Vrishni

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Vrishnis
5th century BCE–4th century CE
Silver coin of a "King Vrishni" (of the Audumbaras according to Cunningham).[1][2] Obv Pillar with half-lion and half-elephant, surmounted by a Triratna symbol and surrounded by Buddhist railing. Brahmi legend Vṛishṇi Raja jnâgaṇyasya blubharasya Rev Large Dharmachakra symbol. Kharosthi legend Vrishni Raja jnâganyasya blubharasya.[1] of
Silver coin of a "King Vrishni" (of the
Buddhist railing. Brahmi legend Vṛishṇi Raja jnâgaṇyasya blubharasya
Rev Large Dharmachakra symbol. Kharosthi legend Vrishni Raja jnâganyasya blubharasya.[1]
Prakritanak Nagar
GovernmentRepublic
History 
• Established
5th century BCE
• Disestablished
4th century CE
Succeeded by
Gupta Empire

The Vrishnis (

Yadu, the son of Yayati. He had two wives, Gandhari and Madri, not to be confused with Gandhari and Madri from the Mahabharata. He has a son named Devamidhusha by his wife Madri. Vasudeva, the father of Krishna was the grandson of Devamidhusha.[4] According to the Puranas, the Vrishnis were residents of Dvaraka
.

Migration of Vrishnis to Dvaraka

Kalayavan by name, surrounded Mathura with another army of thirty million monstrous fiends. Then Krishna thought it well to depart to Dvaraka.[5]

End of the Vrishnis

After the death of

Ananta, and glided away to ocean. Ocean himself and the sacred rivers and many divine nagas came to meet him. Thus Krishna beheld his brother depart from human world, and he wandered alone in forest. He thought of Gandhari's curse and all that had befallen, and he knew that the time had come for his own departure. He restrained his senses in yoga and laid himself down. Then there came a hunter that way and thought him a deer, and loosed a shaft and pierced his foot; but when he came close the hunter beheld a man wrapped in yellow robes practicing yoga. Thinking himself an offender, he touched his feet. Then Krishna rose and gave him comfort, and himself ascended to Heaven. The hunter is said to be rebirth of Vali from Ramayana who was killed by Rama by hiding behind a tree and was therefore given the opportunity to avenge in similar fashion by Rama himself.[5]

Vrishnis in ancient literature

Pāṇini in his Ashtadhyayi (IV.1.114, VI.2.34) mentioned about the Vrishnis along with the Andhakas. The Arthashastra of Kautilya described the Vrishnis as a sangha (tribal confederation). In the Mahabharata (Drona Parva, 141.15) the Vrishnis and the Andhakas are referred as Vratyas.[6]

Vrishni coins

Kharoshthi legend Vṛṣṇirājaṇṇa(gaṇasa) tra(tarasa) the reverse.[7] Later a number of Vrishni copper coins were also discovered from Punjab.[citation needed
]

"Vrishni heroes"

The

Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism.[8][15][9]

Vrishni Family Tree

The following chart shows the family tree of Krishna.[5][21][22]

Vrishniconsort♀#
Yudhajitconsort♀#
Anamitraconsort♀#
Vrishniconsort♀#
Chitrarathaconsort♀#
Vidurathaconsort♀#
4 generations
Hridikaconsort♀#
DevamidhaMandisha♀# Vaishyvarna♀#
Surasena
Bhojrajkumari♀#
Devaki♀#VasudevaRohini♀#Kunti9 other sons4 other daughters
Krishnaother sonsBalaramaSubhadra
Rukmini♀#Satyabhama♀#Jambavati♀#Nagnajiti♀#Kalindi♀#Madra♀#Mitravinda♀#Bhadra♀#Rohini♀#16,100 other wives♀#
Pradyumna, Charudeshna, Sudeshna, Charudeha, Sucharu, Charugupta, Bhadracharu, Charuchandra, Vicharu and CharuBhanu, Subhanu, Svarbhanu, Prabhanu, Bhanuman, Chandrabhanu, Brihadbhanu, Atibhanu, Shreebhanu and PratibhanuSamba, Sumitra, Purujit, Satajit, Sahasrajit, Vijaya, Citraketu, Vasuman, Dravida and KratuVira, Candra, Asvasena, Citragu, Vegavan, Vrisha, Ama, Sanku, Vasu and KuntiSruta, Kavi, Vrisha, Vira, Subahu, Bhadra, Santi, Darsa, Purnamasa and SomakaPraghosha, Gatravan, Simha, Bala, Prabala, Urdhaga, Mahasakti, Saha, Oja and AparajitaVrika, Harsha, Anila, Gridhra, Vardhana, Unnada, Mahamsa, Pavana, Vahni and KshudhiSangramajit, Brihatsena, Sura, Praharana, Arijith, Jaya and Subhadra, Vama, Ayur and SatyakaDiptiman, Tamratapta and 8 otherseach wife had 10 sons and 1 daughter
  • The members born to the family are linked with solid lines (—)
  • The wives of the male members are linked with dashed lines (--)
  • Up to Surasena only the male members leading to the generation of Krishna are shown and other members are ignored.
  • The individual male members shown in the chart are denoted by the symbol "♂".
  • The individual female members shown in the chart are denoted by the symbol "♀".
  • The female members who not born to the family but are related through marriage are denoted by the symbol "#".
  • The sons of Krishna born to each of his eight princely wives are not shown separately due to their large number.
  • The names of the children of Krishna born to each of the rest of his 16,100 wives are not mentioned.

Medieval Vrishnis

The medieval

Travancore.[23][24] Sri Padmanabha in Trivandrum was the tutelary deity of the medieval Ay family.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Alexander Cunningham's Coins of Ancient India: From the Earliest Times Down to the Seventh Century (1891) p.70 [2]
  2. .
  3. .
  4. ^ Pargiter F.E. (1922, reprint 1972). Ancient Indian Historical Tradition, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, pp.103-7
  5. ^
    ISBN 81-7505-197-3 Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain
    .
  6. ^ Raychaudhury, H.C. (1972). Political History of Ancient India, Calcutta: University of Calcutta, pp.126-8
  7. ^ Lahiri, Bela (1974). Indigenous States of Northern India (Circa 200 B.C. to 320 A.D.), Calcutta: University of Calcutta, pp.242-3
  8. ^ .
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  12. ^ .
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  20. ^ Gupta, Vinay K. "Vrishnis in Ancient Literature and Art". Indology's Pulse Arts in Context, Doris Meth Srinivasan Festschrift Volume, Eds. Corinna Wessels Mevissen and Gerd Mevissen with Assistance of Vinay Kumar Gupta: 71.
  21. ^ "Krishna's visit to Prabhasa along with his family, Mausala Parva, Mahabharata - Kashiram Das". Archived from the original on 2013-12-12. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
  22. ^ Family Trees, The descendants of Pururava.
  23. ^ Aiya, V. Nagam. The Travancore State Manual. Vol 1. Part 2. Trivandrum: The Travancore Government Press, 1906 [3]
  24. S2CID 162972188
    .