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The Pandyas were fierce warriors who took part in the Kurukshetra War as per the epic Mahabharata. A Pandya king named Darshak, is mentioned as participating in the Kurukshetra War, siding with the Pandavas.
All the references (n:m) found in this article refer to Mahabharata, nth book, mth chapter The mountain Rishabha in Pandya kingdom is mentioned at (Mahabharata 3:85). In the country of the Pandyas are the tirthas (holy spots) named Agastya and Varuna! There, amongst the Pandyas, is the tirtha called the Kumaris (Kanyakumari) (3:88). Thamiraparani and Gokarna are also mentioned in the same passage.
Bhishmaka, the mighty king of the Bhojas (of Vidarbha Kingdom) who governs a fourth part of the world, by his learning conquered the Pandyas and the Kratha-Kausikas (2:14).
Having met with Rukmi (of Vidarbha Kingdom), Karna, repaired to Pandya and the mountain, Sri. By fighting, he made Kerala Kingdom, king Nila, Venudari’s son, and other best of kings living in the southern direction pay tribute (3:252).
Pandya was present in the Rajasuya ceremony of Pandava king Yudhishthira (2:36,43). The Kings of Chera and Pandya, brought numberless jars of gold filled with fragrant sandal juice from the hills of Malaya, and loads of sandal and aloe wood from the Dardduras hills, and many gems of great brilliancy and fine cloths inlaid with gold. Singhalas gave those best of sea-born gems called the lapis lazuli, and heaps of pearls also, and hundreds of coverlets for elephants (2:51).
Pandya king Sarangadhwaja sided with the Pandavas in the great Kurukshetra War. His main opponent was Ashwathama.
As per Bhishma's ratings, Pandya king was rated as a great Ratha (a grade for chariot-warriors) (5,172).
Pandya, who dwelt on the coast-land near the sea, came accompanied by troops of various kinds to Yudhishthira, the king of kings (5:19). There hath come Pandya. Remarkably heroic and endued with prowess and energy that have no parallel, he is devoted to the Pandava cause. (5:22).
Dhrishtadyumna and Shikhandi and the five sons of Draupadi and the Prabhadrakas, and Satyaki and Chekitana with the Dravida forces, and the Pandyas, the Cholas, and the Cheras, surrounded by a mighty array - were mentioned as part of the Pandava army (8:12).
Pandya, that foremost of warriors skilled in shafts and weapons, was destroying crowds of foes by means of diverse kinds of shafts. Piercing the bodies of the elephants and steeds and men with sharp shafts, that foremost of smiters overthrew and deprived them of life. Cutting off with his own shafts the diverse weapons hurled at him by many foremost of foes, Pandya slew his enemies (8:19). He was slain by the Kaurava hero Ashwatthama (8:20,46) His name was mentioned as Sarangadhwaja.
There is a doubt if some other Pandya king sided with the Kauravas as indicated by the following passage at (9:2):- When the mighty Pandya, that foremost of all wielders of weapons, has been slain in battle by the Pandavas, what can it be but destiny?
Pandya king took part in the self-choice event of Panchala princess Draupadi (MBh 1:189) along with the rulers of Kalinga, Vanga and others.
The Pandavas is a group name referring to the five legendary brothers, Yudhishtira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva, who are central characters of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. They are acknowledged as the sons of Pandu, the King of Kuru, but were fathered by different Devas (gods) due to Pandu's inability to naturally conceive children. In the epic, the Pandavas married Draupadi, the princess of Panchala, and founded the city of Indraprastha after the Kuru Kingdom was split to avoid succession disputes. After the split, the other part of the kingdom was ruled by their cousins, the Kauravas. However, the Pandavas lost their kingdom to Duryodhana when Yudhishtira gambled it away during a game of dice. The bet Yudhishtira agreed to was that the Pandavas would hand the kingdom to the Kauravas and go into exile for 13 years. After this time the Kauravas refused to return the kingdom. As a result, the Pandavas waged a civil war against their extended family, and this conflict was known as the Kurukshetra War. With the help of the god Krishna, the Pandavas eventually won the war with the death of the Kauravas, albeit at great cost.
Sahadeva was the youngest of the Pandava brothers, the five principal protagonists of the epic Mahabharata. He and his twin brother, Nakula, were blessed to King Pandu and Queen Madri by invoking the twin gods Ashvins. Trained by Drona, Kripa and Brihaspati, Sahadeva is described to be skilled in swordsmanship and astrology, and also Neeti Sastra. He went on a war campaign to southern part of India to subjugate kingdoms for the Rajasuya sacrifice, after crowning his Pandava brother Yudhishthira as the emperor of Indraprastha. He was exiled for 13 years along with his Pandava brothers, when Yudhishthira lost all his possessions, his brothers, and their common wife Draupadi to Duryodhana of Kuru Kingdom of Hastinapura during a dice game played by the wily Shakuni, the maternal uncle of Duryodhana. During his one year incognito living, as part of 13 years exile, he disguised as a cowherd and served in the Kingdom of Virata. During the 18-days Kurukshetra War, he slew many warriors including Shakuni. After the war, Yudhishthira appointed Sahadeva as the king of southern Madra. During his final journey of pilgrimage to the Himalayas, he succumbed en route, after Draupadi.
Shakuni is one of the antagonists of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. He was the prince of the kingdom of Gandhara when introduced, later becoming its king after the death of his father, Subala. He was the brother of Gandhari and the maternal uncle of the Kauravas.
The Kurukshetra War, also called the Mahabharata War, is a war described in the Hindu epic poem Mahabharata , arising from a dynastic struggle between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, for the throne of Hastinapura. The war laid the foundation for the events of the Bhagavad Gita.
Jayadratha is the king of the Sindhu kingdom featured in the Mahabharata. He was married to Dushala, the only sister of the hundred Kaurava brothers. The son of the king Vriddhakshatra, he is killed by Arjuna. He has a son named Suratha.
Chedi was a kingdom which fell roughly in the Bundelkhand division of Madhya Pradesh regions to the south of river Yamuna along the river Ken. Its capital city was called Suktimati in Sanskrit.
The historical Avanti Kingdom of ancient India is described in the Mahabharata epic. Avanti was divided into north and south by river Vetravati. Initially, Mahissati was the capital of Southern Avanti, and Ujjaini was of northern Avanti, but at the times of Mahavira and Buddha, Ujjaini was the capital of integrated Avanti. The country of Avanti roughly corresponded to modern Malwa, Nimar and adjoining parts of the Madhya Pradesh.
Anarta is a Vedic period kingdom of ancient India described in the Mahabharata, roughly forming the northern Gujarat state of India. It was founded by a grandson of Vaivasvata, inter alia the father of the present Manu and of Yama, named Anarta. He built a fortress at Kusasthali (Dvaraka), which was later flooded by Varuna. The place remained then for some time as a forest land, before Krishna and the Yadavas went there and built Dvaraka. It was then ruled by Yadavas after they fled from Mathura of Surasena Kingdom, due to the attacks of Jarasandha, the king of Magadha. The Yadava chiefs like Vasudeva Krishna, Bala Rama, Kritavarma and Satyaki, ruled this kingdom under their king Ugrasena. In Mahabharata, Dwaraka is considered as a capital city of Anarta Kingdom. But some other ancient texts like Mahabhagavata, mentions Dwaraka and Anarta as two independent kingdoms. As per the Purana viz. Bhagavata Purana, Bala Rama's wife Revati was from this kingdom.
Madra Kingdom was a kingdom grouped among the western kingdoms in the epic Mahabharata. Its capital was Sagala in Madra region, modern Sialkot in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The Kuru king Pandu's (Pāṇḍu) second wife was from Madra kingdom and was called Madri. The Pandava twins, Nakula and Sahadeva, were her sons. Madri's brother Shalya was the king of Madra. Though affectionate to the Pandavas, he was tricked to give support to Duryodhana and fought against the Pandavas during the Kurukshetra War. He was killed by Yudhishthira, the eldest Pandava. Other than the Madra kingdom with Sagala as its capital, it is believed that there was a Western Madra and a Northern Madra.
Kekeya Kingdom was a kingdom mentioned in the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata among the western kingdoms of then India. The epic Ramayana mentions one of the wives of Dasharatha, the king of Kosala and father of Rama, was from Kekeya kingdom and was known as Kaikeyi. Her son Bharata conquered the neighbouring kingdom of Gandhara and built the city of Takshasila. Later the sons and descendants of Bharata ruled this region from Takshasila.
Gandhāra was an Ancient Indian kingdom mentioned in the Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. Gandhara prince Shakuni was the root of all the conspiracies of Duryodhana against the Pandavas, which finally resulted in the Kurukshetra War. Shakuni's sister was the wife of the Kuru king Dhritarashtra and was known as Gandhari after the area of Gandhāra. Puskalavati, Takshasila (Taxila) and Purushapura (Peshawar) were cities in this Gandhara kingdom. Takshasila was founded by Raghava Rama's brother Bharata. Bharata's descendants ruled this kingdom afterwards. During the epic's period, the kingdom was ruled by Shakuni's father Suvala, Shakuni and Shakuni's son. Arjuna defeated Shakuni's son during his post-war military campaign for Yudhishthira's Aswamedha Yagna.
Kalinga is a kingdom described in the legendary Indian text Mahabharata. They were a warrior clan who settled in and around the historical Kalinga region, present-day Odisha and northern parts of Andhra Pradesh. According to political scientist Sudama Misra, the Kalinga janapada originally comprised the area covered by the Puri and Ganjam districts.reference-Sudama Misra (1973). Janapada state in ancient India. Bhāratīya Vidyā Prakāśana. p. 78.
Kirata Kingdom in Sanskrit literature and Hindu mythology refers to any kingdom of the Kirata people, who were dwellers mostly in the Himalayas. They took part in the Kurukshetra War along with Parvatas (mountaineers) and other Himalayan tribes.
Bhagadatta was the son of Narakasura, and the king of Pragjyotisha in Hindu mythology. Bhagadatta was born from a limb of the asura called Bashkala. He was a renowned warrior, and was known to be a great friend of Indra. When Arjuna embarked on a conquest to help his brother Yudhishthira perform the rajasuya yajna, Bhagadatta was one of the first kings to be conquered by him.
The Bhishma Parva, or the Book of Bhishma, is the sixth of eighteen books of the Indian epic Mahabharata. It has 4 sub-books and 124 chapters.
The Drona Parva, or the Book of Drona, is the seventh of eighteen books of the Indian epic Mahabharata. Drona Parva traditionally has 8 parts and 204 chapters. The critical edition of Drona Parva has 8 parts and 173 chapters.
In the Hindu epic the Mahabharata, Ashwatthama or Drauni is the son of guru Drona and Kripi and he is also a pivotal character in the Mahabharata. The grandson of the sage Bharadwaja, Ashwatthama ruled the northern region of Panchala with Ahichhatra as his capital, being subordinate to the rulers of Hastinapura. He was a Maharathi who fought on the Kaurava side against the Pandavas in the Kurukshetra War. He became a Chiranjivi (immortal) on being cursed by Krishna for attacking pregnant Uttara's womb with intentions to kill Abhimanyu's unborn child. He is said to be still existing on the himalayan mountains with a raw wound on his forehead which appeared by the curse of Krishna when he took out the gemstone from his forehead.
Malayadwaja Pandya was a king of Madurai and Korkai and an emperor who ruled over the Pandya empire during the early Pandya period. He is mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. His father, Kulashekara, was slain by Lord Krishna. His queen consort was Kanchanamalai. He is the father of goddess and queen of Madurai goddess Meenakshi.
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