Udayana

Udayana (उदयन) was the ruler of Vatsa in the 6th-5th century BCE, the time of the Buddha. His mother, Mrigavati, is notable for being one of the earliest known female rulers in Indian history. Udayana (उदयन) is also name of a Naga King mentioned in the List of Naga Rajas.

Variants

Udayana (उदयन) (p.831)

Mention by Panini

Udapana (उदपान), Udayana (उदयान), is name of a Country/People mentioned by Panini in Ashtadhyayi under Paladyadi (पलद्यादि) (4.5.110) group.

Life

Niti Adaval mentions about Udayana and his love for music, art and fondness of women. Due to a dohada ("pregnancy craving"), Mṛgāvatī, pregnant with Udayana, is either covered or immersed in red. A monstrous bird mistakes her for raw meat and carries her away, later dropping her. She is cared for in a hermitage, where she raises her son. Udayana obtains a wonderful lute, elephant taming skills, and confidants; he and his mother eventually return to their home, Kauśāmbī.

Udayana is later captured by Pradyota, the King of Ujjayinī. Here, he teaches the lute to Pradyota's daughter, Vāsavadattā, and they fall in love. Eventually they escape to Kauśāmbī, where Udayana's rightful kingship is restored, and they are married. But fearing Udayana is getting soft, and desiring an additional political alliance, Udayana's ministers make him believe that Vāsavadattā is dead, and effect his marriage to Ratnavali.

Though he is later reunited with Vāsavadattā, Udayana remains childless. Later, as a boon of Kubera, Vāsavadattā becomes pregnant with Naravāhanadatta (his name means "given by Kubera"), who is fated to become the emperor of the Vidyādharas.

Udayana, the son of Śatānīka II by the Videha princess succeeded him.

History

Śatānīka II, Parantapa: The first ruler of the Bhārata dynasty of Vatsa, about whom some definite information available is Śatānīka II, Parantapa. While the Puranas state his father’s name was Vasudāna, Bhāsa tells it was Sahasrānīka. Śatānīka II married a princess of Videha, who was the mother of Udayana. He also married Mṛgāvatī, a daughter of the Licchavi chieftain Ceṭaka. He attacked Campā, the capital of Aṅga during the rule of Dadhivāhana.

Mrigavati: The wife of Śatānīka and the mother of Udayana was Queen Mṛgāvatī (in Sanskrit) or Migāvatī (in Prakrit). She was the daughter of Chetaka, the leader of Vaishali. It is recorded that she ruled as a regent for her son for some period of time, although sources differ about the specific circumstances. According to the Jain canonical texts, Udayana was still a minor when Śatānīka died, so "the responsibility of governing the kingdom fell on the shoulders of queen Migāvatī ... till her son grew old enough". On the other hand, Bhāsa's Pratijñāyaugandharāyaṇa says that she took "full charge of the administration" while Udayana was held as a prisoner by King Pradyota of Avanti, and "the way in which she discharged her duties excited the admiration of even experienced ministers".

Udayana, the son of Śatānīka II by the Videha princess succeeded him. Udayana, the romantic hero of the Svapnavāsavadattā, the Pratijñā-Yaugandharāyaṇa and many other legends was a contemporary of Buddha and of Pradyota, the king of Avanti. The Kathāsaritsāgara contains a long account of his conquests. The Priyadarśikā narrates the event of his victory over the ruler of Kaliṅga and restoration of Dṛḍhavarman to the throne of Aṅga. The commentary on the Dhammapada describes the story of his marriage with Vāsavadattā or Vāsuladattā, the daughter of Pradyota, the king of Avanti. It also mentions about his two other consorts, Māgandiyā, daughter of a Kuru Brahmin and Sāmāvatī, the adopted daughter of the treasurer Ghosaka. The Milindapañho refers to a peasant girl Gopāla-mātā who became his wife. The Svapnavāsavadattā of Bhāsa mentions about another queen named Padmāvatī, a sister of king Darśaka of Magadha. The Priyadarśikā tells us about the marriage of Udayana with Āraṇyakā, the daughter of Dṛḍhavarman, the king of Aṅga. The Ratnāvalī narrates a story of romance between him and Sāgarikā, an attendant of his chief queen, Vāsavadattā. The name of his son by his chief queen is Bodhi.

The Buddha visited Kauśāmbī several times during the reign of Udayana on his effort to spread the dharma, the Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths. Udayana was an Upasaka (lay follower) of Buddha. The Chinese translation of the Buddhist canonical text Ekottara Āgama states that the first image of Buddha, curved out of sandalwood was made under the instruction of Udayana.

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Lavanaka (लावाणक) is a place mentioned in Vatsadesha. The King Udayana of Vatsa is said to have left his capital Kaushambi and stayed here after he was defeated by Aruni.

Kosambi

Alexander Cunningham writes.... [p.391]:The city of Kosambi was one of the most celebrated places in ancient India, and its name was famous amongst Brahmans as well as Buddhists. The city is said to have been founded by Kusamba the tenth in descent from Pururavas ; but its fame begins only with the reign of Chakra, the eighth in descent from

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[p.392]: Arjun Pandu,who made Kosambi his capital after Hastinapura had been swept away by the Ganges.

Kosambi is mentioned in the 'Ramayana,' the earliest of the Hindu poems, which is generally allowed to have been composed before the Christian era. The story of Udayana king of Kosambi, is referred to by the poet Kalidasa in his ' Megha-duta,' or ' Cloud Messenger,' where he says that Avanti (or Ujain) is great with the number of those versed in the tale of Udayana." Now, Kalidasa flourished shortly after A.D. 500. In the 'Vrihat Katha,' of Somadeva, the story of Udayana is given at full length, but the author has made a mistake in the genealogy between the two Satanikas. Lastly, the kingdom of Kosambi or Kosamba Mandala, is mentioned in an inscription taken from the gateway of the fort of Khara which is dated in Samvat 1092, or A.D. 1035, at which period it would appear to have been independent of Kanoj. Kosambi, the capital of Vatsa Raja, is the scene of the pleasing drama of ' Ratnavali,' or the 'Necklace,' which was composed in the reign of King Harsha Deva, who is most probably the same as Harsha Vardhana of Kanoj, as the opening prelude describes amongst the assembled audience "princes from various realms recumbent at his feet." This we know from [[Hwen Thsang]] to have boon true of the Kanoj prince, but which even a Brahman could scarcely have asserted of Harsha Deva of Kashmir. The date of this notice will therefore lie between 607 and 650 A.D.

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[p.393]: But the name of Udayana, king of Kosambi, was perhaps even more famous amongst the Buddhists. In the 'Mahawanso,' which was composed in the fifth century, the venerable Yasa is said to have fled from Vaisali to Kosambi just before the assembly of the second Buddhist Synod. In the Lalita Vistara, which was translated into Chinese between 70 and 76 A.D., and which could not, therefore, have been composed later than the beginning of the Christian era, Udayana Vatsa, son of Satanika, king of Kosambi, is said to have been born on the same day as Buddha. In other Ceylonese books Kosambi is named as one of the nineteen capital cities of ancient India. Udayana Vatsa is also known to the Tibetans as the king of Kosambi. In the ' Ratnavali ' he is called Vatsa Raja, or king of the Vatsas, and his capital Vatsa-pattana, which is therefore only another name for Kosambi.

In this famous city also Buddha is said to have spent the sixth and ninth years of his Buddhahood. Lastly, Hwen Thsang relates that the famous statue of Buddha, in red sandal-wood, which was made by King Udayana during the lifetime of the Teacher, still existed under a stone dome in the ancient palace of the kings.

The site of this great city, the capital of the later Pandu princes, and the shrine of the most sacred of all the statues of Buddha, has long been sought in vain.

Udayana = Odin

Hukum Singh Panwar (Pauria) writes.... The migrations of the Indus valley people to Mesopotamia, also known as Sumeria in history, can be traced in some detail. From an Indus region, known in the contemporary period as Odin¹⁶⁴, (a distortion¹⁶⁵ of Udayana), Panis migrated to Iraq in about 3500 B.C.¹⁶⁶ Hall¹⁶⁷ and Saggs^167a also affirm the migration of highly civilized people from the Indus valley to Sumeria in the fourth millennium B.C. These people were called Sumerian because they derived their new name from Su-Meru, the Seat of gods¹⁶⁸. They were the mercantile people of the Indus Valley as mentioned¹⁶⁹ in the Rigvedic literature.

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164. Odin or Edin or Otien was a territory known as such on the left bank of Indus (Sindh) river Cf. map p. 7 in waddell, op.cit. It was also known as Meluha or Mlechh, country (K.D. Sethna, Karpasa in Pre-historic Ind., Biblia In Pvt. Ltd., N. Delhi, 1<)81. pp. 69ff. Farzand Ali Durrani, "West Pakistan and Persian Gulf in Antiquity", .JASP., Dacca. Vol IX. No. I, June. 1964, pp.1-2

165. Waddell. op.cit., pp. 104f.

166. Kalyanaramana, op.cit., pp. 96, 126. Hrozny, Anc. His. of W. Asia, Ind. Crete, pp. 107, 116 et seq. I I.K. Chatopadhyaya, Mohanjodaro and the Aryan Colonisation of Mesopotamia, OVIJ, Vol. III, Pt. I, March, 1965. Hoshiarpur pp. 3-16; and in AlOC., 1964. Dutt, Naipendra Kumar, Aryanisation of Ind. Cal. 1970, pp. 96f.

167. Hall, H.R.; Anc. His. of Near East, London 1960, pp. 173f, fn. 3,594.

167a. Saggs, op.cit., pp. 33f.

168. Kaiyanramana, op.cit., p. 96.

169. Mitra, Panchanan; Pre-historic Ind., Delhi, 1979, p. 272. R.P. Chanda's Monograph No. 31, in Memoir.; of ASI.; Ram Chandra Jain, Ethnology of Ane. Ind., Varanasi, 1970, pp. 47-50.

वत्स

वत्स (p.830) : विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर ने लेख किया है ..... वत्स पौराणिक 16 महाजनपदों में से एक है। आधुनिक उत्तर प्रदेश के इलाहाबाद तथा मिर्ज़ापुर ज़िले इसके अर्न्तगत आते थे। इस जनपद की राजधानी कौशांबी (ज़िला इलाहाबाद उत्तर प्रदेश) थी। [p.831]: ओल्डनबर्ग के अनुसार ऐतरेय ब्राह्मण में जिन वंश के लोगों का उल्लेख है वे इसी देश के निवासी थे। कौशांबी में जनपद की राजधानी प्रथम बार पांडवों के वंशज निचक्षु ने बनाई थी। वत्स देश का नामोल्ल्लेख वाल्मीकि रामायण में भी है-- ’स लोकपालप्रतिप्रभावस्तीर्त्वा महात्मा वरदो महानदीम्, तत: समृद्धाञ्छुभसस्यमालिन: क्षणेन वत्सान्मुदितानुपागमत्’, अयोध्याकाण्ड 52,101. अर्थात लोकपालों के समान प्रभाव वाले राम चन्द्र वन जाते समय महानदी गंगा को पार करके शीघ्र ही धनधान्य से समृद्ध और प्रसन्न वत्स देश में पहुँचे। इस उद्धरण से सिद्ध होता है कि रामायण-काल में गंगा नदी वत्स और कोसल जनपदों की सीमा पर बहती थी।

गौतम बुद्ध के समय वत्स देश का राजा उदयन था जिसने अवंती-नरेश चंडप्रद्योत की पुत्री वासवदत्ता से विवाह किया था। इस समय कौशांबी की गणना उत्तरी भारत के महान् नगरों में की जाती थी। अंगुत्तरनिकाय के सोलह जनपदों में वत्स देश की भी गिनती की गई है। वत्स देश के लावाणक नामक ग्राम का उल्लेख भास विरचित स्वप्नवासवदत्ता नाटक के प्रथम अंक में है--’ब्रह्मचारी भो: श्रूयताम्। राजगृहतोऽस्मि। श्रुतिविशेषणार्थं वत्सभूमौ लावाणकं नाम ग्रामस्तत्रौषितवानस्मि’. षष्ठ अंक में राजा उदयन के निम्न कथन से सूचित होता है कि वत्स राज्य पर अपना अधिकार स्थापित करने में उदयन को महासेन अथवा चंडप्रद्योत से सहायता मिली थी-- ’ननु यदुचितान् वत्सान् प्राप्तुं नृपोऽत्र हि कारणम्’. महाभारत सभापर्व 30,10 के अनुसार भीम सेन ने पूर्व दिशा की दिग्विजय के प्रसंग में वत्स भूमि पर विजय प्राप्त की थी--’सामधेयांश्च निर्जित्य प्रययावुत्तरामुख:, वत्सभूमि च कौन्तेयो विजिग्ये बलवान् बलात्’.

लावाणक

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर ने लेख किया है .....लावाणक (AS, p.816): इस स्थान का उल्लेख संस्कृत के प्रसिद्ध नाटककार भास के 'स्वप्नवासवदत्ता' नाटक में हुआ है। ( वत्सभूमौ लावाणक नाम ग्रामस्तत्रो षितवानिस्म, अंक 1) इसे वत्स देश के अंतर्गत बताया गया है। वत्स नरेश उदयन, आरुणि से पराजित होकर अपनी राजधानी कौशांबी को छोड़कर कुछ दिन तक लावाणक में रहा था। इसका लावणनील नामक नगर से अभिज्ञान करना संभव जान पड़ता है। (दे. लावणनील)

References

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