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केशिन्दार्भ्य (kezindArbhya)

 
Vedic Reference
English
2. Keśin Dārbhya^1 or Dālbhya^2 (‘descendant of Darbha’) is a
somewhat enigmatic figure. According to the Śatapatha Brāh-
maṇa^3 and the Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmana^4 he was a king,
sister's son of Uccaiḥśravas, according to the latter authority.
His people were the Pañcālas, of whom the Keśins must there-
fore have been a branch, and who are said to have been threefold
(tryanīka).^5 A story is told of his having a ritual dispute with
Ṣaṇḍika in the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā^6 this appears in another
form in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa.^3 He was a contemporary
of a fellow sage, Keśin Sātyakāmi, according to the Maitrā-
yaṇī^7 and Taittirīya^8 Saṃhitās. The Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa^9
attributes to him a Sāman or chant, and the Kauṣītaki Brāh-
maṇa^10 tells how he was taught by a golden bird.
In view of the fact that the early literature always refers to
Dārbhya as a sage, it seems doubtful whether the commentator
is right in thinking that the Śatapatha refers to a king and
a people, when a sage alone may well be meant, while the
Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa is of no great authority. The
latter work may have assumed that the reference in the Kāṭhaka
Saṃhitā^11 to the Keśin people signifies kingship, but this is
hardly necessary.
1) This is the form of the name in
the Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa,
the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, the Taittirīya
Saṃhitā, and the Kauṣītaki Brāh-
maṇa
also later in the Bṛhaddevatā.
2) This is the form in the Kāṭhaka
Saṃhitā and the Pañcaviṃśa Brāh-
maṇa. It also appears later in the
Rigveda Anukramaṇī.
3) xi. 8, 4, 1 et seq., as explained by
Sāyaṇa.
4) iii. 29, 1 et seq.
5) Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xxx. 2 (Weber
Indische Studien, 3, 471)
Jaiminīya
Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa, loc. cit.
Baudh-
āyana Śrauta Sūtra, xx. 25.
6) i. 4, 12 (von Schroeder gives no
variant reading
but ṣ and kh are con-
stantly confused in manuscripts).
3) xi. 8, 4, 1 et seq., as explained by
Sāyaṇa.
7) i. 6, 5.
8) ii. 6, 2, 3.
9) xiii. 10, 8.
10) vii. 4.
11) xxx. 2.
Cf. Weber, Indische Studien, 1, 193,
209
2, 308
Hopkins, Transactions of
the Connecticut Academy of Arts and
Sciences, 15, 58, 59
Sieg, Die Sagenstoffe
des Ṛgveda, 62, n. 2.