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तृत्सु (tRtsu)

 
Capeller Eng
English
तृ॑त्सु
m.
N.
 of a race or people.
Monier Williams Cologne
English
तृ॑त्सु
m.
 sg. and
pl.
N.
 of a race,
RV.
Monier Williams 1872
English
तृत्सु तृत्सु, उस्, m., अवस्, m. pl., Ved., N. of
a Vedic race or family
(Sāy.) injurious, an enemy.
Macdonell
English
तृत्सु tṛ́tsu,
m.
 sg. and
pl.
 N. of a Vedic tribe.
Vedic Reference
English
Tṛtsu occurs in the Rigveda, once in the singular^1 and several
times in the plural, ^2 as a proper name. The Tṛtsus were
clearly helpers of Sudās in the great battle against the ten
kings, Śimyu, the Turvaśa, the Druhyu, Kavaṣa, the Pūru,
the Anu, Bheda, Śambara, the two Vaikarṇas, and perhaps
the Yadu, who led with them as allies^3 the Matsyas, Pakthas,
Bhalānas, Alinas, Viṣāṇins, Śivas, Ajas, Śigrus, and perhaps
Yakṣus.^4 The defeat of the ten kings is celebrated in one
hymn of the Rigveda, ^5 and is evidently alluded to in two
others.^6 The great battle took place on the Paruṣṇī, but there
was also a fight on the Yamunā with Bheda, the Ajas, Śigrus,
and Yakṣus. As the Yamunā and the Parusṇī represent
opposite ends of the territory of the Tṛtsus (for we cannot
with Hopkins^7 safely identify the streams), it is difficult to see
exactly how the ten kings could be confederated, but it should
be noted that the references to the ten kings occur in the two
later hymns, ^6 and not in the hymn^5 describing the battle itself
besides, absolute numerical accuracy cannot be insisted upon.
It is difficult exactly to determine the character of the
Tṛtsus
especially in their relation to the Bharatas, who under
Viśvāmitra's guidance are represented as prospering and as
advancing to the Vipāś and Śutudrī.^8 Roth ingeniously
brought this into connexion with the defeat of his enemies
by Sudās, which is celebrated in the seventh book of the
Rigveda — a book attributed to the Vasiṣṭha family — and thought
that there was a reference in one verse^9 to the defeat of the
Bharatas by Sudās. But it seems certain that the verse is
mistranslated, and that the Bharatas are really represented as
victors with Sudās.^10 Ludwig^11 accordingly identifies the
Tṛtsus and the Bharatas. Oldenberg, ^12 after accepting this
view at first, ^13 later expressed the opinion that the Tṛtsus were
the priests of the Bharata people, and therefore identical with
the Vasiṣṭhas. This view is supported by the fact that in one
passage^14 the Tṛtsus are clearly described as wearing their
hair in the peculiar manner affected by the Vasiṣṭhas, ^15 and
would in that passage thus seem to represent the Vasiṣṭhas.
But Geldner^16 has suggested with great probability that Tṛtsu,
who is once mentioned in the singular, ^17 means the Tṛtsu
king — that is, Sudās.^18 This explanation alone justifies the
description^19 of the Bharatas as Tṛtsūnāṃ viśaḥ, ^20 ‘subjects of
the Tṛtsus, ’ meaning the Tṛtsu Gotra or family, for the people
could not be said to be subjects of a body of priests. The
Vasiṣṭhas might be called Tṛtsus because of their close con-
nexion with the royal house of that people. The reverse
process is also quite possible, but is rendered improbable by
the fact that the Pratṛdaḥ are referred to as receiving Vasiṣṭha.^21
This name of the Tṛtsu dynasty is probably older than its
connexion with Vasiṣṭha in the time of Sudās, a conclusion
supported by the name of Pratardana, who is mentioned later
as a descendant of Divodāsa, ^22 an ancestor of Sudās. The
Tṛtsu dynasty could therefore hardly have been referred to as
Vasiṣṭhas. For the further history of the dynasty and its
relation with Vasiṣṭha and Viśvāmitra, see Sudās.
If the Tṛtsus and their subjects, the Bharatas, were in the
Rigvedic period at war with the tribes on either side of the
territory between the Paruṣṇī and the Yamunā, it is clear^23
that later on they coalesced with the Pūrus and probably
others of those tribes to form the Kuru people. Already in
the Rigveda^24 the Tṛtsus are allied with the Sṛñjayas, and in
the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa^25 one Purohita serves both Kurus
and Sṛñjayas.
Hillebrandt^26 considers that the Tṛtsus cannot be identified
with the Bharatas, but that Sudās and the Bharatas represent
an invading body, which, however, became allied with the
Tṛtsus and the Vasiṣṭha priests. He also thinks that the
Rigveda reveals a time when Divodāsa, the grandfather or
ancestor of Sudās, was living in Arachosia, on the Sarasvatī,
and warring against the Paṇis, whom he identifies with the
Parnians. But this conjecture^27 cannot be regarded as
probable. In the Sarasvatī^28 it is not necessary to see any
other river than the later Sarasvatī, in the middle country,
which flowed within the boundaries of the Tṛtsus: it is also
significant that there are references^29 to contests between
Turvaśa Yadu and Atithigva or Divodāsa. Thus there is no
reason to doubt that Divodāsa and the Bharatas were in the
middle country, and not in Iran.
1) vii. 18, 13.
2) vii. 18, 7. 15. 19
33, 5. 6
83, 4. 6. 8.
3) They were regarded as enemies of
the kings by Roth, Zur Litteratur und
Geschichte des Weda, 95, and by Zimmer,
op. cit., 126, The latter, however,
altered his view (see pp. 430, 431,
which Hopkins, op. cit., 260, has over-
looked), and there is no doubt that
the later opinion is correct. Cf. also
Ludwig, Translation of the Rigveda,
3, 173
Hopkins, 260, 261. Of these
tribes the Pakthas, Alinas, Bhalānas,
Viṣāṇins, and Śivas, were probably
settled in the north-west, to the west
of the Indus, and around the Kabul
River. The Anus, Pūrus, Turvaśas,
Yadus, and Druhyus, were probably
tribes of the Panjab
the Ajas, Śigrus,
and Yakṣus, tribes of the east, under
Bheda
Śambara may also have been
a native of the east
Śimyu and Kavaṣa
are doubtful
and the Vaikarṇau prob-
ably belonged to the north-west.
4) This is uncertain
the text of the
Rigveda, vii. 18, 6, has Yakṣu, and
the same word recurs in verse 19. On
the other hand, the word Yadu would
naturally be expected in verse 6, as Tur-
vaśa is mentioned. Zimmer, Altindisches
Leben, 122, says that Yadu occurs in
vii. 18, but on p. 126 he cites Yakṣu
in both places, evidently by oversight.
Hopkins, Journal of the American Oriental
Society, 15, 261, n., considers that Tur-
vaśa, the Yakṣu, is a sarcastic expres-
sion, instead of Turvaśa, the Yadu,
making Turvaśa, whom he regards as
king of the Yadus, ridiculous as a
member of an insignificant people, and
alluding to him also as a sacrificial
victim (as it were, yaṣṭavya, ‘to be
offered’
of puroḍāś, ‘cake of sacrifice, ’
in verse 6, as a pun on purogās, ‘leader’).
Whether Yakṣu is used contemptuously
for Yadu or not, it seems hard not to
believe that the Yadus are referred
to.
5) vii. 18.
6) vii. 33 and 83.
7) India, Old and New, 52. No such
conjecture was made by him in the
Journal of the American Oriental Society,
15, 259 et seq.
6) vii. 33 and 83.
5) vii. 18.
8) Rv. iii. 33
53, 9-12.
9) vii. 33, 6. See Roth, op. cit., 90,
121: Muir. Sanskrit Texts, 12, 320
Macdonell, Sanskrit Literature, 154, 155
von Schroeder, Indiens Literatur and
Cultur, 35, 36
Hillebrandt, Vedische
Mythologie, 1, 110, 111
Bloomfield,
Journal of the American Oriental Society.
16, 41.
10) Oldenberg, Buddha, 406: Weber,
Episches im vedischen Ritual, 34.
11) Translation of the Rigveda, 3, 175.
12) Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgen-
ländischen Gesellschaft, 42, 207. Cf. Ber-
gaigne, Religion Védique, 2, 362.
13) Buddha, 405, 406.
14) Rv. vii. 33, 1 (śvityañco dakṣiṇatas-
kaparainaḥ).
15) Rv. vii. 83. (śvityañco dakṣiṇatas-
kaparainaḥ).
16) Vedische Studien, 2, 136
Ṛgveda-
Glossar, 74.
17) Rv. vii. 18, 13.
18) Cf. Rv. vii. 18, 24. The parallelism
of verses 13 and 24 is quite beyond
question. Moreover, the praise of
Sudās and of the Bharatas is found
coupled in Rv. iii. 53, 9. 12. 24, and in
Rv. vi. 16, 4, 5, Divodāsa is coupled
with the Bharatas in such a way as to
suggest irresistibly that Divodāsa was
a Bharata.
19) Rv. vii. 33, 6.
20) That this is the sense of viśaḥ is
almost certain. See Geldner, Vedische
Studien, loc. cit. Zimmer, Altindisches
Leben, 159, and Hillebrandt, Vedische
Mythologie, 1, 111, render it ‘cantons, ’
but see Vīś.
21) Rv. vii. 33, 14. Geldner (op. cit.,
138, 139) ingeniously suggests that
Vasiṣṭha, being miraculously born,
needed a Gotra, and so became a Tṛtsu.
22) Pratardana is mentioned in the
Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, xxvi. 5, as Daivo-
dāsi, ‘descendant of Divodāsa.’
23) Cf. Oldenberg, Buddha, 406 et seq.,
and see Kuru.
24) See Rv. vi. 47, where Divodāsa
and Sārñjaya are both praised. In
vi. 27, 5, the Turvaśas are opposed to
the Sṛñjayas, and in vii. 18, 6
19, 8,
the Tṛtsus are opposed to the Turvaśas.
25) ii. 4, 4, 5.
26) Vedische Mythologie, 1, 98 et seq.
27) Cf. also Grierson, Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society, 1908, 837 et
seq.
28) Rv. vi. 61, 3. Brunnhofer, Iran
und Turan, 127, identifies this river with
the Oxus, but Hillebrandt identifies it
with the Haraqaiti.
29) Rv. ix. 61, 2. Cf. vi. 45, 1
Zimmer, op. cit., 124.
Cf. Max Müller, Sacred Books of the
East, 32, 424.
वाचस्पत्यम्
Sanskrit
तृत्सु
त्रि०
 तृद--बा० सुक् । हिंसके । “गव्या तृत्सुभ्यो अज-गन्युधा नॄन्” ऋ० ७ । १८ । ७ । “तृत्सुभ्यो हिंसकेभ्य” । भा०२ राजर्षिभेदे “व्यानवस्य तृत्सवे गयम्” ऋ० ७ । १८ । १३ ।तृत्सुं राजर्षिभेदम्” भा० ।
Capeller
German
तृ॑त्सु
m.
 N. eines Volksstammes.
Grassman
German
tṛ́tsu, m., Name eines Volksstammes [von tṛd, und zwar dem Desiderativ ohne Redupl.].
-ave {534, 13}.
-avas {534, 15}. _{534, 19}
{599, 8}.
-ubhis {599, 6}.
-ubhyas {534, 7}
{549, 5}.
-ūnām víśas {549, 6}
puróhitis {599, 4}.