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तुर्वश (turvaza)

 
Capeller Eng
English
तुर्वश
m.
N.
 of an Aryan hero, mostly connected with
Yadu
pl.
 his race. तुर्व॑शाय॑दू
du.
 Turvaśa and Yadu.
Monier Williams Cologne
English
तुर्व॑श
m.
N.
 of a hero and ancestor of the Āryan race (named with Yadu
du.
 तुर्व॑शा य॑दू, ‘T° and Y°’, iv, 30, 17
pl.
 T°'s race),
RV.
Monier Williams 1872
English
तुर्वश तुर्वश, अस्, m. (also written तुर्वसु),
Ved., N. of a hero and ancestor of the Āryan race,
often mentioned in the Ṛg-veda and probably re-
lated to the Kaṇvas
he is generally mentioned
together with his brother Yadu
N. of a whole
race
[cf. तुर्वसु and तौर्वश।]
पुराणम्
English
तुर्वश / TURVAŚA. A King extolled in the ṛgveda. narya, turvaśa and turvīti were contemporaries. (Sūkta 54, Maṇḍala 1, ṛgveda).
Vedic Reference
English
Turvaśa occurs frequently in the Rigveda as the name of
a man or of a people, usually in connexion with Yadu. The
two words usually occur in the singular without any connecting
particle, Turvaśa Yadu or Yadu Turvaśa.^2 In a plural form
the name Turvaśa occurs once with the Yadus, ^3 and once
alone^4 in a hymn in which the singular has already been used.
In one passage^5 the dual Turvaśā-Yadū actually occurs, and
in another^6 Yadus Turvaś ca, ‘Yadu and Turva.’ In other
passages^7 Turvaśa appears alone, while in one^8 Turvaśa and
Yādva occur.
From these facts Hopkins^9 deduces the erroneousness of the
ordinary view, ^10 according to which Turvaśa is the name of
a tribe, the singular denoting the king, and regards Turvaśa
as the name of the Yadu king. But the evidence for this is
not conclusive. Without laying any stress on the argument
based on the theory^11 that the ‘five peoples’ of the Rigveda
are the Anus, Druhyus, Turvaśas, Yadus, and Pūrus, it is
perfectly reasonable to hold that the Turvaśas and Yadus were
two distinct though closely allied tribes. Such they evidently
were to the seers of the hymns which mention in the dual the
Turvaśā-Yadū and speak of Yadus Turvaś ca. This explanation
also suits best the use of the plural of Turvaśa in two Rigvedic
hymns.
In the Rigveda the chief exploit of Turvaśa was his partici-
pation in the war against Sudās, by whom he was defeated.^12
Hopkins^13 suggests that he may have been named Turvaśa
because of his fleet (tura) escape from the battle. His escape
1 i. 36, 18
54, 6
174, 9
vi. 20,
12
45, 1
viii. 4, 7
7, 18
9, 14
45, 27
x. 49, 8. In vii. 18, 6, Turvaśa
is joined with Yakṣu, apparently a con-
temptuous variant of Yadu (Hopkins,
Journal of the American Oriental Society,
15, 261). Cf. Tṛtsu.
may have been assisted by Indra, for in some passages^14 Indra's
aid to Turvaśa (and) Yadu is referred to
it is also significant
that the Anu, and apparently the Druhyu, kings are mentioned
as having been drowned in the defeat, but not the Turvaśa
and Yadu kings, and that Turvaśa appears in the eighth book
of the Rigveda as a worshipper of Indra with the Anu prince,
the successor, presumably, of the one who was drowned.^15
Griffith, ^16 however, proposes to refer these passages to a defeat
by Turvaśa and Yadu of Arṇa and Citraratha on the Sarayu
^17
but the evidence for this is quite inadequate.
Two passages of the Rigveda^18 seem to refer to an attack by
Turvaśa and Yadu on Divodāsa, the father of Sudās. It is
reasonable to suppose that this was an attack of the two
peoples on Divodāsa, for there is some improbability of the
references being to the Turvaśa, who was concerned in the
attack on Sudās, the son.
Zimmer^19 considers that the Turvaśas were also called Vṛcī-
vants. This view is based on a hymn^20 in which reference
is made to the defeat of the Vṛcīvants on the Yavyāvatī and
Hariyūpīyā in aid of Daivarāta, and of Turvaśa in aid of
Sṛñjaya, the latter being elsewhere^21 clearly the son of Deva-
rāta. But as this evidence for the identification of the Turvaśas
with the Vṛcīvants is not clear, it seems sufficient^22 to assume
that they were allies.
Later, in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, ^23 the Turvaśas appear
as allies of the Pañcālas, Taurvaśa horses, thirty-three in
number, and armed men, to the number of 6, 000, being
mentioned.^24 But otherwise the name disappears: this lends
probability to Oldenberge's conjecture^25 that the Turvaśas
became merged in the Pañcāla people. Hopkins^26 considers
that in the Śatapatha passage the horses were merely named
from the family of Turvaśa
but this view is less likely, since
it ignores the difficulty involved in the reference to the men.
It is impossible to be certain regarding the home of the
Turvaśas at the time of their conflict with Sudās. They
apparently crossed the Paruṣṇī, ^27 but from which side is dis-
puted. The view of Pischel^28 and Geldner, ^29 that they advanced
from the west towards the east, where the Bharatas were (see
Kuru), is the more probable.
2) v. 31, 8.
3) i. 108, 8.
4) viii. 4, 18
singular with Ānava in
viii. 4, 1.
5) iv. 30, 17.
6) x. 62, 10. Cf. Ludwig, Translation
of the Rigveda, 3, 166
Oldenberg,
Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen
Gesellschaft, 42, 220, n. 1.
7) i. 4, 77
vi. 27, 7. Cf. viii. 4, 1.
8) vii. 19, 8.
9) Op. cit., 258 et seq.
10) Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, 122,
124
Oldenberg, Buddha, 404
Ludwig,
op. cit., 153
Macdonell, Vedic Mythology,
p. 64
Sanskrit Literature, 153 et seq.,
etc.
11) Zimmer, 122, 124
Macdonell,
153, 154.
12) vii. 18, 6.
13) Op. cit., 264.
14) Rv. i. 174, 9
iv. 30, 17
v. 31, 8
viii. 4, 7.
15) Hopkins, 265.
16) Hymns of the Rigveda, 1, 433, n.
17) The hymn is a late one, and the
connexion of verse 18, where Arṇa and
Citraratha are mentioned, is obscure.
Cf. Hopkins. 259.
18) vi. 45, 1
ix. 61, 2 (where Divo-
dāsa is mentioned)
vii. 19, 8 (where
he appears as Atithigva).
19) Op. cit., 124.
20) vi. 27, 5-7.
21) iv. 15, 4.
22) Oldenberg, Buddha, 404, n. Cf.
Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, 1, 105.
23) xiii. 5, 4, 16.
24) The sense is obscure. The St.
Petersburg Dictionary takes it appar-
ently as 6, 033 horses (of armed warriors)
Eggeling, Sacred Books of the East, 44,
400, prefers to understand it as 33 horses
and 6, 000 men
Oldenberg, loc. cit.,
takes it as 6, 033 warriors. Harisvāmin's
Commentary, cited by Eggeling, is
obscure.
25) Buddha, 404.
26) Op. cit., 258, n. Cf. Weber, Indische
Studien, 1, 220.
27) Rv. vii. 18.
28) Vedische Studien, 2, 218, Cf. Zimmer,
Altindisches Leben, 126.
29) Vedische Studien, 3, 152. If in
Rv. viii. 20, 24, 1 rvaśa is read with
Ludwig for tūrvath hey are connected
with the Sindhu.
Cf. Oldenberg, Religion des Veda, 167
Muir, Sanskrit Text, 5, 286
Bergaigne,
Religion Védique, 2, 354 et seq.
वाचस्पत्यम्
Sanskrit
तुर्वश
पु०
 नृपभेदे । “त्वमाविथ नर्य्यं तुर्वशं यदुम्” ऋ०१ । ५४ । ६ । “नर्य्यादीन् हि राज्ञः” भा० । “उत त्या तुर्व-शायदू अस्नातारा शचीपतिः” ऋ० ४ । ३० । १७ ।
Capeller
German
तुर्व॑श
m.
 N. eines alten Helden
Pl. seines
Geschlechts, gew. तुर्व॑शा य॑दु Du. Turvaśa
und Yadu.
Grassman
German
turváśa, m., aus turvá entstanden (Anhang -śa), und Eigenname desselben Mannes. — Im Plur. bezeichnet es das von turváśa abstammende Geschlecht.
-as {534, 6}.
-am {468, 7}
neben yádum {36, 18}
{54, 6}
{174, 9}
{461, 12}
{486, 1}
{624, 7}
{627, 18}
{773, 2}
{875, 8}
neb. yā́duam {535, 8}.
-āya {385, 8} neben yádave.
-e {47, 7}
{624, 1}
neben yádau {629, 14}
{630, 5}
{665, 27}.
-eṣu {108, 8} neben yáduṣu
{624, 19}.