Sivi Kingdom
Encyclopedia
Sivi is mentioned as a kingdom and as the name of a king in the epic Mahabharata
. Probably there was a Sivi king who became famous as Sivi or the kingdom itself may be named after him. Sivi (alias Sibi, Saivya) king was famous for his truthfulness. The legend about his truthfulness and compassion goes as follows:- King Sivi protected a dove who was chased by a hawlk (which wanted to eat the dove as its mid-day meal) and gave flesh from his thigh, as a substitute meal to the hawk.
It is also mentioned in the epic that Jayadratha
was the king of Sindhu
, Sauvira
and Sivi kingdoms. Probably Sauvira and Sivi were two kingdom close to the Sindhu kingdom and Jayadratha conquered them, which would place Sivi somewhere in western Rajasthan
though alternatively it could also be Sibi
, Balochistan
which is to the west of Sauvira and Sindhu and adjacent to both. Jayadratha was an ally of Duryodhana
and husband of Duryodhana's sister Dussala.
) and is said to have donated his eyes to a blind Brahmana . Chinese traveler Faxian
records the scene of this story at So-ho-to (Swat), a country to the south of Oddiyana
between the Kabol and the Indus rivers .
In some versions, Sivi appears as a personal name but in others it is the name of the country and its people. According to 7th century Chinese monk and traveller Xuanzang
, Sivika (Sibika) had cut his body to pieces to save a dove from a hawk . Xuanzang described Sivika as a personal name or an epithet. Chinese
envoy Song Yun (518-20 AD) also refers to Sivika raja (Sivi king) and connects him to Oddiyana . Thus, the Chinese evidence connects king Sivi/Sivika and the Sivi people or country with the Oddiyana/Swat territory between the Kabol and Indus rivers, which forms part of modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Aritthapura of the Buddhist Sivi Jataka is same as the Orobatis of Alexander's historians . B. C. Law connects Jataka's Aritthapura with Ptolemy
's Aristobothro in the north of Punjab.
It has been identified with Shahbazgarhi region, north of river Kabol . Dr S. B. Chaudhury also states that Aritthapura of the Sivi Jataka points to Swat valley as the ancient country of the Sivis. Matsya Purana
says that Indus flowed through the Janapada of Sivapura (country of the Sivis) . There is also another Buddhist legend known as Vessantara Jataka
which states that king Vessantara was the son of Sañjaya (king of Sivirattha or Sivi-Rashtra) and was born in the capital city of Jatuttara. King Vessantara as a Bodhisatta had given away his magical elephant (which could bring rain on the asking) to a hostile country, and also his kingdom as well as his family with two children to a greedy Brahmana, all as acts of benevolence and generosity . Envoy Sung Yun makes reference to king Vessantara of Vessantara Jataka (as Pi-lo) while pilgrim Hiuen Tsang refers to him (as Sudana) and interestingly both place the scene of history in the Oddiyana/Swat, north of Kabol river . But the Jatuttara of Vessantara Jataka is taken to be same as Jattaraur of Al-Biruni
and is often identified with Nagri or Tambavati Nagri, 11 miles north of Chittore in Rajputana
. In this connection, N. L. Dey has observed that there were two countries called Sivi---one located in Swat (Oddiyana) with its capital at Aritthapura and the second is the same as the Sivika of Varahamihira which he places among the countries of the south-west with its capital at Jatuttara in Madhyamika (south-west Rajputana
) . It has also been suggested that Sivi was originally a geographical name from which the name of its ruler and that of its people may have been derived .
In the Mahabharata
, the name Sivi is connected with Asura and like Kamboja
, it is also linked to the mythological goddess Diti
. The Brahmanical texts also mentions that king Sivi was son of king Usinara and was from Anava (Anu) lineage. While referring to a certain Sakya legend connected with 'Oddiyana locale' (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan), James Fergusson connects the Oddiyana country with the Kamboja
of the Hindu
texts . Indeed, the territories of Kunar
, Oddiyana
, Swat and Varanaos had been the notable habitats of the Asvaka Kambojas since remote antiquity. The Asvakas were cattle breeders and horse folk and had earned the epithet of Asvakas due to their intimate connections with the Asvas ("horses"). The Sivis, as described by Alexander's historians, "were a shaved-headed people, worshipers of god Shiva
, wore clothes made from animal skins, and were warlike people who fought with the clubs...most of these are also the salient characteristics of the ancient Kambojas".
Mahabharata refers to the Kambojas as Munda ("shaved-headed soldiery") . In the same Mahabharata text, Rudra Siva is also given the epithet of Munda . The Kambojas are also attested to have been ardent worshipers of Siva-cult (Munda-cult) .
In fact, the Mahabharata evidence shows that the promulgator of synthetic Siva cult was one sage Upamanyu
, son of Vyaghrapada. Upamanyu was a disciple of Ayodha Dhaumya who taught at Taxila
University in Gandhara . The northern Kamboja affinities of this Upamanyu (the epic promulgator of Synthetic Siva cult) are indicated and have been accepted since his son/or descendant Aupamanyava
is specifically referred to as Kamboja in the Vamsa Brahmana of the Samaveda
. Since "Munda" is an epithet of god Rudra-Siva, it has also been suggested that the Sivis derive their name from god Siva whom they ardently worshiped.
It appears likely that the Sivis originally lived in north of river Kabol in remote antiquity, from where sections of them moved southwards in later times and settled in what is called Seva around Bolan Pass, which region was known as Sivistan till recently. Pāṇini also mentions a place called Sivapura which he includes in the Udichya (northern) division of Ancient India and which is identified by some scholars with Sibipura of the Shorkot Inscriptions edited by Vogel. The southerly movement of the Sivis is also evidenced from their other settlement called Usinara near Yamuna, ruled by Sivi king called Usinara . Sivis also are attested to have one settlement in Sind, another one in Madhyamika (Tambavati Nagri) near Chittore (in Rajputana) and yet another one on the Dasa Kumara-chrita on the banks of the Kaveri in southern India (Karnataka/Tamil Nadu) . It is mentioned in the epic that Jayadratha
was the king of Sindhu
, Sauvira
and Sivi kingdoms. Sauvira and Sivi were two kingdom close to the Sindhu kingdom and Jayadratha conquered them, which would place Sivi somewhere in Balochistan
which is to the west of Sauvira and Sindhu and adjacent to both. Some writers think that Sivi may have been originally located at the foot of Bolan Pass from there they might have extended their influence to Oddiyana/Swat but this is unlikely.
Taking clue from Yaska
's Nirukta
, S. Levi states that "the Kambhojas were a branch of the Bhojas and were not a part of the Aryans (i.e Indo Aryans)". The name "Kambhojas" is etymologised as Kamblala + Bhojas ("the Bhojas with Kambalas or blankets") as well as Kamniya + Bhojas (meaning "The handsome Bhojas or the desirable Bhojas"). Thus, Levi and others have connected the ancient Bhojas with the Kambhojas. Both Kambojas and the Bhojas are also referred to as north-western people in the 13th Rock Edict of king Asoka. Thus, the Kambojas appear to have either been anciently and inadvertently confused with the Bhojas who were a Yadava
tribe
, or, else, there was indeed some kind of link between the Bhojas and the ancient Kambhojas as S. Levi suggests . Writers like James F. K. Hewitt and others also connect the Sivis, Bhojas and the Drhuyus with the Kambhojas . The Chinese evidence on king Sivi as well as king Vessantara (Sudana, Saniraja or Pi-lo of the Chinese records), the rulers of Oddiyana (in pre-Buddhist times) also seems to lend a fair credence in this direction.
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
. Probably there was a Sivi king who became famous as Sivi or the kingdom itself may be named after him. Sivi (alias Sibi, Saivya) king was famous for his truthfulness. The legend about his truthfulness and compassion goes as follows:- King Sivi protected a dove who was chased by a hawlk (which wanted to eat the dove as its mid-day meal) and gave flesh from his thigh, as a substitute meal to the hawk.
It is also mentioned in the epic that Jayadratha
Jayadratha
In the epic Mahābhārata, Jayadratha was the king of Sindhu Kingdom . He was married to Dushala, the only sister of the 100 Kaurava brothers. He was the son of the sinful king Vridhakshtra.- Abduction of Draupadi:...
was the king of Sindhu
Sindhu Kingdom
Sindhu&sandhu was a kingdom mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. It stretched along the banks of river Sindhu in the Ancient Greater India, which is now Pakistan. It is believed that Sindhu kingdom was founded by Vrsadarbh, one of sons of Sivi...
, Sauvira
Sauvira Kingdom
Sauvira was a kingdom mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. According to the epic, Jayadratha was the king of Sindhus, Sauviras and Sivis. Probably Sauvira and Sivi were two kingdoms close to the Sindhu kingdom and Jayadratha conquered them. Jayadratha was an ally of Duryodhana and husband of...
and Sivi kingdoms. Probably Sauvira and Sivi were two kingdom close to the Sindhu kingdom and Jayadratha conquered them, which would place Sivi somewhere in western Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
though alternatively it could also be Sibi
Sibi
Sibi is a city of Balochistan province of Pakistan. The city is located at 29°33'0N 67°52'60E at an altitude of 130 metres and is headquarters of the district and tehsil of the same name.. According to the 2001 census of Pakistan the population of Sibi is 52,100...
, Balochistan
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...
which is to the west of Sauvira and Sindhu and adjacent to both. Jayadratha was an ally of Duryodhana
Duryodhana
In the Hindu epic the Mahābhārata, Duryodhana is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari, the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers, Emperor of the world at that time which means Emperor of India or Bharatvarsha as it was known at that time, cousin and the chief...
and husband of Duryodhana's sister Dussala.
Geographical locations
According to Sivi Jataka, king Sivi (as Bodhisatta) had ruled Sivirattha with capital at Aritthapura (Aristapura of SanskritSanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
) and is said to have donated his eyes to a blind Brahmana . Chinese traveler Faxian
Faxian
Faxian was a Chinese Buddhist monk who traveled to India, Sri Lanka and Kapilavastu in today's Nepal between 399 and 412 to acquire Buddhist scriptures...
records the scene of this story at So-ho-to (Swat), a country to the south of Oddiyana
Oddiyana
', a small country in early medieval India, ascribed importance in the development and dissemination of Tantric Buddhism. The physical location of is disputed and open to conjecture. Possible locations that have been identified are:...
between the Kabol and the Indus rivers .
In some versions, Sivi appears as a personal name but in others it is the name of the country and its people. According to 7th century Chinese monk and traveller Xuanzang
Xuanzang
Xuanzang was a famous Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator who described the interaction between China and India in the early Tang period...
, Sivika (Sibika) had cut his body to pieces to save a dove from a hawk . Xuanzang described Sivika as a personal name or an epithet. Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
envoy Song Yun (518-20 AD) also refers to Sivika raja (Sivi king) and connects him to Oddiyana . Thus, the Chinese evidence connects king Sivi/Sivika and the Sivi people or country with the Oddiyana/Swat territory between the Kabol and Indus rivers, which forms part of modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Aritthapura of the Buddhist Sivi Jataka is same as the Orobatis of Alexander's historians . B. C. Law connects Jataka's Aritthapura with Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
's Aristobothro in the north of Punjab.
It has been identified with Shahbazgarhi region, north of river Kabol . Dr S. B. Chaudhury also states that Aritthapura of the Sivi Jataka points to Swat valley as the ancient country of the Sivis. Matsya Purana
Matsya Purana
Matsya Purana is the sixteenth purana of the Hindu scriptures. During the period of mahapralaya, Lord Vishnu had taken Matsya Avatar to save the seeds of all lives and Manu...
says that Indus flowed through the Janapada of Sivapura (country of the Sivis) . There is also another Buddhist legend known as Vessantara Jataka
Vessantara Jataka
The Vessantara Jataka is one of the most popular avadānas of Theravada Buddhism. The Vessantara Jataka tells the story of one of Buddha's past lives, about a compassionate prince, Vessantara, who gives away everything he owns, including his children, thereby displaying the virtue of perfect charity...
which states that king Vessantara was the son of Sañjaya (king of Sivirattha or Sivi-Rashtra) and was born in the capital city of Jatuttara. King Vessantara as a Bodhisatta had given away his magical elephant (which could bring rain on the asking) to a hostile country, and also his kingdom as well as his family with two children to a greedy Brahmana, all as acts of benevolence and generosity . Envoy Sung Yun makes reference to king Vessantara of Vessantara Jataka (as Pi-lo) while pilgrim Hiuen Tsang refers to him (as Sudana) and interestingly both place the scene of history in the Oddiyana/Swat, north of Kabol river . But the Jatuttara of Vessantara Jataka is taken to be same as Jattaraur of Al-Biruni
Al-Biruni
Abū al-Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-BīrūnīArabic spelling. . The intermediate form Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī is often used in academic literature...
and is often identified with Nagri or Tambavati Nagri, 11 miles north of Chittore in Rajputana
Rajputana
Rājputāna was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. George Thomas was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana...
. In this connection, N. L. Dey has observed that there were two countries called Sivi---one located in Swat (Oddiyana) with its capital at Aritthapura and the second is the same as the Sivika of Varahamihira which he places among the countries of the south-west with its capital at Jatuttara in Madhyamika (south-west Rajputana
Rajputana
Rājputāna was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. George Thomas was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana...
) . It has also been suggested that Sivi was originally a geographical name from which the name of its ruler and that of its people may have been derived .
In the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, the name Sivi is connected with Asura and like Kamboja
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
, it is also linked to the mythological goddess Diti
Diti
In Hinduism, Diti is an earth goddess and mother of the Maruts with Rudra. She is also the mother of the Daityas with the sage Kashyapa. She wanted to have a son who would be more powerful than Indra and so she practiced magic and kept herself pregnant for one year. Indra used a thunderbolt to...
. The Brahmanical texts also mentions that king Sivi was son of king Usinara and was from Anava (Anu) lineage. While referring to a certain Sakya legend connected with 'Oddiyana locale' (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan), James Fergusson connects the Oddiyana country with the Kamboja
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
of the Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
texts . Indeed, the territories of Kunar
Kunar
Kunar may refer to:*Kunar Valley, Afghanistan and Pakistan*Kunar Province, Afghanistan*Kunar River, Afghanistan and Pakistan...
, Oddiyana
Oddiyana
', a small country in early medieval India, ascribed importance in the development and dissemination of Tantric Buddhism. The physical location of is disputed and open to conjecture. Possible locations that have been identified are:...
, Swat and Varanaos had been the notable habitats of the Asvaka Kambojas since remote antiquity. The Asvakas were cattle breeders and horse folk and had earned the epithet of Asvakas due to their intimate connections with the Asvas ("horses"). The Sivis, as described by Alexander's historians, "were a shaved-headed people, worshipers of god Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
, wore clothes made from animal skins, and were warlike people who fought with the clubs...most of these are also the salient characteristics of the ancient Kambojas".
Mahabharata refers to the Kambojas as Munda ("shaved-headed soldiery") . In the same Mahabharata text, Rudra Siva is also given the epithet of Munda . The Kambojas are also attested to have been ardent worshipers of Siva-cult (Munda-cult) .
In fact, the Mahabharata evidence shows that the promulgator of synthetic Siva cult was one sage Upamanyu
Upamanyu
Upamanyu is the name of a Hindu rishi, the traditional author of hymn 1.102.9 of the Rig Veda.The historian B. C. Law, writing in the 1920s, supposed that Upamanyu was the father of Kamboja Aupamanyava referred to in the Vamsa Brahmana of the Sama Veda....
, son of Vyaghrapada. Upamanyu was a disciple of Ayodha Dhaumya who taught at Taxila
Taxila
Taxila is a Tehsil in the Rawalpindi District of Punjab province of Pakistan. It is an important archaeological site.Taxila is situated about northwest of Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi in Panjab; just off the Grand Trunk Road...
University in Gandhara . The northern Kamboja affinities of this Upamanyu (the epic promulgator of Synthetic Siva cult) are indicated and have been accepted since his son/or descendant Aupamanyava
Kamboja Aupamanyava
In the Vamsa Brahmana of Vedic literature, Aupamanyava is listed as a Vedic teacher and sage. of the Sama Veda.The patronymic Aupamanyava establishes him as a descendant of Upamanyu, while the name Kamboja suggests an association with the Kamboja kingdom of the Mahajanapada period..Vamsa Brahmana...
is specifically referred to as Kamboja in the Vamsa Brahmana of the Samaveda
Samaveda
The Sama veda , is second of the four Vedas, the ancient core Hindu scriptures. Its earliest parts are believed to date from 1700 BC and it ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the Rigveda...
. Since "Munda" is an epithet of god Rudra-Siva, it has also been suggested that the Sivis derive their name from god Siva whom they ardently worshiped.
It appears likely that the Sivis originally lived in north of river Kabol in remote antiquity, from where sections of them moved southwards in later times and settled in what is called Seva around Bolan Pass, which region was known as Sivistan till recently. Pāṇini also mentions a place called Sivapura which he includes in the Udichya (northern) division of Ancient India and which is identified by some scholars with Sibipura of the Shorkot Inscriptions edited by Vogel. The southerly movement of the Sivis is also evidenced from their other settlement called Usinara near Yamuna, ruled by Sivi king called Usinara . Sivis also are attested to have one settlement in Sind, another one in Madhyamika (Tambavati Nagri) near Chittore (in Rajputana) and yet another one on the Dasa Kumara-chrita on the banks of the Kaveri in southern India (Karnataka/Tamil Nadu) . It is mentioned in the epic that Jayadratha
Jayadratha
In the epic Mahābhārata, Jayadratha was the king of Sindhu Kingdom . He was married to Dushala, the only sister of the 100 Kaurava brothers. He was the son of the sinful king Vridhakshtra.- Abduction of Draupadi:...
was the king of Sindhu
Sindhu Kingdom
Sindhu&sandhu was a kingdom mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. It stretched along the banks of river Sindhu in the Ancient Greater India, which is now Pakistan. It is believed that Sindhu kingdom was founded by Vrsadarbh, one of sons of Sivi...
, Sauvira
Sauvira Kingdom
Sauvira was a kingdom mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. According to the epic, Jayadratha was the king of Sindhus, Sauviras and Sivis. Probably Sauvira and Sivi were two kingdoms close to the Sindhu kingdom and Jayadratha conquered them. Jayadratha was an ally of Duryodhana and husband of...
and Sivi kingdoms. Sauvira and Sivi were two kingdom close to the Sindhu kingdom and Jayadratha conquered them, which would place Sivi somewhere in Balochistan
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...
which is to the west of Sauvira and Sindhu and adjacent to both. Some writers think that Sivi may have been originally located at the foot of Bolan Pass from there they might have extended their influence to Oddiyana/Swat but this is unlikely.
Taking clue from Yaska
Yaska
' ) was a Sanskrit grammarian who preceded Pāṇini , assumed to have been active in the 5th or 6th century BC.He is the author of the Nirukta, a technical treatise on etymology, lexical category and the semantics of words...
's Nirukta
Nirukta
Nirukta is one of the six disciplines of Hinduism, treating etymology, particularly of obscure words, especially those occurring in the Vedas. The discipline is traditionally attributed to , an ancient Sanskrit grammarian...
, S. Levi states that "the Kambhojas were a branch of the Bhojas and were not a part of the Aryans (i.e Indo Aryans)". The name "Kambhojas" is etymologised as Kamblala + Bhojas ("the Bhojas with Kambalas or blankets") as well as Kamniya + Bhojas (meaning "The handsome Bhojas or the desirable Bhojas"). Thus, Levi and others have connected the ancient Bhojas with the Kambhojas. Both Kambojas and the Bhojas are also referred to as north-western people in the 13th Rock Edict of king Asoka. Thus, the Kambojas appear to have either been anciently and inadvertently confused with the Bhojas who were a Yadava
Yadu
Yadu is one of the five Indo-Aryan tribes mentioned in the Rig Veda . The Mahabharata, the Harivamsha and the Puranas mention Yadu as the eldest son of king Yayati and his queen Devayani. The prince of King Yayati, Yadu was a self-respecting and a very established ruler...
tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
, or, else, there was indeed some kind of link between the Bhojas and the ancient Kambhojas as S. Levi suggests . Writers like James F. K. Hewitt and others also connect the Sivis, Bhojas and the Drhuyus with the Kambhojas . The Chinese evidence on king Sivi as well as king Vessantara (Sudana, Saniraja or Pi-lo of the Chinese records), the rulers of Oddiyana (in pre-Buddhist times) also seems to lend a fair credence in this direction.