Battle of the Ten Kings


The Battle of the Ten Kings is a battle alluded to in the Rigveda, the ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns. The battle took place during the middle or main Rigvedic period, near the Ravi River in Punjab. It was a battle between the Puru Vedic Aryan tribal kingdoms of the Bharatas, allied with other tribes of the north west India, and the Trtsu-Bharata king Sudas, who defeats other Vedic tribes. It is possible that the Battle of the Ten Kings, mentioned in the Rigveda, may have "formed the 'nucleus' of story" of the Kurukshetra War, though it was greatly expanded and modified in the Mahabharata's account.

Belligerents

The Trtsu are the tribe led by king Sudas.
Sudas himself is included in the "ten kings", as the Trtsus are said to be surrounded by ten kings in 7.33.5.
But it is not made explicit how this number is supposed to be broken down: if of the tribes mentioned in 7.18, the Turvasas, Yaksuss, Matsyas, Bhrgus, Druhyus, Pakthas, Bhalanas, Alinas, Shivas and Visanins are counted, the full number is reached, leaving the Anavas, the Ajas and Sigrus and the "21 men of both Vaikarna tribes" without a king, and implying that Bheda, Shimyu, and Kavasa are the names of individual kings. The Bharatas are named among the enemies in 7.33 but not in 7.18.
The situation leading up to the battle is described in 7.18.6: The Turvasas and Yaksus together with the Matsya tribe appear and ally themselves with the Bhrigus and the Druhyus.

Adaptations and retellings

In Ten Kings: Dasarajna, Ashok Banker retells a fictional account of the epic battle.

Citations