Sudas

Sudās (Sanskrit: सुदास्) was an Indo-Aryan tribal king of the Bhāratas, during the main or middle Rigvedic period (c. 14th century BCE).[1]

He led his tribe to victory in the Battle of the Ten Kings near the Paruṣṇī (modern Ravi River) in Punjab, defeating an alliance of the powerful Puru tribe with other tribes, for which he was eulogised by his purohita Vashistha in a hymn of the Rigveda. His victory established the ascendency of the Bhārata clan, allowing them to move eastwards and settle in Kurukshetra, paving the way for the emergence of the Kuru "super-tribe" or tribal union, which dominated northern India in the subsequent period.[2]

He was a son or descendant of Divodasa. Divodasa was a descendant of Srnjaya, who in turn was a descendant of Devavata.

His name means "giving well", an s-stem, either from a root dās, or with the extra s added to avoid an archaic root noun in ā, Sudā-, which would easily be mistaken for a feminine name. Sudas can differently mean "one who gives beautiful gifts/ bountiful/ giver of great gifts". [3]

See also

References

  1. Witzel, Michael (2000). "The Languages of Harappa". In Kenoyer, J.. Proceedings of the conference on the Indus civilization.
  2. Witzel, Michael (1995), "Early Sanskritization: Origin and Development of the Kuru state", EJVS vol. 1 no. 4 (1995)
  3. Rahul Sankrityayan's "Volga Se Ganga".

Further reading

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