Arjuna, Rsika and Yue-che( Jats)





Buddhaprakash was professor of History and Ancient history at
Kurukshetra University, India. He wrote a number of books on the
ancient history of India.

Here are some of his views on Arjun of the Mahabharat, and he
suggests that Arjuna was a Central Asian Hero to whom a number of
Central Asian ruling dynasties traced their ancestry. He suggests
that the Pnadavas of the Mahabhrata epic had central Asian origin,
and demonstrates a link to the Kusanas, the Sakas, the Sarmatians,
and the Alans.

Ravi

Arjuna, Rsika and Yue-che.


Source: Buddhaprakash, Political and Social movements in Ancient
Punjab, Motilal Banarsidas, and New Delhi (1964)


The word 'arjuna' has an unmistakable resemblance with the Saka
word 'erzuna', meaning a `leader' or `chief'. This word 'erjuna'
or 'erjhuna' can be identified with the word alysanai, eysdnai i.e.
alzanai, ezanai, which is used in the old Saka language in the Khotan
country for rendering the Sanskrit word 'kumara'. Saka languages use
both 'R' and 'L'.

{Note: Kumara is another name for Kartikeya, the son of Shivaji, the
general of the republican people, the Ganas, and his mount is the
Peacock. Shiva and Kartikeya are also prime deities of the Jats. It
is interesting that in that early period in what is now the area
between the rivers Oxus, and Jaxartes, North West Afghanistan, we
find Shiva worship. - Ravi}.

Therefore, Saka 'alysnai' presupposes an older 'arzana,' '
arzanaka', while the later form' eysanai' shows that the initial
vowel tended towards an 'e'. The word 'erjhuna' is used in the sense
of `prince' in the Takht-i-Bahi inscription of the year 103.
According to Konow, 'kapa' stands for the Kusana ruler Kuzula
Kadphises and 'erjhuna kapasya' means `of the prince Kadhpises' in
this inscription.[40]. The word 'erjuna' or 'erzuna' is derived
from 'arzi'. Analogous to it are the Saka words 'aljsa',
meaning `silvery', and 'aljsata' meaning `silver' that are akin to
the Avestan word 'erezata' (silver ), the Sanskrit word rajata (
silver ) and the Persian word 'arziz' (tin).[41] All these words have
the original sense of whiteness and brightness, that are also
connoted by the word 'arjuna' in Sanskrit. It is highly significant
that Arjuna, the hero of the Mahabharata, is said to have borne this
name, because he was `white* and `pure' in action [42]. All over the
Eurasian. Steppes the nobles were regarded as `white' and the
commoners were considered `black'. Hence the word for white colour
was employed to denote the idea of leadership. This is why 'erzuna'
was used in the sense of a `leader' in Saka languages.

The word 'arjuna' occurs in Vedic literature also. [Rgveda I, 112,
23; IV, 26, 1; VIII, I, 11; Yajurveda X, 21; Satapatha Brahmana II,
1, 2-1 I; V, 4, 3, 7). There it denotes `white' and `white leprosy'
and is also an epithet of Indra. But it does not denote a tribe or a
human hero. On the other hand, we come across the name of a northern
tribe 'Arjunaka' or 'Arjunayana' or 'Prarjuna' in the Arthashatra of
Kautilya and the Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta, as
seen above. This tribe seems to be connected with the name 'arjuna'.

The use of this word in the sense of a tribe or a human hero is
foreign to Vedic literature. But in Central Asia, among the states
and principalities, which were founded by the Sakas, it invariably
denoted an eponymous hero.

Vedic and Saka both branched from the same parent `Indo- European
language. Hence many words were common to both. But whereas 'Arjuna'
in Vedic lost its pristine sense and was only used as an adjective,
signifying `whiteness', in Saka it meant a tribe and a human hero and
later on this sense was imparted to this word in India as a result
of the impact of the Sakas. (Buddha Prakash Studies in Indian History
and Civilization, pp. 248- 249.)


Sten Konow has shown that the variants of 'arzi', underlying the
word 'erzuna' are 'arsi-asii', which become 'rsi-isi' in Sanskrit
and 'asi-asi-isi' in Prakrit [43]. In the Mahabharata the Risika are
a people of the northern regions, living beyond the land of the
Kambojas. who inhabited the Badakshan region, and their king, who
also bears this name, is mentioned with 'Chandra' (moon)
and 'Diti'[44]. According to Charpentier, the word "Yue-che"
means "the moon people" in Chinese [45].

It is noteworthy that Kaniska, the greatest ruler of the Yue-che,
bore the titles 'Chen-to' (tsien-da) and 'chan-t'an' (tsian-dan), as
we gather from the Chinese translation of the 'Sutralankara'. These
titles are derived from the Sanskrit word for moon chandra (chanda).
Thus it is clear that the 'Yue-che' had a regular association with
the `moon'. It may be noted that Arjuna of the Mahabharata also
belonged to a family, which is traditionally connected with the moon
(chandravamsa). This association may be based on the fact that the
moon is marked by whiteness and brightness, which the word 'arzi-arsi-
asi' connotes. Thus Arjuna linguistically corresponds to rsika or Yue-
che and semantically agrees with it as well, for both arjuna and arsi
mean `white' in Sanskrit and Saka respectively. [47]. The Rsika — Yue-
che were a people of Saka race and Kadphises and Kaniska considered
themselves as the kinsmen of 'Chastana', the son of 'Ysamotika', one
of the Saka satraps of Saurastra and Malwa. [48]. In this way, it is
clear that Arjuna is the hero and symbol of a tribe of the Saka
stock, which came to be known as Arjunayana or Prarjuna after him.


Footnotes:

40. Sten Konow Kharosthi Inscriptions (Corpus Inscriptionum
Indiacarum Vol. II) p. 65,61 ' mira boyanasya erjhuna kapasya puyae
madu pidu puyae.

41. Sten Konow, Saka Studies, P115, Kharosthi Inscriptions,
Introduction p. 61.

42. Mahabharata, :Viratparvan IV, 39, 18.


43. Kasika on Panini Sutra IV, 2, 132.

Ramayana, (Kiskindhakanda, 41.


Nasik Cave inscription of Gautanriputra Satakarni (R. G. Bhandarkar,
Collected Works Vol. i p. 231).


44. Mahabharata, 67, 31, 33.
.
45. Jarl Charpentier, "Die Ethnographische Stellung der
Tocharer' Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandisechen
Gesselschaft ' Gesellschaft (1917) pp. 347-388. Paul
Pelliot rejects the equation R si- Yue-che with the remark, "Les
Rsika du Mahabharata resulteraient d'une etymologie de Pandit pour
Arsi" (`Tokha-rien et Koutcheen', Journal Asiatique (1934) p. 27),
but he does not appear to have attached due importance to Indian
traditions, recorded in the
Mahabharata, and their equivalence and correspondence in those of
Central Asia.

46. Sylvain Levi, `Kaniska et Satavahana', Journal Asiatique

47. A.J Van Windekens, 'Lexique Etymologie des dialectes
tolkhariens' pp 15-27.
48. The inclusion of the statue of Chastana in the ancestral
gallery (devakula) of the Kusana kings, found at Mat near Mathura,
shows that the Yue-che (Rsikas) considered the Sakas as their kith
and kin (J. Ph. Vogel ' Explorations at Mathura, Archaeological
Survey of India (1971-12). 126). It should also be noted that in the
same ancestral gallery a head wears a high Scythian cap with the tip
lilted forward; which is reminiscent of Saka Tigrakhauda (J. Ph.
Vogel, `La Sculpture de Mathura', Ars Asiatica (1930) p. i. IV-a-b).
The costumes and armaments of the Indian Sakas and Kusanas resembled
those found in the graves of the Sarmatians. They use of the long
sword in place of the short 'akinakes', among them bow and arrow were
not as important us in former limes and the lance and heavy scale
armour or ring armour came into vogue. (L. Bachhofer, `On the Greeks
and Sakas in India' Journal of the American Oriental Society (1941)
pp. 247-249) R. Ghirshman, Begram p. X).

49. Paul Pelliot 'Tokharien et Koutcheen ' Journal Asiatique
(1934) pp 88.