The Vedic and Epic Traditions

Kaushambi was the capital of the Vatsas or the Vamsas, a branch of the Indo-Aryan family. The Aitareya Brahmana mentions them along with the Kuru-Pan-chalas and the Usiuaras.^[1] The Kausitaki Upanisad and Gopatha Brahmana also mention the Vatsas in association with the Kuru-Panchalas, Usinaras, etc.^[2] The antiquity of the Vatsas, as also their place in the Indo-Aryan family, is thus beyond dispute.

There is equally valid reason to believe that the city of Kaushambi, famous in literature as the capital of the Vatsas, existed at the time of Janaka.^[3] The Safa-patha Brahmana mentions Proti Kausurubindi, a pupil of Uddalaka Aruni, the contemporary of Janaka, as 'Kausambeya', which, according to Harisvamin, means a native of Kaushambi. It is; therefore, fairly plausible that the city of Kaushambi existed in the period of the Brahmanas and Upanisads. If Raychaudhuris view that Nicaksu was a contemporary of Janaka^[4] is correct, it further strengthens the argument that Kaushambi existed in the period of Janaka and was the seat of the Vatsas who figure prominently in the Brghniana literature. It is interesting to recall that it was during this very period, according to the Puranas, that Nicaksu, the descendant of the Pandavas, transferred Ms capital from Hastinapura to Kaushambi. Although the reason for this change is said to be the washing away of a considerable part of Hastinapura as a result of floods of the river Gahga, it is not improbable that the transfer was made imperative by a variety of other reasons of which one might have been the devastation of the Kuril country by the Matachi, as also possibly the upheavals in the Kuru family itself.^[5] Whatever the reason of the transfer, the tradition does not contain the slightest suggestion that the city was founded by Nicaksu, so that we can safely infer that during the time of that ruler Kaushambi had already grown into a settlement of sufficient importance to attract his attention and induce him to make it his capital. The city, therefore, must have come into existence not later than the Mahabharata times, if not earlier.

Kaushambi also figures prominently in the movements of the Aryans in the Madh-yadesa and beyond. According to the Mahabharata, the city was founded by prince Kusamba, the third son of the Cedi king Uparicara Vasu. The Ramayana, on the other hand, has it that prince Ruggmba, the founder of Kausmbi, was a son of Kusa, at whose behest his four sons founded four famous cities viz. Kaushambi, Mahodaya, Dharmgranya and Girivraja.

The tradition of the foundation of Kaugambi by Kugainba is corroborated by the Kasika which, in illustrating a grammatical rule of Panini, confirms that Kaushambi was founded by Kushamba.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Aitareya Brahmana VIII. 14.

[2]:

Kattshttaki Upanishad IV. Onpatha Brahmana. 1. 2, 9.

[3]:

H.C. Raychaudhnri. Pnlitirnl History of Ancient India, (Calcutta. 1953), p. 70.

[4]:

Ibid., p. 69.

[5]:

Ibid., p. 69.