The Battle of Ten Kings- Dashradnya Yuddha

Apart from religious hymns in the praise of Devas like Indra, Varuna, Agni, Soma, the Rigved also contains precious information on certain events that have occurred during it' era. The events like wars, donations to rishis, mentioning certain names of rishis and kings are a regular occurance in Rigved. This makes it an important scripture which has historical data in it.
     The major event in the Rigved is indeed of the Battle of 10 kings or Dasharadnya Yuddha (दाशराज्ञ युद्ध) and the hero of this war is king Sudas of North Panchal kingdom, the ancestor of Draupadi.
Apart from details of what happened in the war, the information is precise enough to tell us what caused the war and where the war took place.

The reason behind the war
The reason behind the war is the rivalry between Vishwamitra and Vasishtha.
As we have seen in Proving the Out of India Theory 5 the Vishwamitras from the earliest times were related to the kings of Purus and Panchalas who are called Bharatas in general. Sudas himself was a Bharata. The profuse references to places in Haryana and hymns in the praise of Sudas prove the same. Specifically, the hymn RV(3.53) composed by Vishwamitra himself praises Sudas and tells us that with the help of Vishwamitras, Sudas had reached the Sindhu river, crossed it and had done a huge Yagya there. The Brihad Devata tells us even the Vasishthas were present there.Along with Vishwamitras, the Jamadagnis were also present. Because of some dispute between some Jamadagnis and Shaktyas ( descendants of Vasishthas's son Shakti), some Jamadagnis fainted. This caused them to utter curses which also find place in RV(3.53). These curses are called Sasarpari (ससर्परी).
Also, we know that before the era of Sudas, the Vasishthas were more or less related to Ikshvakus in Ayodhya or central Indian Yadus. But soon, the relations between Vishwamitras and Sudas began to deteriorate. During the same time, a Vasishtha named Shreshthabhaj was the priest of the Ikshvaku king Kalmashpada. Because of his rivalry with Vasishtha, Vishwamitra sent some Danavas to cook meat for Vasishtha and feed him through king Kalmashpada. The same Vishwamitra had killed Vasishtha's 100 sons along with Shakti,his eldest son. Such was the rivalry between them.
With the Vasishtha getting closer to Sudas and the consequent jealousy of Vishwamitra resulted in Vishwamitra leaving Sudas and consolidating a group of 10 kings and pitching them against Sudas. Hence this war is known as Battle of 'Ten' Kings.
The other people who were involved against Sudas are Kavasha Ailusha and Kavi Chaymana.
Kavash Ailusha himself was against Sudas whereas his son Tura Kavasheya had crowned King Janmajeya II of Puru dynasty. Talking of Kavi Chayamana, he was the descendant of Abhyavartin Chayamana who is mentioned by Bharadvaja in RV(6.27.8) as a Parthav ( or descendant of Pruthu) and was an Anu king and had fought the Hariyupiya war from the side of the Bharatas. But see how politics changes- Abhyavartin was allied to the Bharatas, but his descendant Kavi fought against the Bharata king Sudas !!!

This war is so famous that there is an animation movie made on it.

War Description
The war is described properly in the hymns RV(7.18), (7.19), (7.33 )composed by Vasishtha.For obvious reason ,it has to be Vasishtha who will praise Sudas since it was his rival Vishwamitra who had pitched 10 kings against Sudas.
    According to RV(7.18.5) the war took place on the banks of the river Parushni (Ravi) in Punjab. Following were the enemies of Sudas-

• Paktha  RV(7.18.7)
• Bhalanas  RV(7.18.7)
• Alina  RV(7.18.7)
• Vishanin  RV(7.18.7)
• Shivi  RV(7.18.7)
• Turvasha  RV(7.18.6)
• Matsya  RV(7.18.6)
• Bhrugu  RV(7.18.6)
• Druhyu  RV(7.18.6)
• Vaikarnas  RV(7.18.11) ( 21 in number)
• Anus  RV(7.18.13)
• Pruthus (which includes Kavi Chayamana)   RV(7.18.8)
• Parshus  RV(7.83.1)
• Simyu  RV(7.18.5)

These all were segregated under 10 kings for the war. Along with this, there were many other enemies with whom Sudas fought the war on the banks of Yamuna. They were

• Yakshas  RV(7.18.19)
• Shigrus  RV(7.18.19)
• Aja  RV(7.18.19)

and whose leader was a king called Bheda (भेद)   RV(7.18.19)
There were other enemies who had attacked on the Vasishthas-

• Yudhyamadhi, who were killed by drowning   RV(7.18.24)
• Trushnaj  RV(7.33.5)

The only known ally of Sudas in this war were Trutsu people (Ikshvakus)

Now after knowing the participants of the war, let us now see how the war took place.

The war was started on the banks of the river Parushni. RV(7.18.8) records that the banks of the Parushni were broken and badly damaged by the enemies. The war was a big one and Sudas and his army fought bravely. The enemies were destroyed and finally Sudas won the war, Later on, he had to fight Aja,Shigru and Yakshas on the Yamuna and he defeated them too. They had to pay a war revenue to Sudas.

Sudas emerged as a winner of the war. A total of 6666 people were killed in the war as mentioned in RV(7.18.14).

He donated handsome gifts to the Vasishthas as mentioned in RV(7.18.22-25)

Dasharadnya and Aryan Invasion Theory

We have seen the hymn composed by Vishwamitra RV(3.53) where he mentions that he had helped Sudas to CROSS THE SINDHU RIVER and had done a holy yagya. Now this info has been used by the Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT) propagandists to prove their point. They feel this event of Sudas crossing Sindhu was the 'actual' event of the invasion of the Aryans. They feel that later on Sudas allied with another 'aryan', Vasishtha with the help of whom fought the Dasharadnya war. Such can be the level of scholarship that they can't even think beyond their decided principles.

Since an argument has been made in the favor of AIT, we must refute it too..

A thing of common sense is that Sindhu river can be crossed from east to west or west to east. The assumption made by the AIT scholars is that Sudas crossed Sindhu from west to east. This is not the case. The simple reason for this is based on the geographical data of the Kingdoms provided by the Puranas.

The Puranas tell us that Sudas was the king of North Panchala, a kingdom present in the doab region of Ganga ans Saraswati i,e today's East Haryana and plains of western UP. And it's not that Sudas was the first to come and live there. Right from the time of Nila Ajamidha, who was the starter of this kingdom, the kings of this dynasty have been ruling the area mentioned above.

So if Sudas had actually crossed the Sindhu, in his conquest for new land, he had done that from east to west. This is exactly opposite of what AIT followers believe.

The effects of the Dashradnya war are quite important and require a lot of space. I will deal with them in detail in my next post Effects of the War of 10 kings (Dashradnya Yuddha)

33 Crore Gods ????

The very distinguishing factor that makes Hinduism stand out from other Abrahmic religions is our Polytheism and the splendid variety in the Gods we worship. Every Hindu might be having some or the other God which is totally unique to his area and culture. Not to forget the highly appraised freedom in Hinduism which permits us to worship any God that we like provided his worship falls within the prescribed rituals in the Purans and the Brahmanas.
       According to the popular belief, Hinduism consists of 33 crore Gods which are worshiped in various forms or other. But they really are of that huge number? I will start sweating till I reach a count of 50 or 60. Forget 33 crore..!!!!

Different Gods at Vishvaroop Darshan. But are these 33 crore in number?

 The fact of the matter is, there exist NO 33 crore Gods.. The exact word that occurs in the Vedas for 'crore' is Koti (कोटी) which in many languages like Marathi literally indicate the numerical value of crore. But are we really to take that meaning?
If we go deep in the language of Sanskrit, we understand that the word Koti indeed does mean 'crore' but more correctly, it means 'types'. So 33 Koti Gods means 33 types or families of Gods.
Accepting this, then who are those 33 'families' of Gods which we have?  Plus, do Gods like Durga, Gnpati, Skanda,etc have any place in that?

So here are the 33 families of Gods- 12 Adityas + 11 Rudras + 8 Vasus + 2 Ashwini Kumar = 33 Families
The last two families of Ashwini Kumar are replaced by Indra and Prajapati sometimes. But this seems improbable since Indra or Prajapati was a general post with many people being named as Indra or Prajapati at many times.

Let us see these people in detail-
12 Adityas or द्वादशादित्य are the sons of Aditi and hence called Adityas. The names of these 12 Adityas are Tvashta (त्वष्ट), Pusha (पूषा ), Vivasvan (विवस्वान), Mitra (मित्र ), Dhata (धाता), Vishnu (विष्णू), Bhaga (भग), Varuna (वरुण), Savitru (सवितृ ), Shakra (शक्र ), Ansha (अंश ) and Aryama (अर्यमा). The Rigveda has just eight of these Adityas with certain Brahmanas mentioning all 12 of them. The Puranas unanimously mention the number to be 12. Their mother Aditi along with these are praised in the Rigveda as proper Gods. These were the sons of Kashyapa rishi. One of these Aditya, Vivasvan was the father of Vaivasvat Manu from whom the genealogies of kings started.

11 Rudras or एकादशरुद्र are those Rudraganas who are said to have originated from Brahmadeva's anger. Their names are Manyu (मन्यु), Manu (मनु), Mahinas (महिनस ), Mahan (महान ), Shiv (शिव ), Rutudhvaj (ऋतुध्वज ), Ugrareta (उग्ररेता ), Bhava (भव), Kaal (काल ), Vamdev (वामदेव) and Dhrutavrat (धृतव्रत). Their names vary in different scriptures but the number remains same.

8 Vasus or अष्टवसू are sons bron from Dharma rishi and Vasu. Their names are Drona (द्रोण ), Pran (प्राण ), Dhruva (ध्रुव ), Aka (अक), Agni(अग्नी), Dosha (दोष), Vasu (वसू) and Vibhavasu (विभावसु ).

The 2 Ashwini Kumars were born from the Sun and were the doctors of the Devas. These tow had helped Chyavan Bhargav rishi to regain his youth.

If we see, many scriptures do clarify on the truth of these 33 families of Gods. If one observes, major Gods like Brahma, Vishnu, Ganpati, Shakti,etc don't find place in here. It seems these 33 families of Gods were the oldest and were worshiped but got replaced by Gods having a larger role to play in our lives. But over time the meaning of 'koti' got changed and we started to believe that there were indeed 33 crore Gods.

With time, we believed a cow has 33 crore Gods residing in it.

But does that really matter ? Because looking at the current state, we have at least 100 Gods which are worshiped in some form or other. THAT is our real asset- Our Polytheism and the overwhelming tolerance of people worshiping different Gods. This ability of ours has led us to believe that the whole world is ours. Because, after all, Every type of worship leads to the same thing- Paramatma or Brahman..

|| एकं सत् विप्र बहुदा वदन्ति ||

Yagya - A ritual or culture?

The sole picture of ancient India that arises when one tries to imagine the Vedic era is that of few white bearded rishis sitting in front of a pit and offering oblations to the fire. Frankly, our mythological serials in the 1990s are also responsible for creating such a picture that Yagyas was a sort of ritual. And how can we forget? Our very great Communist historians are the main players in the character assassination of our ancestors and branding them as ritualistic, blind faith affected people.

Busy in a Yagya

Yagya, for that matter,is a system developed for pleasing the Devas but also has many variants including a Yagya for cooking and a Yagya for all 16 sanskars of Hindus.In a Yagya, we have to offer an oblation, let it be ghee,milk, cakes of cereals, Soma,etc. And this oblation is not done just by sitting there. An important condition for this is chanting of the Vedic mantras, Samantrakam समन्त्रकं,with the Mantas, as they call it. These Mantras are well documented in the Rigveda.
              
The Englishmen translated the word Yagya as 'sacrifice' which in itself is a blatant mistake. Yagya was never meant for any sacrifice of animals.It was a simple system of pleasing the Gods into which animal sacrifice found place, which is no doubt not a right thing. But branding the whole system as an outrageous way of pleasing the Gods, is itself outrageous.If one really tries to see the intricacies of a Yagya, then one will come to know the amount of perfection and the amount of brains that have gone in framing the smallest of things. Take for example, the fire in the Yagya. Now one would imagine that the rishis would be bringing some random logs of wood and burning them. But instead, the fire is of a particular wood and that too of 3 types- Garhapatya, Ahavaniya and Dakshinagni. (गार्हपत्य, आहवानीय, दक्षिणाग्नि ). Even the fire altar's dimensions, it's height from the ground,etc are fixed and find place in the Apastamba and Baudhayana Sulva Sutras.
                   
And even the Yagya does not take place without some specially qualified people who conduct it- The Hota, Udgata and the Adhvaryu. The Hota is skilled in Rigved and recites the mantras line by line. The Udgata is a Samved expert who recites the same mantras but with a musical tune called Chhanda whereas the Adhvaryu is an expert in Yajurved who knows about the small technicalities of a Yagya and also controls the Yagya till it ends.
                   
Samveda in particular has a relation with this whole Yagya system. Because due to this system, the whole stream of Indian classical music was developed. Mantras in a Yagya cannot be recited as they are since they are too many and it sounds boring. Hence was felt the need to give a rhyme to these mantras which gave rise to Samved. Samved has almost all it's verses common to Rigved but are given a particular rhyme called Chhanda. Different Chhandas include Gayatri, Trishtup, Anushtup, Brihadrati,etc. 
For example there are 3 verses A,B,C and I want to multiply them to 15 verses. So I sing them as- 
A A A B C    A B B B C   A B C C C. This forms one chhanda or style of reciting. 

This also proves the brilliant practice of the then Brahmins in reciting thousands of these mantras, sometimes overnight. And even in this overnight chanting, certain adjustments were made.Now obviously I would fall asleep while chanting these mantras overnight. So what to do? Simple- Sit on a swing and keep swinging overnight while chanting the mantras !!!! Simple adjustments assimilated into a complex culture.Returning to Samved, we find that for chanting these verses, our 7 Swaras were developed- Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa- although we find them in different names. The reader would be surprised to know that a separate UpaVeda of the Samved called the Gandharva Ved exists which specifically deals with music and it's different Ragas and Talas. So much of advancement, and that too originating for the sake of singing the mantras properly in a Yagya !!!!! And with singing comes dancing. There is a ritual that if the person for whom the Yagya is conducted is rich, he can bring his 50 Dasis who with pots on their heads can dance beautifully around the Yagya altar.

TYPES OF YAGYAS

There are different types of Yagyas conducted for different purposes

• Agnishtoma- It's a kind of Somyaga
• Vajpeya- It is done for maintaining harmony with neighboring states.
• Ashvamedha- It is done to usurp power of other kingdoms. Done by Lord Ram.
• Rajsuya- Done for becoming the Samrat of India. Done by Yudhishthira
• Naramedh- Done by sacrificing  humans to please Varun. Half completed by king Harishchandra
• Putrakameshthi- Done for getting an offspring. Done by Dashrath to get Ram and 3 other sons

Agnihotra is a yagya done twice in a day

A special kind of Yagya called as Atiratra is done for bringing rains. It is a 12 day ritual. This was successfully performed in Panjal, Kerala in 1975 as well as in 2011.

Rains at the end of Atiratra in 2011, Panjal, Kerala

Unfortunately, over the years, this whole Yagya system has gone in a shell with only selected communities in Kerala performing some limited Yagyas with proper Vedic rituals and guidelines. 

CONCLUSION

Now even if this Yagya was a small ritual done to please Gods, no person in this world would have generated so much delicate rules and conditions. No variety of stuffs used, no variety in the types of Yagyas would be seen.

Since we have specialized people earning their penny from a Yagya, with art forms like music and dance getting a push and most importantly, 3 whole Vedas being composed to specilize in that subject, it can be seen that this Yagya system was indeed the CULTURE of Indians rather than being just a ritual. People got themselves involved in this. All major kings of Puranic tradition have in some or the other way performed a Yagya. Such huge popularity of a certain system can only mean it had seeped in the lives of people. It may have been started as a small ritual, but it's importance increased to such an extent that it became an important cultural facet of Vedic people.

This happened to such an extent that even the Zoroastrians who were Vedic Anus migrated to Iran also continued to worship fire as a God.. Now that's called influence..!!

The Exotic Tribes of India- Gandharva & Apsara

Perhaps Gandharvas and Apsaras are the most heard names in our lives. Every time they are called as 'celestial beings' and are dumped into mythology.But our scriptures have been kind enough to properly elaborate on these 'human beings' from which we can certainly conclude that these were normal humans with proper kingdoms and tribes.

ORIGIN

This is a bit tricky thing. We have to understand one thing. Gandharvas and Apsaras were NOT husband-wives. They were two separate tribes with certain rare cases of Apsaras and Gandharvas marrying each other like Urnayu-Menaka. Now on what basis I say this? There are two aspects to it-
First, IF Apsaras were female Gandharvas, why have both Ramayana and Mahabharata mentioned women called 'Gandharvi' meaning female Gandharva? See examples- In Mahabharata ( 4.9), after seeing her beauty, Kichaka asked Draupadi, "Are you a Yakshi,a Goddess, a Gandharvi or an Apsara?" meaning Gandharvi and Apsara were different..!! In many places Mahabharata mentions Gandharvis and makes proper distinction between Gandharvis and Apsaras. Even in Ramayana, Ravana's grandfather Rakshas Sumali had married the daughter of Narmada, a Gandharvi.

The Puranas and Mahabharata tell that the Gandharvas and Apsaras originated from Kashyapa from his wife Pradha/Muni. If one looks at the chronological tables prepared by me, Kashyapa was the grandfather of Vaivasvat Manu. So technically, there should not be a single mention of any Apsara before Vaivasvata or Kashyapa. But this is not the case. King Agnidhra had married an Apsara called Purvachitti and Prachetas Daksha had married an Apsara called Pramlocha. Looking at this inconsistency,we can say that the Gandharvas could have originated from Kashyapa but the Apsaras existed before him and their origin is not specified. The names of Apsara daughters of Kashyapa are given but we can assume that these daughters later on joined the Apsara community.

I have mentioned this earlier that for the need to prove that every living being originated from Kashyapa and his wives,even plants and trees are told to have been born from women..!!! Same happened with Apsara.
So it is fixed that Apsara as a community was existing even before Kashyapa while Gandharvas could possibly have originated from Kashyapa.
Mahabharata (2.11) mentions 27 different tribes of Gandharvas and Apsaras.

But one question remains, if the scriptures name both male and female Gandharvas, but why do they call Apsaras as females only? Meaning if Apsara community was only of females, how did that community propagate through the ages? The answer might be that Apsara was not a homogeneous community but was made up of girls from other exotic tribes since the work of Apsaras was to dance and entertain.Even the scriptures say that Apsaras had the freedom of choice and no confinement in choosing their mate.

KINGDOM

There was no specific kingdom of Gandharvas. They are mentioned to be there in Lanka and also in different Yaksha and Rakshas kingdoms in Himalayas. They are under Kubera and guard the gold mines of Yakshas.They are also mentioned to be living in Uttar Kuru kingdom beyond the Himalayas. Also, in the Mahabharata, Gandharva kingdoms are said to be existing in the Saraswati basin when Balarama had visited various teethas on the Saraswati. A connection of Gandhara kingdom with Gandharvas needs to be examined.

FAMOUS GANDHARVAS-

Following are the famous Gandharvas in history-  

• Vishvavasu - He is probably the oldest Gandharva mentioned. He existed during Ram's era. He is the composer of Rigveda ( 10.139) by the name Vishvavasu Devgandharva. Valmiki Ramayana says that Malyavan, Ravana's granduncle had married his daughter Anala to Vishvavasu. So Vishvavasu is 1 generation prior to Ram. He had a daughter called Pramadwara raised by Sthulakesha rishi and married to Ruru rishi. An incomplete genealogy of Ruru rishi is given. He is said to be the descendant of Gritsamada rishi who was amlsot 20-25 generations before him but only 12-13 names are given in the genealogy. It goes thus- Gritsamada->Sucheta->Varcha->Vihavya ->Vitatya ->Satya-> Santa ->Shrava ->Tama ->Prakash ->Vageendra ->Pramati ->Ruru

• Chitraratha - He is said to be the ruler of Gandharvas. He is said to be the son of Pradha and Kashyapa.

• Chitrangada - He was a king among the Gandharvas. He had a contention that only one person with name Chitrangada should exist so he had fought a war and killed the Kuru king Chitrangada, grandfather of Pandavas.

• Tumvuru - He and Chitrasena had taught Arjuna the art of music and dance when he was at Indra's abode. Arjuna used this knowledge to become a Kinnara in court of Matsya during his Adnyat-Vasa of 1 year.

• Shailusha - Valmiki Ramayana ( Uttar Kand 100) says that the Gandhara kings in north west were in fact the descendants of Shailush Gandharva.

• Dhritarashtra - He was sent by Indra as a messenger to the yagya started by Vaishali king Marutta and Samvarta rishi, the brother of Brihaspati.

FAMOUS APSARAS-

• Urvashi - She was the wife of Pururavas Aila. His and her conversation is recorded in Rigved (10.95). She is said to have married him on the condition that she would never see him nude except during sex. Her Gandharva companions made Pururavas flout this condition and she left him.

• Menaka - She was the mother of Shakuntala. She begot Shakuntala when she had come to disrupt Vishvamitra's penance. She abandoned Shakuntala who was taken care by Kanva, a rishi in the family of Kashyapa.

• Purvachitti - She is considered to be the best of Apsaras. She was the wife of king Agnidhra and from her he begot 9 sons between whom the Jambudweepa was divided.

• Alambusha - She was the wife of the Vaishali king Trinavindu.

CULTURE

The Gandharvas and Apsaras were related to each other because the Gandharvas used to sing and play beautifully on which the Apsaras used to dance. All scriptres at lenght descirbe the beautiful voice of Gandharvas and the beauty of Apsaras. A separate upa-veda called Gandharva Veda which deals with all forms of Music. Dhritarashtra and Manthara were told to be born from Gandharvas. There is a separate style of marriage called Gandharva-vidhi where the bride and the groom themselves choose their mate without the consent of their parents. These Gandharvas had attacked the Kauravas during the Mahabharata war. There is a specific type of gold called Jambunada from which Yakshas, Gandharvas,Apsaras, etc used to make their ornaments.Gandharvas are also said to be very powerful warriors who don't fear any king.

The Exotic Tribes of India- Kimpurusha & Kinnara

Now these two names are heard, not frequently, but at least the reader might have a slight idea of these names. When the scriptures take names of exotic tribes, these two names are always there- Kinnaras and Kimpurushas.
The reason for clubbing these two is because these two show a lot of common geography and common references.

ORIGIN AND GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION

The origin of Kinnaras is not specified but that of Kimpurushas is told to be Pulaha rishi, a saptarshi in the Swayambhuva Manvantara. ( Mahabharata 1.66). Now whether truly the Kimpurushas originated from Pulaha rishi or it was just an effort to prove that everyone evolved from Swayambhuva Manu and Saptarshis, we don't know. But the Bhagvata Puran provies some input. It says that Agnidhra, the son of Priyavrata placed at Sr.no 3 in the chronological tables prepared by me, had 9 sons namely Kimpurusha,Ketumal, Bhadrashva,Nabha, Ramyak,Harivarsh,Ilavritta, Kuru and Hiranmaya. Agnidhra divided his kingdom Jambudweepa into 8 parts and gave one kingdom to each out of which the part beyond Kailasa was given to Kimpurusha and was called Kimpurushvarsha. This info is quite true since even the wives of these 9 sons are given as also the family line of Agnidhra continued through Nabhi is also given. Quite possibly Kinnaras were the local people living there and then after Kimpurush was given that area, they intermixed not only with the Kimpurushas but also with Vidyadharas, Siddhas, Gandharvas and Apsaras.

The Kinnaras and Kimpurushas are the most left out people when it comes to references. The primary reference of them comes when the Puranas describe the geography of Jambudweep saying that there is a country called Kimpurushvarsha lying beyond the Kailasa where the Kinnaras and Kimpurushas live.
The Kimpurushas thus have a fixed territory of Kimpurushvarsha but the Kinnaras are also mentioned to be living along with Yakshas and Gandharvas in certain places like (Mahabharata 3.139).

Thus the exotic tribes were quite intermixed and lived in common areas and kingdoms. The major places of Kinnaras and Kimpurushas were Gandhamadan and Mandara mountains to the north of Kailash mountains and to the east of Meru. The Ramayana also mentions that along with the Yakshas and Rakshasas, Gandharvas, Kinnaras and Kimpurushas were also living in Lanka under Kubera.

The etymology of Kinnara and Kimpurusha is quite same owing to the fact that the Vedic people thought that they were half men and half lion. This happened because the Kinnaras and Kimpurushas were quite cut-off from the Vedic civilization in mainland India.In some places, the Kinnaras are mentioned to be one of the sub-tribe within the Gandharvas ( MBh 2.10).This shows the intermixing within them. All these tribes are clearly under the sway of Kubera since in many places in Mahabharata, it is mentioned that Kubera was their head.

NAMES

Very less names are available of Kinnaras and Kimpurushas in different scriptures. In many places Ramayana and Mahabharata just mention them collectively but refrain to give nay name. A slight insight in the Kinnara and Kimpurusha world comes from Mahabharata ( 2.10) where the kings of these people are mentioned. It says that Bhagadatta leads the Kinnaras, Druma the Kimpurushas. Also, Mahabharata ( 2.27) says Arjuna had defeated Durmaputra, a Kimpurusha during the Rajasuya campaign. (2.43) mentions that Druma was present during the Rajasuya Yagya of Yudhisthira. Another information that I get from Wikipedia is that Rukmi, the king of Vidarbha was a disciple of Drona, a Kimpurusha.

WHAT THEY DID

The Kimpurushas and Kinnaras were under the sway of Kubera. Mahabharat (14.63) tells us that the gold mines of Yakshas in Himalayas were guarded properly by the Kinnaras.
The main reason why one remembers the Kinnaras is their phenomenal ability to sing beautifully. Mahabharata says that once you venture into Kinnara territory you will find beautiful Kinnara women (Kinnari) along with female Vidyadharas singing sweetly. Arjuna also had taken the form of a Kinnara to teach music to Matya king's daughter.Thus the Kinnaras are always remembered of having sweet voices.This also gives us the clue of why these people were closely related to Gandharvas and Apsaras since even the later two were involved in music and dance. Bhagvata Purana says that Ram was worshiped in the Kimpurushvarsha.

The Exotic Tribes of India- Yaksha

ORIGIN

The Yakshas have the same origin as that of the Rakshasas.They are said to have originated from Pulastya rishi back in Swayambhuva Manvantara. Although ti remain a matter of question whether Pulastya rishi was the ancestor of Yakshas and Rakshasas but it is quite evident that the descendants of Pulastya rishi could have intermixed with the Yakshas and Rakshasas. Female Yakshas were called Yakshi.
Yakshas are the first of the exotic tribes to be mentioned in the earliest times. ( Dhruva's encounter with Yakshas)

YAKSHA KINGDOM

Where was the kingdom of Yakshas? If we see, when Dhruva had attacked the Yakshas , it is mentioned that they used to live in the city of Alaka in the Himalayas. But during the times of Ramayana, we have Kubera ascend to kingship of Yakshas and living in Sri Lanka. He was thrown out of Lanka by his step brother Ravana and then Kubera along with other Yakshas, Rakshasas,Kinnaras and Gandharvas migrated to mount Kailash and started living there. In the Mahabharata we find that the Yakshas were indeed living near mount Kailash and had their kingdoms spread beyond it. Bhima and Lomasa rishi ventured into their area and have described their kingdom in detail. Different rivers like Vahuda, Mandakini, Bramhavodhya and Brihadvati are mentioned to be flowing through the Yaksha kingdoms. Different mountain peaks like Mandar,Ushivraja,etc are also mentioned. Gangadwara, a famous place mentioned in various scriptures was in the kingdom of Yakshas.

Peculiarities of Yaksha kingdom include the existence of beautiful gardens of Kubera called Chitraratha. This is a unique thing in Yakshas. These gardens were guarded by Rakshasas.A rare reference of gold mines belonging to Yakshas occurs in Mahabharata ( Udyoga Parva 111). Different kinds of divine trees,ponds with beautiful lotuses are also mentioned.
In a general sense we come to know that Yakshas,Rakshasas,Gandharvas used to live together in the Himalayas.

SOME FAMOUS YAKSHAS

Actually, very few Yakshas are mentioned by name in Ramayana,Mahabharata or even the Puranas. They are-

• Kubera- As explained earlier, he was the step brother of Ravana. He was very very rich and was righteous. He ruled Lanka but was driven out. In the times to come, he was converted into a god of wealth worshiped side by side with Laxmi. His son is mentioned to be Nalakubera.
• Manibhadra- he was the commander of Yakshas when they were fighting the war with Ravana. Sanyodhakantaka was one in the army of Yakshas as mentioned by Valmiki Ramayan (7.14). Maniman, Manistragvi were other Yakshas that find mention in Ramayana.
• Shtunakarna was a Yaksha in Mahabharata era who converted Shikhandini, Draupadi's sister into a male by exchanging masculinity with her.
• In the war of 10 kings as mentioned in Rigveda (7.18.19), we find that Sudas, the king of North Panchal had fought a war with Yakshas, Shigrus and Aja who were fighting under the leadership of Bheda. This war was fought on the banks of Yamuna.
• Stray references of Yakshas include Amogha, Ashvakranda, Rainuk,Krathanaka,Tapana,Uluka, Shvasanaka, Nimesh, Paruja, Pulina,etc

A Yaksha called Mankanak is said to be the doorkeeper of Yaksha kingdom. MBh(Vana parva 83)

• Some stories of Yakshas include-

Dhruva, the son of Uttanpada and grandson of Swayambhuva Manu had gone to kill the Yakshas in their Alaka city because a Yaksha had killed his step brother Uttama. There we find a detailed reference of how Dhruva killed a lot of Yakshas.
One of the sons of Vaivasvata Manu was Sharyati. His descendants started a kingdom called Anarta in present day Gujarat. In his family line was one king called Revata who built a city in the sea called Kushasthali. It was attacked by Yakshas and it is said that a huge congregation of Yakshas was held there. An interesting thing to note is that the present day Dwaraka built by Krishna stands on the same destroyed Kushasthali city..!!

It has been mentioned in Mahabharata as well as Ramayana that Yaksha kingdoms were guarded by Rakshasas which could indicate that Yakshas were surely superior than Rakshasas. Only in the case of Ravana, Rakshasas triumphed over the Yakshas. There have to be many tribes of Yakshas since Mahabharata ( Vana Parva 230) mentions Jambhaka Yakshas, as a type of Yakshas.

• YAKSHA AS HUMANS

Yakshas are mentioned as people very cunning in nature.
These people were extremely rich as we find mentions in Ramayana about their prosperity. Kubera had one chariot called Pushpaka which could take him anywhere.
Also, we find Yakshas being mentioned as 'Guhya' people meaning strange and mysterious beings due to the fact that they lived beyond the Kailash in staunchly guarded cities.
And since even today the people living around mount Kailash are Hindus, we can conclude that over a period of time as divisions became blur, the Yakshas converted into Hinduism. 

The Exotic Tribes of India- Rakshas

What are Exotic Tribes ?

Exotic tribes in Hinduism are those tribes which have been mystified and talked of as being some supernatural creatures different than humans. But a simple analysis of Purans, Mahabharat and Valmiki Ramayan makes it clear that these tribes were indeed human beings but were outside the Vedic corpus and hence got mystified. The Exotics Tribes include Rakshasas, Yakshas, Kinnaras, Naga,Gandharvas, Apsaras, Kiratas, Kimpurushas,etc. I am posting about them one by one.

Rakshas

 Hearing this name, we imagine a person black in complexion,huge, fat lips,cannibalistic person who is out there to kill people. In fact, the Rakshas people were not that perilous but we find Rakshas like Ravana who were quite indulgent in philosophy. A thing to note is that Rakshas and Yakshas have common ancestry.

ORIGIN

Now from where did Rakshas originate? A full fledged story of how Rakshas developed from Brahma is given at many places. But that is religious lore which we should respect as devout Hindus. But looking from a historical point of view, Rakshas are said to have originated along with Yakshas from Pulastya Rishi. If one checks the Chronological tables prepared by me, we come to know that Pulastya rishi was a Saptarshi during the first Swayambhuva Manvantara. He was 2 generations after Swayambhuva Manu.

He was the one who married Havirbhu, the daughter of Kardama Rishi. Although he was a rishi and the very part of Vedic system of Saptarshis, his descendants Rakshas and Yakshas passed on as non-Vedic people and his genealogy is quite unknown. The problem arises there.
Till date we assume that Pulastya rishi was grand-father of Ravana. But actually Pulastya was almost 86 generations before him. The in-between genealogies are missing. We don't find any Pulastya descendant to be a composer of Rigveda.

This also proves a major point. That exotic tribes and the Vedic people belonged to the same set of population but had a difference of cultures.

There are only a few members of Pulastya family who are known. This family has passed into so much oblation that only 5 Puranas talk of his family.The other members known of this family are Rishi Vishrava, father of Ravana and Kuber, the half brother of Ravana.

Valmiki Ramayan is a major source of what was happening during the era of Ravana. We are told by the Valmiki Ramayan that Ravana's father was Vishrava and from him and Kaikesi, Ravana was born. This Vishrava rishi was born from Pulastya himself ( Who was 85 generations before him). The mother of Vishrava was none but the daughter of king Trinavindu, the king of Vaishali. So we imply that Pulastya was 85 generations before his son Vishrava and Pulastya's wife, Trinavindu's daughter was 16 generations before him. Isn't it dubious?

Actually, it isn't..There has been a mistake of comprehension by Valmiki ( Although the rest of Valmiki Ramayan is still the most authentic version of Ramayan). And that mistake is partial. The Purans escalated the confusion more.

CLARIFICATION

Now we must see what is the real case of this. From all of this, let's first place Vishrava rishi. With complete faith in Valmiki Ramayan, we can say that indeed Vishrava rishi was the father of Ravana and Kubera, the king of Yakshas. The reason is that in Valmiki Ramayan, we have proper dialogues between Kubera and Vishrava. So certainly Vishrava is one generation before Ravana. But his mother was 16 generations before him. But this is not the case.

Let me tell the story which Valmiki Ramayan tells of Vishrava's birth from Pulastya -
It says that once Pulastya rishi was meditating in his ashrama where Naga, Gandharva girls were playing. Trinavindu's daughter was also there. Pulastya rishi had given a curse that whichever girl looks at him will become pregnant. Trinavindu's daughter did not know this and became pregnant, as a result Trinavindu gave his daughter to Pulastya himself as a wife. Their son was Vishrava. ( Valmiki Ramayan 7-2)
NOTE- Valmiki Ramayan does not give the name of Trinavindu's daughter.

Now the thing to comprehend is that this Pulastya rishi contemporary to Trinavindu king was a remote descendant of the actual Pulastya rishi and was carrying a common patronymic name 'Pulastya'. This story holds some ground that Pulastya married Trinavindu's daughter, but if we see the Valmiki Ramayan confuses the son of this couple to be Vishrava rishi. The reasons are thus-

• The genealogy of Pulastya is not known much but only the fact that Ravana and Vishrava belonged to Pulastya's family line was known.
• As also, only one story regarding a Pualstya rishi was known i.e the Trinavindu story which we say earlier.
• The father of Vishrava rishi was a rishi belonging to the Pulastya family line but confused to be this Pulastya rishi of Trinavindu's times.

This all resulted in placing Vishrava in Ramayanic times and his father and mother some 16 generation before him. So who was his mother actually if Trinavindu's daughter was not his mother?

Here comes another confusion of names done by Puranas-
Now Vishrava's wife was Ilavila from whom Kubera was born. The story of Trinavindu's daughter and Pulastya discussed earlier was for Pulastya rishi from whom Vishrava was born. But this story was confused to be of Vishrava himself and the Purans state that Vishrava married the daughter of Trinavindu and Kubera was born to them. This is not correct since this will place Kubera 15 generations earlier to his brother and contemporary Ravana.So we have two contradictions with Valmiki Ramayan saying Pulastya rishi married Trinavindu's daughter while the Purans say Vishrava married Trinavindu's daughter.
So this story was certainly not of Vishrava. But another implication was done by Puranas. If Vishrava married Trinavindu's daughter, and Ilavila was Vishrava's wife, by implication Ilavila becomes the daughter of Trinavindu !!!!

So after all of this confusion let me clearly tell who existed when with respect to Ramayanic era-
In the earliest times of Swayambhuva Manu, 86 generations before Ramayanic era, existed the original Pulastya Rishi whose wife was Havirbhu.Some 15 generations before Ramayanic era, we have King Trinavindu of Vaishali and a remote descendant of Pulastya, also known as Pulastya. Trinavindu married his unnamed daughter to this Pulastya and their some was also anonymous and not Vishrava.The family line of this anonymous rishi continued till 2 generations before Ramayanic era, we had Vishrava rishi in the line of Pulastya. This Vishrava married Ilavila and begot Kubera who became the king of Yakshas and also married Kaikasi from whom came Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Vibhishan and Shurpanaka. Other wives of Vishrava include Pushpotkata, Raka, Devavarnini,etc

Now something about the kingdom of Rakshasas. It is just mentioned that Rakshasas were born from the original Pulastya rishi along with Yakshas. The Rakshasas and Yakshas are mentioned to be quite inter-related along with Gandharvas. The Rakshasa kingdom is mentioned to be in Lanka from the time of Vishrava. He is said to have lived in prosperity in the kingdom of Lanka. There were other Rakshasas present in places like Kerala and other parts of South India. Among them were 3 Rakshasa brothers Malyavan, Mali and Sumali. For the sake of power, Sumali married his daughter Kaikesi to Vishrava from whom Ravana was born. [ Reference- Valmiki Ramayan Uttar Kanda]

As mentioned earlier, Vishrava had also married Ilavila from whom Kubera was born. Kubera who was a Yaksha. The Rakshasas are said to be guarding Lanka. But Ravana challenged Kubera's authority and fought a war with him and drove him out of Lanka. Kubera returned to the original place of Yaksha kingdom i.e Himalayas and Ravana started ruling in Lanka.
After Ram killed Ravana, he instituted Vibhishana as the king of Lanka.

Now someone might think that Rakshasas are some sort of Dravidian people who resided only in South India. But that is not the case since Mahabharat (Vana Parva,89) says that rishi Vishrava's ashram was on the banks of river Narmada in central India. Plus we must not forget the relations with Yakshas who majorly resided in the Himalayas. Also, the kingdom of Ghatotkacha was said to be between Gangotri and Kailasa (Mahabharat, Vana parva,144). Also, a group of Rakshasas known as Krodhavashas used to guard the kingdom of Yakshas in Himalaya as mentioned in Mahabharata ( Vana Parva 152)

The other Rakshas at Ravana's time include Durmukha, Mishrakeshi,Vajramushti, Virupaksha, Suptaghna.
Mali,Sumali and Malyavan Rakshas as mentioned earlier, were descendants of Heti and Praheti Rakshas who fought from Vritrasura's side in the Indra-Vritrasura war which happened some 65 generations before Ramayan. The genealogy goes hence- Heti + Praheti--> (Unknown generations)--> Vidyutkesh --> Sukesha--> Mali, Sumali, Malyavan--> Maricha, Subahu,Kaikesi--> Ravana

Other famous Rakshasas include

• Maricha- Who had taken the form of golden deer which Sita had told Lord Ram to bring for her in vanvas.
• Vatapi- whom Rishi Agastya had killed as mentioned in Valmiki Ramayan
• Hidimb and Hidimba- These were encountered by Bhima when they escaped the Lakshagriha
• Ghatotkacha was the son of Bhima and was killed in Mahabharata war.

ANOTHER SUB-GROUP OF RAKSHASAS

Another sub group of Rakshasas is mentioned.
Matsya Purana (202) says that one Pulastya rishi had adopted a Agastya and hence Paulastyas were also Agastyas. Also, some Vishwamitras or Kaushikas also became Rakshasas. These people hence got a name 'Brahma Rakshasas' i.e Brahmins allied to the Rakshasas.
Another interesting information is given known that among the Rakshasas, Agastyas, Kushikas and Nirrutas were active at night i.e they performed their rites in the night.

CULTURE OF RAKSHAS

The culture of Rakshas was more or less similar to Vedic people but just that they were opposed to Vedic people and used to trouble them. But we see that Ravana worshipped lord Shiva and had went to Kailasa. It is always thought that Rakshasas were some forest-living nomads. But from the explanation found in Valmiki Ramayan we see that Lanka was full of gold, sky-touching towers and prosperity thus telling that Rakshas people were no demons but were non-Vedic people.