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देवापिआर्ष्टिषेण (devApiArSTiSeNa)

 
Vedic Reference
English
Devāpi Ārṣṭiṣeṇa (‘descendant of Ṛṣṭiṣeṇa’) is mentioned
in a hymn of the Rigveda^1 and in the Nirukta.^2 According to
the latter source there were two brothers, Devāpi and Śantanu,
princes of the Kurus. The elder was Devāpi, but Śantanu got
himself anointed king, whereupon no rain fell for twelve years.
The drought being attributed by the Brahmins to his having
superseded his elder brother, Śantanu offered the kingdom to
Devāpi. The latter, however, refused, but acting as Purohita,
or domestic priest, for his brother, obtained rain. The Bṛhad-
devatā^3 tells much the same tale, but adds that the reason for
Devāpi's exclusion from the throne was the fact that he suffered
from a skin disease. The Epic and later legends further
develop the story, presenting two somewhat discrepant accounts.
According to the one version, ^4 the ground of Devāpi's being
passed over was leprosy, while in the other his devoting
himself to asceticism in his youth was the cause of his brother's
taking his place. The Epic, ^5 moreover, treats him as a son of
Pratīpa, and names as his brothers Bāhlīka^6 and Āṛṣṭiṣeṇa, ^7
who is a new figure developed from the patronymic of Devāpi
Possibly Sieg^8 is right in holding that two stories, those of
Devāpi, Pratīpa's son, and of Devāpi, Ṛṣṭiṣeṇa's son, have been
confused
but in any case it is impossible to extract history
from them.^9
The Rigvedic hymn certainly appears to represent Devāpi
as sacrificing for Śantanu, who seems to be called Aulāna.^10
But there is no trace in it of the brotherhood of the two men,
nor is there anything to show that Devāpi was not a Brahmin,
but a Kṣatriya. Sieg, ^11 who interprets the hymn by the
Nirukta, thinks that he was a Kṣatriya, but on this occasion
was enabled by the favour of Bṛhaspati to officiate as priest,
and that the hymn shows clear recognition of the unusual
character of his action
but this view seems very improbable.
1) x. 98.
2) ii. 10.
3) vii. 148 et seq., with Macdonell's
notes.
4) Mahābhārata, v. 5054 et seq. (= 149,
15 et seq.), where Śāntanu is (as also in
the Agni, cclxxvii. 34, the Brahma,
xiii. 114, 118, and the Viṣṇu Purāṇas)
the form of the name
Matsya Purāṇa,
l, 39 et seq., in which, as well as in the
Bhāgavata, ix. 22, 12, 13, and the
Vāyu Purāṇa, xcix. 234, 237, the form
is Śantanu.
5) Mahābhārata, i. 3751 (= 94, 62)
ix. 2285 (= 40, 1)
Vāyu Purāṇa,
ii. 37, 230, etc.
6) Mahābhārata, cited in n. 4
Hari-
vaṃśa, 1819.
7) Ibid., cited in n. 5.
8) Die Sagenstoffe des Ṛgveda, 136.
9) As does Pargiter, Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society, 1910, 52, 53.
10) Rv. x. 98, 11.
11) Op. cit., 129-142.
Cf. Muir, Sanskrit Texts, 1^2, 272
et seq.
Weber, Indische Studien, 1, 203
Ludwig, Translation of the Rigveda, 3,
192 et seq.
Macdonell, Bṛhaddevatā, 1,
xxix
Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, 131,
132.