| YouTube Channel

दिवोदासअतिथिग्व (divodAsaatithigva)

 
Vedic Reference
English
Divodāsa Atithigva is one of the leading princes of the
early Vedic age. He was a son of Vadhryaśva, ^1 and father,
or more probably grandfather, of Sudās, the famous king of the
Tṛtsu family, among the Bharatas. Probably Pijavana was
the son and Sudās the grandson. Divodāsa was naturally a
Bharata, ^2 and, like Sudās, was an opponent of the Turvaśas
and Yadus.^3 His great enemy was Śambara, the Dāsa, who
was apparently chief of a mountain people, ^4 and whom he
repeatedly defeated.^5 He was also, it seems, like his father
Vadhryaśva, ^6 an energetic supporter of the fire ritual, for Agni
is once called by his name in the Rigveda.^7 On the other hand,
he was defeated, with Āyu and Kutsa, by Indra's aid. In
several passages he seems closely connected with the singer
family, the Bharadvājas.^8
From one passage, ^9 where Divodāsa is said to have fought
against the Paṇis, the Pārāvatas, and Bṛsaya, Hillebrandt^10
has inferred that he was engaged in conflicts with the tribes
of Arachosia, and interpreting the name as the ‘heavenly
Dāsa’^11 conjectures that he was himself a Dāsa. This con-
clusion is not probable, for the Sarasvatī on which the battle
in question took place, and which can hardly be the Haraqaiti
of Arachosia, would naturally designate the later Sarasvatī,
while the Pārāvatas are mentioned in the Pañcaviṃśa Brāh-
maṇa, ^12 as in the east, about the Yamunā. Bergaigne's
opinion^13 that Divodāsa and Atithigva were different people
cannot be supported in view of the complete parallelism in the
acts of the two persons.^14 See also Pratardana.
The people of Divodāsa are referred to in a hymn of the
Rigveda.^15
1) Rv. vi. 61, 1.
2) Rv. vi. 16, 4, 5, 19. For Sudās as
his descendant, see vii. 18, 25, with
verse 23, where Paijavana is an epithet
of Sudās.
3) As Atithigva, Rv. vii. 19, 8
as
Divodāsa, ix. 61, 2.
4) Rv. i. 130, 7
ii. 12, 11
vi. 26,
5
vii. 18, 20. Cf. Macdonell, Vedic
Mythology, p. 161.
5) See Rv. i. 112, 14
116, 18
119,
4
130, 7-10
ii. 19, 6
iv. 26, 3
30,
20
vi. 26, 3. 5
43, 1
47, 21. 22
ix. 61, 2.
6) Rv. x. 69, 1 et seq. Cf. Ludwig,
Translation of the Rigveda, 3, 176
Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologic, 1, 96,
n. 2.
7) Daivodāsa, ‘worshipped by Divo-
dāsa’
viii. 103, 2. Cf. vi. 16, 5. 19
31, 1. For the defeat by Indra, cf. Rv.
i. 53, 10
ii. 14, 7
vi. 18, 13
viii. 64,
2
Bergaigne, Religion Védique, 2, 337,
344.
8) Cf. Rv. i. 112, 13, 14
116, 18
vi. 16, 5
31, 4
47, 22 et seq.
Pañca-
viṃśa Brāhmaṇa, xv. 3, 7
Hillebrandt,
op. cit., 1, 104.
9) vi. 61, 1 et seq.
10) Op. cit., 1, 97 et seq.
11) This is very improbable. See
Bergaigne, op. cit., 2, 209
Oldenberg,
Religion des Veda, 155
Zeitschrift der
Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft,
49, 175
51, 272.
12) ix. 4, 11. See Pārāvata.
13) Op. cit., 2, 342 et seq.
14) Compare, e.g., vii. 19, 8, with
ix. 61, 2 (opposed to Turvaśa and Yadu)
i. 51, 6
vi. 26, 3, with ii. 19, 6
vi. 31, 4 (defeat of Śambara)
and see
Hillebrandt, op. cit., 3, 268
Oldenberg,
Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen
Gesellschaft, 42, 210 et seq.
Macdonell,
op. cit., p. 161.
15) i. 130, 10 (one of the series attri-
buted to Parucchepa).
Cf. Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, 126
Oldenberg, Buddha, 406
Ludwig, op. cit.,
3, 114, 176
Grierson, Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society, 1908, 604, 837
Keith, ibid., 831 et seq.
1138 et seq.
Roth, St. Petersburg Dictionary, s.v.,
distinguishes two Divodāsas, one being
the ancestor or father of Sudās, the
other the enemy of Śambara. Divodāsa
is not mentioned in Maṇḍalas, iii, v.
viii, x.