Vrishni
Vrishnis | |||||||
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5th century BCE–4th century CE | |||||||
Silver coin of a "King Vrishni" (of the
Buddhist railing. Brahmi legend Vṛishṇi Raja jnâgaṇyasya blubharasya Rev Large Dharmachakra symbol. Kharosthi legend Vrishni Raja jnâganyasya blubharasya.[1] | |||||||
Prakritanak Nagar | |||||||
Government | Republic | ||||||
History | |||||||
• Established | 5th century BCE | ||||||
• Disestablished | 4th century CE | ||||||
|
The Vrishnis (
Migration of Vrishnis to Dvaraka
End of the Vrishnis
After the death of Duryodhana in Mahabharata, Krishna received the curse of Gandhari. She bewailed the death of her son and of friend and foe; then recognizing Hari as the Prime Mover, the One behind All, she cursed him for letting such things befall. This was her curse: that after 36 years Krishna should perish alone miserably and his people, the Vrishnis, should be destroyed. These things in due time came to pass. A madness seized the people of Dvaraka so that they fell upon one another and were slain, together with all sons and grandsons of Krishna. Only the women and Krishna and Balarama remained alive. Then Balarama went to the forest, and Krishna first sent a messenger to the Kuru city, to place the city and women of Dvaraka under the Pandavas protection, and then took leave of his father; afterward he himself sought the forest, where Balarama awaited him. Krishna discovered his brother seated under a mighty tree on the edge of the forest; he sat like a yogi, and behold, there came forth from his mouth a mighty snake, the thousand headed naga, Ananta, and glided away to ocean. Ocean himself and the sacred rivers and many divine nagas came to meet him. Thus Krishna beheld his brother depart from human world, and he wandered alone in forest. He thought of Gandhari's curse and all that had befallen, and he knew that the time had come for his own departure. He restrained his senses in yoga and laid himself down. Then there came a hunter that way and thought him a deer, and loosed a shaft and pierced his foot; but when he came close the hunter beheld a man wrapped in yellow robes practicing yoga. Thinking himself an offender, he touched his feet. Then Krishna rose and gave him comfort, and himself ascended to Heaven. The hunter is said to be rebirth of Vali from Ramayana who was killed by Rama by hiding behind a tree and was therefore given the opportunity to avenge in similar fashion by Rama himself.[5]
Vrishnis in ancient literature
Pāṇini in his Ashtadhyayi (IV.1.114, VI.2.34) mentioned about the Vrishnis along with the Andhakas. The Arthashastra of Kautilya described the Vrishnis as a sangha (tribal confederation). In the Mahabharata (Drona Parva, 141.15) the Vrishnis and the Andhakas are referred as Vratyas.[6]
Vrishni coins
"Vrishni heroes"
The
-
Vrishni triad shown in a rock painting at Tikla, Madhya Pradesh, 3rd-2nd century BCE. These would be Saṃkarṣaṇa (with plough and mace), Vāsudeva (with mace and wheel) and a female deity, probably Ekanamsha.[20]
Vrishni Family Tree
The following chart shows the family tree of Krishna.[5][21][22]
Vrishni♂ | consort♀# | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Yudhajit♂ | consort♀# | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Anamitra♂ | consort♀# | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vrishni♂ | consort♀# | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chitraratha♂ | consort♀# | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Viduratha♂ | consort♀# | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4 generations | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hridika♂ | consort♀# | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Devamidha♂ | Mandisha♀# Vaishyvarna♀# | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Surasena ♂ | Bhojrajkumari♀# | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Devaki♀# | Vasudeva♂ | Rohini♀# | Kunti♀ | 9 other sons♂ | 4 other daughters♀ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Krishna♂ | other sons♂ | Balarama♂ | Subhadra♀ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rukmini♀# | Satyabhama♀# | Jambavati♀# | Nagnajiti♀# | Kalindi♀# | Madra♀# | Mitravinda♀# | Bhadra♀# | Rohini♀# | 16,100 other wives♀# | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pradyumna, Charudeshna, Sudeshna, Charudeha, Sucharu, Charugupta, Bhadracharu, Charuchandra, Vicharu and Charu | Bhanu, Subhanu, Svarbhanu, Prabhanu, Bhanuman, Chandrabhanu, Brihadbhanu, Atibhanu, Shreebhanu and Pratibhanu | Samba, Sumitra, Purujit, Satajit, Sahasrajit, Vijaya, Citraketu, Vasuman, Dravida and Kratu | Vira, Candra, Asvasena, Citragu, Vegavan, Vrisha, Ama, Sanku, Vasu and Kunti | Sruta, Kavi, Vrisha, Vira, Subahu, Bhadra, Santi, Darsa, Purnamasa and Somaka | Praghosha, Gatravan, Simha, Bala, Prabala, Urdhaga, Mahasakti, Saha, Oja and Aparajita | Vrika, Harsha, Anila, Gridhra, Vardhana, Unnada, Mahamsa, Pavana, Vahni and Kshudhi | Sangramajit, Brihatsena, Sura, Praharana, Arijith, Jaya and Subhadra, Vama, Ayur and Satyaka | Diptiman, Tamratapta and 8 others | each wife had 10 sons and 1 daughter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- The members born to the family are linked with solid lines (—)
- The wives of the male members are linked with dashed lines (--)
- Up to Surasena only the male members leading to the generation of Krishna are shown and other members are ignored.
- The individual male members shown in the chart are denoted by the symbol "♂".
- The individual female members shown in the chart are denoted by the symbol "♀".
- The female members who not born to the family but are related through marriage are denoted by the symbol "#".
- The sons of Krishna born to each of his eight princely wives are not shown separately due to their large number.
- The names of the children of Krishna born to each of the rest of his 16,100 wives are not mentioned.
Medieval Vrishnis
The medieval
See also
- Vrishni heroes
- Yadavas
- Surasena Kingdom
- Mathura
References
- ^ a b c Alexander Cunningham's Coins of Ancient India: From the Earliest Times Down to the Seventh Century (1891) p.70 [2]
- ISBN 978-1-61069-211-3.
- ISBN 0226742210.
- ^ Pargiter F.E. (1922, reprint 1972). Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, pp.103-7
- ^ .
- ^ Raychaudhury, H.C. (1972). Political History of Ancient India, Calcutta: University of Calcutta, pp.126-8
- ^ Lahiri, Bela (1974). Indigenous States of Northern India (Circa 200 B.C. to 320 A.D.), Calcutta: University of Calcutta, pp.242-3
- ^ ISBN 90-04-10758-4.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-7099-211-0.
- ISBN 978-0-521-43878-0.
- ISBN 978-1-351-12360-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-317-1120-0.
- JSTOR 20111096.
- ISBN 978-90-04-15537-4.
- JSTOR 20111096.
- JSTOR 20111096.
- ISBN 978-81-7017-107-2.
- ISBN 978-90-04-10758-8.
- ISBN 978-93-88414-31-9.
- ^ Gupta, Vinay K. "Vrishnis in Ancient Literature and Art". Indology's Pulse Arts in Context, Doris Meth Srinivasan Festschrift Volume, Eds. Corinna Wessels Mevissen and Gerd Mevissen with Assistance of Vinay Kumar Gupta: 71.
- ^ "Krishna's visit to Prabhasa along with his family, Mausala Parva, Mahabharata - Kashiram Das". Archived from the original on 2013-12-12. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
- ^ Family Trees, The descendants of Pururava.
- ^ Aiya, V. Nagam. The Travancore State Manual. Vol 1. Part 2. Trivandrum: The Travancore Government Press, 1906 [3]
- S2CID 162972188.
- ISBN 978-81-264-1578-6 [4]