Anu. Yayati enthroned his youngest son, Puru, as the emperor of the entire world and the proprietor of all its riches, and he placed all the other sons, who were older than Puru, under Puru's control. [1]  Son of Puru was Janamejaya; his son was Prachinvat; his son was Pravira; his son was Manasyu; his son was Bhayada; his son was Sudyumna; his son was Bahugava; his son was Samyati; his son was Ahamyati; his son was Raudraswa, who had ten sons, Riteyu, Kaksheyu, Sthandileyu, Ghriteyu, Jaleyu, Sthaleyu, Santateyu, Dhaneyu, Vaneyu, and Vrateyu. The son of Riteyu was Rantinara. whose sons were Tansu, Apratiratha, and Dhruva. The son of the second of these was Kanwa, and his son was Medhatithi, from whom the Kanwayana Brahmanas descended. Anila was the son of Tansu, and he had four sons, of whom Dushyanta was the elder. The son of Dushyanta was the emperor #Bharata. In the same lineage was son of Suhotra, whose son was Hastin, who founded the city of #Hastinapura. Further in same lineage was the great king #Prithu, son of king Para. Prithu compels Earth to acknowledge his authority: he levels it: introduces cultivation: erects cities. Earth named after him Prithivi: typified as a cow. In the same lineage after many generation was King #Kuru who gave his name to #Kurukshetra. [7]

#Yadu gave rise to Yadu vansha, and one of his descandents was Lord Krishna. Yadu had four sons, #Sahasrajit, #Kroshti, Nala, and Raghu. SAHASRAJIT was the son of the elder of these, and he had three sons, Haihaya, Venu, and Haya. The son of Haihaya was Dharmanetra; his son was Kunti; his son was Sahanji; his son was Mahishmat; his son was Bhadrasena; his son was Durdama; his son was Dhanaka, who had four sons, Kritaviryya, Kritagni, Kritavarman, and Kritaujas. Kritaviryya's son was Arjuna (not Mahabharat Period). At the expiration of his long reign Krittavirya was killed by Lord Parasurama. [8] Of the sons of this king, the five principal were Sura, Surasena, Vrishana, Madhu, and Jayadhwaja. In the same lineage was Vrisha whose son was Madhu; he had a hundred sons, the chief of whom was Vrishni, and from him the family obtained the name of Vrishni (Krishna was born in Vrishni). From the name of their father, Madhu, they were also called #Madhavas; whilst from the denomination of their common ancestor Yadu, the whole were termed Yadavas.[8] Similarly the lineage of Krosthi, Nala and Raghu goes is defined in Vishnu Puran.

Turvasu: The son of Turvasu was Vahni; his son was Gobanu; his son was Traisamba; his son was Karandhama; his son was Marutta. Marutta had no children, and he therefore adopted Dushyanta, of the family of Puru; by which the line of Turvasu merged into that of Puru. [2]

Druhyu (The #Druids): Druhyus and his descendant are believed to have formed the Twipra Kingdom[3] and Mandhata Kingdom also called Shivapuri or Onkareshwar, is an island in the Narmada river in Khandwa district in Madhya Pradesh [4] The Puranas says from Narmada they moved north-west, and then settled in Gandhara. (VP IV.17) The Druhyus were driven out of the land of the seven rivers by Mandhatr and their next king Ghandara settled in a north-western region which became known as Ghandara. The Pracetas [the sons of Praceta] occupied the northern side of India (Afghanisthan to Kashmir), which was devoid of Vedic civilization, and became kings there. (Bhagavata 9.23.15-16; Visnu 4.17.5; Vayu 99.11-12; Brahmanda 3.74.11-12 and Marsya 48.9., [5]. More recently, some scholars have theorised that the Druhyu could be ancestors of Zoroastrian, Iranian, Greek or European peoples, or more likely, the Celtic Druid class. Particularly, as the Rg Veda describes this proto-Indo European tribe as migrating North. [6]

Anu: The names of Anu(s) and Druhyus are often taken together due to #Anu_Druhyu_Migration [10]. Anu, the fourth son of Yayati, had three sons, Sabhanara, Chakshusha, and Paramekshu. The son of the first was Kalanara; his son was Srinjaya; his son was Puranjaya; his son was Janamejaya; his son was Mahamani; his son was Mahamanas, who had two sons, Usinara and Titikshu. Usinara had five sons, Sivi, Trina, Gara, Krimi, Darvan. Sivi had four sons, Vrishadarbha, Suvira, Kaikeya, and Madra. Titikshu had one son, Ushadratha; his son was Hema; his son was Sutapas; his son was Bali, on whose wife five sons were begotten by Dirghatamas, or #Anga, Banga, Kalinga, Suhma, and Pundra; and their descendants, and the five countries they inhabited, were known by the same names. The son of Anga was Para; whose genealogy continued to Mahabharat period where Satyakarma was Dhritavrata, Satyakarma’s son was Adhiratha, who found #Karna of Mahabharat in a basket. The son of Karna was Vrishasena. These were the Anga kings.

Pratishthana of Jhunsi was the most important locality of Prayagraj, the city of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati river and it was founded by King Aila and was the capital of Pururavas and other kings of Lunar Dynasty. The place gave the start to the current world’s population of Yadus, Tarvasus-Purus, Druhyus and Anu(s) which migrated all around the world. Once belonging to the rulers of Maurya, Shunga, Kushana and Gupta period, the ancient Pratisthana has lost its identity to the modernity of Jhunsi. Kalidasa too mentions about Pratishthana in his Sanskrit drama Vikramōrvaśīyam. He has given an imaginary account of this palace of Pururavas which was magnificent. Various myths are also associated with this site. An inscription of Trilochanapala, the Pratihara king, was discovered from the site in 1830. There are various legends associated with this place. 



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References & Readings:

[1] http://www.prabhupada.de/Books/SB/09/19.html

[2] http://ancientvoice.wikidot.com/vp:turvasu

[3] A sper Rajmala, the ancient royal chronicle of the Kings of Tripura

[4] http://www.jatland.com/home/Mandhata

[5] http://vedabase.net/sb/9/23/en1

[6] http://www.indiadivine.org/.../1111841-sanskrit-in-english/

[7] http://ancientvoice.wikidot.com/src-vp:vp4-19

[8] Vishnu Puran, Book 4, Chapter 11. [http://ancientvoice.wikidot.com/src-vp:vp4-11]

[9] A History of Travancore by P. Shungoonny Menon. https://archive.org/details/ahistorytravanc00menogoog

[10] https://vamadevananda.wordpress.com/tag/druhyus/


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