Battle of the Ten Kings
| Battle of the Ten Kings | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Trtsu-Bharata (Indo-Aryans) |
Alina Anu Bhrigus (Indo-Aryans) Bhalanas Dasa (Dahae?) Druhyus (Gandharis) Matsya (Indo-Aryans) Parsu (Persians) Purus (Indo-Aryans) Panis (Parni) |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
King Sudas Vashishta |
The Ten Kings Vishvamitra |
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| Strength | |||||||||
| Unknown but less | More than 6,666 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown but less | 6,666 (Mandala 7) | ||||||||
Rigvedic tribes conquered by Sudas
The Battle of the Ten Kings (dāśarājñá) is a battle alluded to in the Rigveda (Book 7, hymns 18, 33 and 83.4-8), the ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. The battle took place during the middle or main Rigvedic period, near the Ravi River in Punjab. It was a battle between the Puru Vedic Aryan tribal kingdoms of the Bharatas, allied with other tribes of the north west India, guided by the royal sage Vishvamitra, and the Trtsu-Bharata (Puru) king Sudas, who defeats other Vedic tribes.
K. F. Geldner in his 1951 translation of the Rigveda considers the hymns as "obviously based on an historical event", even though all details save for what is preserved in the hymns have been lost. Further details have been provided in an incisive discussion of this hymn by H.P. Schmidt.
The Trtsu are the tribe led by king Sudas. Sudas himself is included in the "ten kings", as the Trtsus are said to be surrounded by ten kings in 7.33.5. But it is not made explicit how this number is supposed to be broken down: if of the tribes mentioned in 7.18, the Turvasas, Yaksuss (pun for Yadu), Matsyas, Bhrgus, Druhyus, Pakthas, Bhalanas, Alinas, Shivas and Visanins are counted, the full number is reached, leaving the Anavas (7.18.14), the Ajas and Sigrus (7.18.19) and the "21 men of both Vaikarna tribes" (7.18.11) without a king, and implying that Bheda (7.18.19, also mentioned 7.33.3 and 7.83.4, the main leader slain by Sudas), Shimyu (7.18.5), and Kavasa (7.18.12) are the names of individual kings. The Bharatas are named among the enemies in 7.33 but not in 7.18.
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