RgVeda's Dasharajna Yuddh Bharat's First Itihaasa? | Dr Shankar N Kashyap |

The RgVeda's 7th mandala mentions an epic battle on river Ravi's banks between King Sudas of Bharatas and King Cayamana of Anus (leading a confederacy of 10 disgruntled kings) which is also a battle between two of the RgVeda's most powerful sages - Vashista and Vishwamitra. Extensive research into Vedic scriptures and Harappan archaeological records helped create a fascinating insight into this paradigm shifting battle whose outcome decided the future of India's great epics - Ramayana and Mahabharata.


About the Speaker:
Dr. Shankar N Kashyap is an Orthopaedic surgeon practicing in the UK. Over 25 years of research into ancient Indian history led to the publication of 3 fictionalised books on the Harappan civilisation. Active blogger on everything Harappan and has lectured on the subject in the UK and India.


Sub topics:
0:00 Power Statements
1:34 What is the RgVed's epic 'Dasharajna Yuddh'
4:27 Where did it take place?
5:13 A prelude/background to the Dasharajna yuddh
8:21 Yayati's Curse
12:35 The river Saraswati in the RgVed
16:35 Rgved - An Introduction
21:37 Gods, Sages and Kings - The 'Actors' in the Dasharajna Yuddh
23:35 When did the Dasharajna Yuddh take place?
25:10 Brief statistics of the Dasharajna Yuddh mentioned in Book 7 Hymn 18 of the RgVed
26:01 Dasharajna Yuddh in brief
31:41 Should this battle be elevated to the status of an 'Epic'?
38:54 Question and Answer session
Questions:

Q) King Sudas did an Ashwamedha yagna. So how did that make King Sudas different from any other conqueror/emperor?
Q) More info on the defeated tribes like the Yazidis and Pakhtuns, etc. of the Dasharajna Yuddh? what happened to them after the battle?
Q) King Sudas - Moral superiority Vs Imperialism?
Q) Anu tribe went to Turkey and Greece? Druhyus tribe went to Central Europe? Turvasus tribe went to Central Asia and the Yadus tribe settled in Israel after defeat in the Dasharajna Yuddh? Is this correct?
Q) Which RgVeda hymns describe the clashing beliefs of the opposing tribes in the Dasharajna Yuddh? Any other Indian text that mentions this battle?
Q) What punishment was handed over to the defeated tribes by King Sudas?
Q) Bhagwat Purana written by Vyasa himself mentions that many manavantras ago the Gajendra Moksha event happened and that the elephant in his past life was a South Indian Aryan King. So that shows that there are such events of dharma being the core of every living being and such battles have been happening since time immemorial.
Q) The Aryan Migration theory if taken to be true then why does India and Sanatan Dharma only have the Vedas as the epicentre as compared to the other cultures outside who supposedly entered in to India?
Q) What is the opinion/commentary of our ancient seers on the RgVed's Dasharajna Yuddh?
Q) Akkadian/Assyrian people are they the Asuras in the Vedas?
Q) Did the constant strife mentioned in the Puranas between Vishwamitra and sage Vasishtha escalate in to this Dasharajna war?
Q) A little later in the RgVed there is a mention of the third generation of King Sudas, whose name is King Somak and the 'Varshagir' Yuddh that is a replay of this Dasharajna battle. Why this continuous affiliation to this particular lineage in the RgVed of King Bharata and Sudas and later generations and how they reclaimed and kept the honour of Bhaaratvarsha?
Q) As a colonial conspiracy, calling the RgVed 'pastoral' will be counter-productive, because we as Sanatanis worship a pastoral person who is Krishna (a cowherd) and so it elevates the status of the Yadavas as nation-builders.
Q) The Indra motive in the Ramayana and Mahabharata, Rama ascends Indra's chariot in the ultimate fight with Ravana and in the Mahabharata Arjuna and Bhima basically Indra and Maruts are fighting side by side just like in the RgVeda?
Q) Puranic and Vedic gods are different so how did the transition happen? Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma were not Gods in the Vedas so how did they become Gods? In Ramayana and Mahabharata period which Gods did people worship?
Q) When we are talking about Vedas, shouldn't we take a holistic view rather than a subjective view of Gods and Bhagwaans?
Q) The Archaeological Survey of India has discovered Pashupati seal in the Harappan site which is considered to be proto-Shiva. So what importance Shiva had in the Harappan period/Vedic period?


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