The Pūrus are a tribe, or a confederation of tribes, mentioned many times in the Rigveda. RV 7.96.2 locates them at the banks of the Sarasvati River. There were several factions of Purus, one being the Bharatas. Purus rallied many other tribes against King Sudas of the Bharata, but were defeated in the Battle of the Ten Kings (RV 7.18, etc,).
The king Porus of Alexander's time seem to reflect the old tribal name. The modern Punjabi Puri clan traces its lineage to the Puru tribe[1][2]. However, after detailed analysis Colnel James Tod regarded Porus to be from Shoorsaini/Yaduvanshi clan.
Purus as Shoorsainis or 'Sourasenoi'
| “ | "....we have elsewhere assigned to Yadus of the Punjab the honour of furnishing the well known king named Porus" | ” |
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— James Tod, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan [6] |
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There were no known Hindu textual sources regarding Porus indicating the tribe or ethnic group he belonged to. Several ethnic groups in the Indian subcontinent have tried to claim him as their own ancestor. However, an opinion that he was a Yadava or Yaduvanshi king was held by Col. Tod and Dr. Ishwari Prashad, another renowned historian.[7][8][6]
Col. Tod went on further to specifically point out Shoorsainis as the Puru tribe whose king was called Porus, the legendary Indian adversary of Alexander the Great:
| “ | Puru became the patronymic of this branch of the Lunar race. Of this Alexander's historians made Porus. The Suraseni of Methoras (descendants of the Soor Sen of Mathura) were all Purus, the Prasioi of Megasthenes... | ” |
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— James Tod, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan [3] |
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Other scholars have opined that king Porus, known for his legendary bravery, belonged to Shoorsaini tribe also based on the fact that his vanguard soldiers carried the image of Lord Krishna (Herakles as per Greeks) on their banners. Lord Krishna was both the ancestor and patron deity of Shoorsainis.[4][5][9][10][11]
References
- ^ Kosambi 1966: 4
- ^ Prakash 1964: 4
- ^ a b "Puru became the patronymic of this branch of the Lunar race. Of this Alexander's historians made Porus. The Suraseni of Methoras (descendants of the Soor Sen of Mathura) were all Purus, the Prasioi of Megasthenes..." Annals and Antiquities of Rajast'han, Or, The Central and Western Rajpoot States of India, James Tod, pp 36, Published by Higginbotham and co., 1873, Item notes: v. 1, Original from Oxford University
- ^ a b According to Arrian, Diodorus, and Strabo, Megasthenes described an Indian tribe called Sourasenoi, who especially worshiped Herakles in their land, and this land had two cities, Methora and Kleisobora, and a navigable river, the Jobares. As was common iin the ancient period, the Greeks sometimes described foreign gods in terms of their own divinities, and there is is a little doubt that the Sourasenoi refers to the Shurasenas, a branch of the Yadu dynasty to which Krishna belonged; Herakles to Krishna, or Hari-Krishna: Mehtora to Mathura, where Krishna was born; Kleisobora to Krishnapura, meaning the "the city of Krishna"; and the Jobares to the Yamuna, the famous river in the Krishna story. Qunitus Curtius also mentions that when Alexander the Great confronted Porus, Porus's soldiers were carrying an image of Herakles in their vanguard. Krishna: a sourcebook, pp 5, Edwin Francis Bryant, Oxford University Press US, 2007
- ^ a b Proceedings, pp 72, Indian History Congress, Published 1957
- ^ a b "We have assigned to the Yadus the honour of furnishing King Puru, who opposed Alexander" , History of India: (from the earliest times to the fall of the Mughal Empire) , pp 86, 91-95, Indian Press (1947), Dr. Ishwari Prashad, ASIN: B0007KEPTA
- ^ "To convince the reader I do not build upon nominal resemblance, when localities do not bear me out, he is requested to call to mind, that we have elsewhere assigned to Yadus of the Punjab the honour of furnishing the well known king named Porus; although the Puar, the usual pronunciation of Pramar, would afford a more ready solution." Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, pp 283, By James Tod, Edition: 2, Published by Asian Educational Services, 2001, ISBN 8120612892, 9788120612891
- ^ Ghazni to Jaiselmer (Pre-medieval History of the Bhatis), pp 93, Hari Singh Bhati, Publisher: Hari Singh Bhati, 1998, Printers: Sankhala Printers, Bikaner
- ^ Chandragupta Maurya: a gem of Indian history, pp 76, Purushottam Lal Bhargava, Edition: 2, illustrated, Published by D.K. Printworld, 1996
- ^ A Comprehensive History of India: The Mauryas & Satavahanas, pp 383, edited by K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, Kallidaikurichi Aiyah Nilakanta Sastri, Bharatiya Itihas Parishad, Published by Orient Longmans, 1992, Original from the University of California
- ^ Excavating the eternal: an indigenous archaeological tradition in India. By: Cremo, Michael A.Publication: Antiquity,Date: Saturday,March 1 2008
- Kosambi, Damodar Dharmanand (1966). Ancient India: A History of its Culture and Civilisation. Delhi: Pantheon Books. pp. 81–83. http://books.google.ca/books?id=ubk8AAAAMAAJ&q=puri+puru+aryan+veda&dq=puri+puru+aryan+veda&pgis=1.
- Prakash, Buddha (1964). Political and Social Movements in Ancient Panjab. Delhi, Patna, Varanasi: M. Banarsidass. p. 77. http://books.google.ca/books?id=Nqo_AAAAIAAJ&dq=puri+puru+aryan+veda&q=puri&pgis=1#search.
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