The Jats:Their Origin, Antiquity and Migrations/Epilogue
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Manthan Publications, Rohtak. ISBN 81-85235-22-8
Epilogue
- "Since verbal science has no final end,
- Since life is short, and obstacles impend,
- Let central facts be picked and firmly fixed,
- As swans extract the milk with water mixed".
(Panchatantra)
Contents
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Appending an epilogue to a book, and especially to a patulous one, may be derided by some as an additional infliction, by others it may be welcomed as a substitute for the book they are too lazy even to skim through. Yet others may compare the lack of an epilogue in a book to the absence of a salt in a dish. We apologize to the first group of readers and bow to the will of the other two groups. In deference to the first group of readers, we shall try to be succinct, while we shall do our best to sum up, as briefly as possible, the main argument of our basic stand so that those pressed for time may get the hang of our book.
We hope we have been able to convince the reader that the word "Jat" is of ancient origin known to Panini, Yaska and before them, to Sakatayana. We have explored the grammatical structure of the word "Jata" or Jhata (Ashtadhyayi-1.3.1; 1.2.58; 2.23.14; 2.13.15). We have also shown how, according to one of Panini's sutras (1.5.4.38), "Jata" may well become "Jat" following the application of ana suffix, so that this ancient word handed down to Panini became "Jat". As a result of use of conjuncts in western dialects, to its variant-"Jatt", while the habit of lengthening 'a' in the eastern parts it became "Jaat" there. We have shown how the semantic overtones and undertones of this word link it with the republican Aryan tribes described, in general, as ganas and sanghas, and connect it specifically with Ayudhajivi tribes (republican warrior tribes) mentioned in Ashtadhyayi. We have also shown how the strong sense of confederacy that the word carries points to the well known characteristics of Jats as a group. All these approaches, taken together, would, we hope, convince any unbiased person about the antiquity of the word Jat.
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We have shown further, that just as the native writers consider "Jata" as the root of "Jat", to the Greek and German classical writers "Gete" accounts for the root of "Getae", changing later into "Gots" or "Goths", all these being variants of "Jat", In the home region of Panini, the descendants of these ancient Aryan Republican warrior tribes still go by the original term, "Jat".
We have shown, too, how the term had to undergo plethoric transformations in its orthography and pronunciation in different climes and countries according to the phonemes of their local dialects and languages at different times, We may repeat how, in addition to phonemes, the hard and soft sound of 'T', and the use of D as prefix in Jat made it into "Djat" or the addition of Az "made it into "Az-Zat", while in certain other areas where the letter 'J' did not exist, it was substituted by, 'G' or 'I' or 'Z' or 'X. Finally, we have shown how the different sound values of the vowels 'A,E,I,O & U' in various languages and dialects of countries other than India, have given rise to variants of the word "Jat" which seem, at first glance, to be entirely unrelated to the original sounds that form the word "Jat",
We have listed the Asian and European, the ancient, medieval and modern variants of this word as "Jat", "Jath", "Jat", "Jaut", "Jit", "Jet", "Gat", "Get", "Getae", "Gete", "Git", "Gut", "Guti", "Gutia", "Gutton"; "Djat", "Djoth"; "Az-Zat", "Zaut", "Zot", "Zut", "Zuthii"; "Xanthii", "Iatii", etc. We have also shown why and how the Chinese used the term "Yueh-Chih" for this group of tribes. This wide variation has, naturally caused much doubt in the mind of scholars on the origin and urheimat (cradle land) of Jats. We hope, for solid reasons, that our efforts have set such doubts at rest, and also that our tracing these terms not only allover Asia and Africa but also across the two Americas provides the firm foundation of our contention that these ancient "Ayudhas" of Panini have migrated back and forth all over the Old and the New World.
The terms "Rajput" and "Gujar" acquired their respective ethnic significance in the course of time, and so did the term Jat, but it did so much earlier than the former two. Scholars generally regard this term to be of post-Sanskrit origin. We have shown, we hope, conclusively, that their findings are ruefully deficient. We may draw attention once again, to a phrase in Yaska's Nirukta. The phrase in Nirukta is Jatya Atnaro which has been dismissed by some scholars as unintelligible, by
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others to mean "nomads with matted locks of hair". There is, however, a consensus that Atnaro means "nomads or wanderers". In the local Prakrit dialects, Atnaro (Atna + Naro) means" person(s) who develop 'Atna'( coarse hardening of skin) on the joints of the toes by roaming about: this confirms the meaning. The dispute is only the word "Jatya". We derive the word "Jatya" (of the Jat) from Jat. It is thus that adjectives are formed from nouns. Monier-Williams cites examples of this rule, i.e., the words "Prachya" (of the east) from "Prachi" (the east), and "Udichya" from "Udichi" (the north). Examples of this can be multiplied. Jatya Atnaro thus becomes easily intelligible as meaning "nomads like Jats or belonging to Jat(s)".
We are prepared to concede that the term Jatya may mean "hair" or "hairy" or in the "hair" or belonging to "hair" as was interpreted by some scholars. We must point out, however, that the context rules out this meaning, because "hair" have no toes and they cannot grow "Atna" on them, nor can they (hair) be equated with persons, sedentary or nomadic. The word must have been used by Yaska as well as (possibly) by Sakatayana to represent those nomadic Jats who, unlike their sedentary brethren, did not prefer to settle down as agriculturists in the Paraskara desha (Panini, VI, I, 157; Patanjli, III, 96). It corresponds to the Tharparkar desert. This is the home region of Yaska where a good many of them still lead the same type of life as graziers and where we find the word Jat as an ethnic name as much used in its present form as it was during the time of Yaska.
We have shown further, that the group of people described as "Jat" were the forefathers (progenitors) of the republican warrior tribes of Sapta Sindhu i.e. the Yadus, Turvasus, Druhyus, Anus and Purus, (later Ailas). These five tribes are the celebrated Panchajatah of the Rigveda. They and their allies have been described by the Rigveda to have fought the Dasharajna wars against the Bharatas. The war was caused by the efforts of the Panchajatah to divert the Studri river, the life-line of the Bharatas. Another point of dispute was the sacrifice of the bull or the ox by the Bharatas on the altars of their gods and goddesses and their practice of offering kine to their guests for food. The Jats, we have shown, are identified with these warrior tribes, especially with the last three (i.e. Druhyus, Anus and Purus) and their descendants. It is known that of this group of five, the two, the Yadus
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and Turvasus, were won over by Indra and Vasishtha in favour of the Bharatas. Thus they deserted the common cause as well as the fee federation of their cognates, and were never called Jats thereafter.
The identification of these three ancient tribes, i.e. (the Druhyus, the Anus and the Puru) were stigmatized by pro- Bharatas as ''ayajnica', 'akarmana', 'abrahmanic', unorthodox, non-monarchic, republican, unablutionist and pragmatic in their out -look on life and religion besides being branded as Asuras, Danavas and what not. Their descendants, the Jats still attract these opprobrious epithets as a part of their heritage from these distant ancestors. Instead of being ashamed of this, they should, with their long-cherished values, be proud of it for these epithets, showered on them by the Bharatas, are not more than terms of abuse. Pargiter rightly observes that "Brahmanism was ab initio not an Aryan or Aila institution, and the earliest Brahmans were connected with non-Aryan people. The Ailas had been their own sacrificers and in fact they Aryanised the Brahmans as they did the other peoples." These Aryaninsed Brahmans then tried to hypnotize the Panchajatah in toto to their creed, but failed, and as they have failed in their efforts throughout the ages ever since, so the Jats continue to be denounced by them throughout the ages.
In Rigveda, the Panchajatah are nowhere represented as the descendants of Yayati, but the Mahabharata, not as presented by Vyasa but as inflated by Sauti Ugrasharva describes them as Yayati's progeny. Ever since, they and their successive generations have been popularly known not only as Ailas but also as Yayatas or Yajatas or Yazats or Jajatas- and, ultimately as Jatas or Jats. These names seem to nave suffered obliteration from Sanskrit literature at the hands of the orthodox 'masters of the pen, press and platform' but they have survived in the books of the Zoroastrians as honourable "Zazats" or "Yazats". After the dasharajna wars described by Rigveda, a good number of these vanquished people were driven out of their home- and in Sapta Sindhu by the Deva-worshippers (Bharatas) to north western countries, perhaps for good. Their leader in the migration was known by various names- "Jarat Tvastra" or "Jerath Twastra" or "Zarathushtra" or "Zarat-Ushtra" or "Zoroaster", the 'uncompromising prophet'. For this account we cite the authority of Max Muller and other scholars.
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We have shown further, that these schismatic Aryans are now known as the Indo-Iranian. They are the kith and kin of the Ailas and their allies. They came to be known as "Zoroastrians" or "Yazatas" in Arachosia, Sogdiana, Bactriana, , northern and Caspian regions.· The final schism took place In Airyano Vaejo, whence the Indo-Iranians, therefore, came to be known as dwij because of their safe return from the inhospitably freezing countries. The Arabs (Semitic) knew the Zoroastrian, Yazats or Iranians as Az-Zats and also as Zats. Their priests were called Maga or Magi. These priests were raised by their , Zarathushtra, as a brotherhood of spiritual leaders. The word Maga is a corrupted form of the Avestic word 'Maghvan' equivalent to Sanskrit word 'Bhagwan'. (Yaska, 19, 10-11 ;Spencer, 1965: 112-113, 154) The Zoroastrian and their priests have been identified by us in the main body of the book, with the Sakas.
Zarathushtra was represented as Narayana or Vishnu when the Brabmanical sect developed in the Sweta-dwipa. Sri Krishna (who, according to Al Biruni, was Jat) was held to be an incarnation of Narayana/Zarathustra. This was equally recognised by the Indians and the Zoroastrians (ibid. 114,252-62; J.M. Chatterjee, Ethical Conceptions of the Gatha, p. 163; Macdonell, His. of Skt. Lit. p. 402; Radha Krishnan, Ind. Pbiloso., p.498). Further, at a later stage, Buddha (who, like Zarathustra, protested against violence and animal sacrifice, which the Deva worshippers were very fond of), was also declared as an incarnation of Narayana (Vishnu) - in order to "tame" him. This has been a favourite trick of the priests of the Deva-worshippers. They have always tried to turn the rebels into conformists by raising them to their Pantheon. Zarathustra was made to lose his halo as a rebel by being acknowledged as an avatar, Narayana (Vishnu).
We have supported this thesis of our, further, by mentioning yet another aspect of the term "Jata"; one of the sons of Brahaman was named "Jata". This man, we believe; must be Jata Sakayana who, acording to Ghurye (1972 : 20) was a descendant of Saka, and is mentioned as a ritual authority of Kath Samhita. (XXII. 7;V.1;.281) The ritual authorities uniformly occupy a very honourable place and status in later times as "mind-born" as well as real sons of Brahma. This son of Brahma, named Jata, has been described as having taken many with him from
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the east (Brahmrishidesha or Sapta Sindhu) to Shvet-Dwipa for the 'darshan' of Narayana (Vishnu). It is said, further that all these people settled down permanently in Shvet-Dwipa which has also been named by some as Saka-Dwipa. So far, this legend has been dismissed as one of the myths created by the Pauranikas. It is now acknowledged, nowever, that such myths often hide, beneath them, some solid historical fact. We have, consequently, speculated that this is a possible reference to the migration of the Schismatic Aryans of Sapta Sindhu, who were driven out by the Bharatas after the Dasharajna wars and were led by Zarathushtra, who was later "elevated" to the status of Narayana in the Brahmnical records, We firmly believe that our speculation, when placed in conjunction with other facts mentioned earlier, comes to have a solid basis, i.e. behind the Shveta-Dwipa facade lies the actual edifice of the history of the Sakas,
Our identiftcation of Schismatic Aryans with Sakas has basis in solid fact. The key lies in determining the exact location of Shvet-Dwipa or Saka-Dwipa, On the basis of latest researches, geographers now agree that this dwipa derives its name from Sanskrit word Saka or Saaga (Saagwan in hindi and -teak in English), and that it lay in the south-east of Meru or Sumeru (Pamir) in ancient times. The 'rechna doab' in the Sapta Sindhu has all the chracteristics that are associated With the Saka Dwipa. Archaeological evidence confirms this view. The boronze-age Harappans are said to have got teak wood from the foothills of the Shivalaks and to have exported it to the Middle Eastern countries. Archaeorogists-acknowre the presence of pieces of Indian teak wood in the Babylonian excavations. According to Mahabharata also the Ravi and Chinab doab (Rechna) Ywas known as Saka Dwipa. According to Panini, one of the chracters of the sakas was that the names of their towns and cities often ended in "kantha" or "kanda", Such names abounded in the Rechna Doaba. We regard this testimony to clinch the issue.
We hold that the Schismatic Aryans, who were initially known as Yayats or Yajats or Jajats, were konwn also as Sakas or Sacae Getae since they were the autochthons of Saka Dwipa from where they migrated for ood to settle down in the lands between theOxus and the Ural valleys, Sauti Ugrashrava, son of Lomaharshana, describes the lanadmass between the Oxus and Ural velleys as Saka Dwipa, but Sauti
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is wrong. This area, no doubt, abounds in towns and cities with names ending in "Kand", but this can be explained by the fact that the Sakas migrated there and made it their new home. This, however, could not have been Saka Dwipa because the history of the climate of the Oxus-Ural area through the ages rules out the ssibili of any teak forests in it. This area was termed as Scythia by the Greeks. Dr. S.M. Ali is of the emphatic opinion that Scythia was, in our terms, Sakasthan, not Saka Dwipa, the later being the correct name for Rechna Doaba area. We accept Dr. S.M. Ali's view for reasons we have already given.
The most challenging thesis in our book is the one relating to the location of the original Ayodhya and Vaisali. An in-depth study of the ethno-geographical data of the Rigveda, "Our oldest book of knowledge" and the geological history of our country, especially of northern India, convinced me that the original Ayodhya and Vaisali were not located where cities of these names now flourish. Geological findings establish, beyond reasonable doubt, that the Gangetic valley was not habitable up to the time of Bhagiratha, who is said to have brought down the Ganga from Gangotri to the plains. No habitation was possible there till then. Archeology does not push up the antiquity of these two cities, (as at present situated), beyond 1000 B.C. to 800 B.C. Further, it is an equally well-established fact that what is now called Ayodhya was named as Saket or Sakapur, and that it was renamed as Ayodhya by one of the emperors of the Gupta Dynasty.
The next step was to locate the original Ayodhya and the original Vaisali. A perusal of the genealogical accounts of the main line of the aiksvakas shows thit four generations before Bhagiratha lived in Sapta Sindhu up to his great-great-grand-father, Sagara. This king avenged the 'murder of his father, Bahu, who was killed by the Saks. He followed up his victory over his enemies - the Sakas, the Parthas, the Pahlavas, the Kambojas, etc. by driving them out of Ayodhya and by pushing them out to north-western countries after imposition of certain punitive measures on them. The Ayodhya mentioned here could not possibly have been the Ayodhya of today, since no such city could have existed then in the eastern parts of the inhospitable Gangetic valley covered with thick jungles and deep marshes, and visited by frequent seismic disturbances. Apart from geological evidence, the uninhabitable nature of this area in the east can be established conclusively from the legends
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connected with Sagara. It is said that an army 60,000 strong, deployed by Sagara to explore thc unknown eastern regions, was burnt in volcanic eruptions, and that Amsumana, the Crown prince, despatched by Sagara, to find what happened to his army, was horrified at the ghastly scence of half-burnt corpses of the soldiers. All this amply bears out the uncongenial conditions and character of the regions under review for human habitation four or five generations before Bhagiratha. Obviously, the Ayodhya from which Sagara is said to have driven out the tribes hostile to him must have been located somewhere else.
Bhagitratha, by common consent, is the first Aryan king to have penetrated eastwords. His forefathers, obviously, played the drama of their life in Ihe Sapta Sindhu country bounded by Tibet and the Arvavata sea in the east, Turkistan in the north, the Persian Afghanistan and Paravata sea in the West, and the Sarasvata sea and the northern Paravatas (Aravalis) in the South. Consequently, Ayodhy must have located somewhere else in Sapta Sindhu. We were thrilled to find that Nearchus, one of the famous Generals of Alexander the Great, while on his return Journey along the course of the Satudri (Satlej) describes a great city of the name of Ayodhya (Ayodhin or Ajodhin) on the bank of Satlej about 25 miles from Hariyupiya in the heart-land of the Ayudhjivi tribes whom we have already identified with the Jats. This Ayodhya must have been founded by the Yaudheyas whom modern ethnologists and historians acknowledge to be the ancestors of the Jats. The city was reputed to be invincible. The words "Yaudheyas" and "Ayodhya", when read in conjunction, are significant, and the conclusion drawn is incontovertible. The city named by Nearchus, is often spelt as "Ajodhin" or "Ajudhin", but Nearchus's version of the name is "Ayodhya". This is confirmed by Waddell. Like C.V. Vaidya, we believe "that the Older the evidence, the more reliable it is" and we thorougly agree.
We have discussed, next, the original location of Vaisali. Near Taxala, there is a city at present named Basal, which was once called Basar (L and R being often interchangeable). We believe that this was the original Vaisali of the olden days. We believe, further, that it was founded by Visal, a descendent of Narishyanta, a contemporary of Sagara and the progenitor of the Sakas, who were the dissident or schismatic Aryans we have already mentiond. We are of the view that these tribes,
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when their eastward drive towards the Gangetic valley at last began,founded a new Ayodhya and a new Vaisali in memory of the older ones. Later, when they moved on to Burma, they founded another Vaisali there (now called Vaithali). They founded anotherAyodhya (Ayudheya) in Combodia (Kamboja) to which they roamed still later. We find towns named (Vassali, Vasaley) in the Russian steppes which, too, became a part of their migrations. This tendency of naming cities of one's new home after Cities of one's original home is natural - we have - a Cambridge In USA, and a New York as well. Such examples of duplicate names of the modern times could, however, be multiplied.
Our thesis that Sakas were Aryans, that they migrated to many lands, and that Jats are their descendants have found concrete proof in recent archaeological findings, which point unmistakably to the existence of a highly developed civilization and a conspicuous mixture of Sythic (Saka) element in its authors in the Greater Indus Valley (Kachi Plains in Baluchistan-Mehargarh) from time earlier than 8th millennium B.C.till the decline of the Harappan culture. Further, the craniological, dental pathological and ethnological investigations of the skeletal remains of Harappan civilization, amply bear out that the population of Sindh, Panjab and Saurashtra has been, more or less, identical till today. Finally, Waddell has deciphered the words "(Gut" and "Gutt" on the Harappan seals and he regards them either as ethnic names or the names of some Saka Chief, whom he identifies, with the Gatae or Goth or Jats, who according to us, are the same people going after slightly different names. Waddell was ignored by scholars under the influence of Marshall and Wheeler, but is now widely recognised as having made valid conclusions. Basing ourselves, among others, on Waddell's findings we have asserted, in our book, that the ancestors of the Jats must have been among the founding authors of not only the Mehargarh Civilization, but also of its aftermath, the Harappan Civilization.
Before we move to the next topic, we may very well explain why, at times we seem to be writing almost like a crusader. We have already mentioned how the Sakas, who were Aryans, were condemned for ever by the use of opprobrious epithets. It is high time, we thought, that
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someone washes off this mud. The task of research had to he combined with the task of scrubbing. The two tasks, however, are basically one, but the act of scrubbing demands more vigour.
Lest our thesis about slander and calumny carried out by the priestly class be regarded as a made up one, we would like to mention two instances of this tendency, one from the comparatively recent past, the other relating to an incident in the second half of this very century.
We have, at some length, examined the canard of Angad Sharma, who had the temerity to suggest, on the basis of no evidence at all, that a large number of women begged the killers of their husbands to impregnate them. The second incident relates to the effort, by some one, to bribe a scholar to declare, in his writings, that Ahirs, Jats, Gujars, and Rajputs were intruders in India and were of foreign origin. 1
If such distortion of history can be undertaken in the 19th century
and attempted in the 20th century, we can well imagine what could have happened in antiquity when learning was the monopoly of a microscopic minority interested in establishing and perpetuating its hegemony. Consequently, we have been bold in making assertions that, we are free to admit,may need further research to confirm them. Among such assertions of ours is the one about the Sakas as the authors of the Mehargarh and the Harappan civilizations. And we would now make another, and even more provocative assertion, namely, that the Sakas were among the seers and sages who have been mentioned in the Rigveda as connected with the various rchas.
Waddell (1976: 67) claimed that Trinvindu, father of Visala, a descendant of Narishyanta, the progenitor of the Sakas (Scythian Jats) was succeeded as "arranger of the Vedas by a Taxa (Taxak or Takshak) of the Sakas. We link this with our statements in ch. VIII. where we have shown that he was the descendant of Visala whose son, Viraja, reigned at Vaisali which we have identified as Visala or Basal, the eponymous city founded by Visala (Atharva Veda, VIII, 10,29). To this
1. Bhagavad Datta, Bharatiya Sanskriti Ka Itihas (Hindi). v.s. 2022 (l965). Govind Ram Asanand. Naee Sarak, Delhi. p, 157. Would that, Panditji should have given the name of the alleged briber.
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may he added the observation of Weber that the knowledge of the Veda and Sun-worship was primarily possesed by the Sakas and their priests the Magas (Asi. Res., Vol.II, 80).
Next, we learn from Panini (1.1, 16) that the Pada-Patha of the
Rigveda was arranged by Sakalya. The Sakalyas formed an important school of the Rigveda and the present recension of the Rik Samhita is attributed to the Sakalas by him (IV.2.138) as their proud legacy. This is also confirmed by Weber (1914: 32) and Pargiter (1972: 322). There is some confusion about the Pada-Patha whether it is called Jataa-Patha or Jata-Patha. This must be cleared before we proceed further. A majority of Sanskritists favour the reading "Jataa-Patha", but Monier- Williams (1960 : 409) favour the reading "Jata-Patha". If "Jata" or "Jataa" is construed as "hair" as it generally is, these readings make no sense, for 'hair' as prefix of 'patha' seems meaningless. Our guess is that the word "Jata" or "Jataa" here stands for an ethnic name, or for the author of Patha.
Weber (ibid.: 33) on the force of tradition, intimately connects the Sakalas of north-west with Saunakas. A number of writings are attributed, specifically, to Saunaka. We hazard another guess, namely, that these wereSakas. The name of Saunaka occurs, in the 12th generation of the Haihaya (Scythian) king Vitihotra's son Gritsamada, who is the author of a majority of the hymns of the Rig Veda (Chakraberty, p. 6). As already mentioned, another Saka descendant, named Jata Sakayana, is named as a ritual authority in the Katha Samhita (Ghurye, 1972: 2O). Sakatayana, an earlier Sanskrit grammarian, we know, must also have been a Saka. These are surmises that, we feel sure, will be firmly established on further research.
To arouse the curiosity of prospective investigators, I wish to give below some of the authors of the Mandalas and Mantras of the Rig Veda, who are very likely to have been Sakas who were later palmed off as Brahamans. The Haihaya (Saka) overlord named Vitihotra was defeated by Pratardhana, a vassal king of Kasi. The vanquished sought refuge in a Brahman's (Bhargava?) hermitage and was thus passed for a Brahman, (Chandra Chakraberty, Anc. Races and Myths, p. 6). His son Gritsamada is author of R.V.l,26; 30-43 & 2nd Mandala. His 9th
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descendant, Somahuti, is of 4th hymn and his 11th descendant of 27th hymn. His son was Kuru, whose son was Saunaka and Saunaka's son and descendants were intimately connected with the Sakalas.
There were many other Kshatriya composers. The first 12 hymns of the 3rd Mandala and 111.32 were composed by Visvanitra and 23rd by Devavrata. Visvamitra's sons also made their own contribution. Rishava is of 13th, Kat of 17th & 18th, , Utkila Katya of 15th, Maddhuncchandas of 1,1-10; IX, 1; Renu of IX,70; X,89; and Astaka of X, 104. It is an open secret that their father, Visvamitra, was made to undergo quite a number of severe tests before he was "Brahmanised". It is our belief that such legends are the part of an elaborate exercise to glorify Brahmanism at the cost of Kshtriyas in an effort to perpetuate Brhaman supremacy.
Jamadagni is also represented as a composer of a number of Rigvedic hymns. Weber (1914: 315) and Brough (JRAS, 1947: 85), however, dismiss the Jamadagneyas as later interpolations. Brough even holds this family as of foreign origin (Ibid.: 88f). Pargiter also doubts their Aryan origin (1972: 307). To Waddell (1976: 29f, 45) they were of Sumerian origin. From Richika to Parasurama, they are designated as Aurva. This unmistakably indicates that they must have hailed from Ur or Uru, the capital of the third Priestly Ur Dynasty of Sumeria (Mesopotamia). C.V. Vaidya (1904: 20,163,168,170) rejects the Saraswati Upakhyana and Ramopakhya, dedicated to temples and shrines attributed to Renuka and her son, Parasurama, in northern India as well as the stories of Bhargava and Aurva as "clumsy interpolations" by Sauti Ugrashrava, a Bhargava author of the Mahabharata, in its GadaParva (Ch.35) and Vanaparva (Chs. 81-84). In the light of above array of evidence we may legitimately assert that the crafty Brahman writers of yore had no scruples in mainipulating matters to their own advantage by glorifying or denigrating others at will as it suited them.
There were still other Kshatriya composers. To Gautama Vamadeva brother-in-law; (on-positive side) of North-Panchala king Devodasa, as ascribed the first 17 hymns of the 4th Mandala, and to Trarasdasyu Paurukutsya the 42nd hymn. Svastyatreya, a descendant of Prabhakar Atreya (Atri Jats), son-in-law of Paurava (Paur or Pauria Jats) ruler, was composer of RV. V. 50-51. Arcananas was of V, 63-64,
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and his son, Syavasva, son-in-law of king Rathaviti, composed V, 52-61, 81-82; VIII, 3 ;-38; & IX, 32, Gaya Atreya was of V, 9 & 10 & Tarasdasyu of V, 27. It may be remembered that Atreys were closely associated with the Haihayas (Scythians) and Dattatreya especially with their renowned enperor, Kritavirya Arjuna, famed as Sahsararjuna, who is said to have fought against Jamadagneya.
The R V. IV, 43-44 are attributed to King Ajamidha and his brother Purumidha of the Paruravas. To the family of Kanva, son of Paurava King Ajamidha (also transliteratd as Ajamira or Ajamidha in the Puranas) is attributed the composition of most of the 8th Manndala. The other well-known kingly (Kshatriya) composers were Nabhanedhishth:, Nahusa, Yayati, Mandhatri, Yavanasva, North-Panchal king Mudgala Bharmyasva, Sibi Ausinar, Pracchepa, his son Anant, Sudaas-Paijavana, Tarasdasyu's son Trikka; and his son Arishtanemi Tarkshya, Agastya Mann or Mandharya in addition to his sister and disciples.
The above list is by no means exhaustive. The Bhardvajas, Vasisthas and Kasyapas were also important Brahman composers. The Kasyapas may even he Caspis who, according to Calvin Kephart (1961:279,522) were an important branch of the Masssagetae (Sakas). These Brahman families also included some noted "brahmanised" Kshatriy sages, seers ;and singers of the Rigveda. The text itself refers to older and later hymns with their authors besides the older and later "risis" in 1,1,2; 107,2; etc., which needs further probe to prove our hypothesis.
Pargiter (1972: 9), while appreciating the fact that "the Vedic literature professes to know and declares the names of the authors of nearly all the hymns and even of single verses", makes fun of the fact that "it has deliberately suppressed all information of the person or persons who afterward compiled and arranged those hymns". I do not possess enough knowledge to comment ex cathedra on this enigma, but one possible explanation would be that the "compiler and arranger" must have been the ancestors of the Saka Jats, for had they been some brahmans from interior India, there would have been no efforts or need to suppress the information. This is yet another surmise that calls for further research.