Everything about Uttarakuru totally explained
Uttarakuru is the name of a
dvipa ("continent") in ancient
Hindu and
Buddhist mythology.
The Uttarakuru country and its people are sometimes described as belonging to the real world, whereas other times they appear to be mythical.
Vedic Literature
Aitareya Brahmana makes first reference to
Uttarakuru and
Uttaramadra as real-life
Janapadas. According to Aitareya Brahmana, these two nations lied beyond the
Himalayan ranges (
Hindukush). The Aitareya Brahmana adduces these two people as examples of
republican (vairajiya) nations, where whole
Janapada took the consecration of rulership .
Aitareya Brahmana again notes that Uttarakuru was a devak-setra or divine land.
Puranas
In later literature like
Puranas, the Uttarakurus are sometimes described as
mythical people, while at other times their description seems to place them in the real world.
Puranic cosmography divides our earth into seven concentric
islands called
Jambu, Plaksha, Salmali, Kusha, Kraunca, Shaka, and Pushkara. They are separated by the seven encircling
seas. The insular continent Jambudvipa forms the innermost
concentric island in the scheme of continents. Jambudvipa includes nine countries (varṣa) and nine mountains. The land of
Illa-vrta lies at the center of Jambudivipa at whose center is located
Mount Meru. The land of
Uttarakuru lies to the north of Mount Meru.
The land of
Uttarakuru of the Puranas is said to be somewhat of an
El Dorado. The
Bhagavata Purana notes the Uttarakuru as the land of the "northern
Kurus", a people separate from the Dakisha Kurus.
The
Brahmanda Purana and
Vayu Purana state that the Pururavas, the ancestors of the Puru race once lived with Urvasi in Uttarakuru.
In
Matsya Purana, Uttarakuru is described as
Tiratha.
Mahabharata
Mahabharata sometimes depicts the Uttarakuru as a
fairy land. It is stated to be the ultimate abode of the blessed souls. The souls of the blessed ones and the
Kshatriyas go to
Uttarakuru after death.
Adiparva of Mahabharata refers to a practice of
free love among the women of
Uttarakuru, like the one followed by birds and the beasts, and isn't regarded sinful as it's stated to have the approval of the rishis and the sanction of antiquity. At other times, the epic describes the Uttarakurus as real entity and associates them with the real
Kurus.
The ancestors of the Kauravas and Pandavas had originally migrated from
Uttarakuru.
At the
Rajasuya Sacrifice performed by king
Yudhishtra, the kings of north-west brought gifts, some of which belonged to
Uttarakuru.
After reducing the
Kambojas and
Daradas on south of
Hindukush,
Arjuna proceeded to Trans-Hindukush countries and fought with the Lohas,
Parama-Kambojas and the
Rishikas. Thereafter, Arjuna encountered the Limprushas, Haratakas and the
Uttarakurus, which were the neighboring tribes in the trans-Himalaya region.
Ramayana
In the enumeration of the countries of north,
Ramayana references
Kambojas,
Yavanas,
Shakas, Paradas and then further northwards, it refers to the land of the
Uttarakurus lying beyond river
Shailoda and
Kichaka bamboos valleys. It gives very vivid and graphic picture of Uttarakuru region .
Buddhist Text
Uttarakuru also finds numerous references in
Buddhist literature, sometimes as a real land and other times as a mythical region.
In
Digha Nakaya,
Uttarakuru is said to be the name of
city.
Lalita-Vistara describes the
Uttarakuru as Pratyanta-dvipa or a frontier
island.
Sumangalavilasini says that the wife of a Chakravarti king comes either from
Uttarakuru or from the race of a king
Madda.
Buddhaghosa records a tradition which states that, when Vedic king Mandhata returned to
Jambudvipa from his sojourn in the four
Mahadipas, there were, in his retinue, a large number of the people of
Uttarakuru. They all settled down in Jambudípa, and their settlement became known as Kururattha (Kuru Rashtra).
Majjhima Commentary also attests that the people of Kururatha had originally belonged to the Uttarakuru.
Rajatrangini of Kalhana
According to
Rajatarangini of
Kalhana, king
Lalitaditya Muktapida of
Kashmir leads a war expedition against the
tribes of north (i.e north of Kashmir) and in sequence, encounters the Kambojas, Tusharas, Bhauttas, Daradas, Valukambudhis,
Uttarakurus, Strirajya (mythical or otherwise) and Pragjyotisha with whom he fights one after the other.
Foreign Sources
Ptolemy's
Geography refers to
Ottorokorai (Uttarakuru)
tribe,
Ottorokora as a city, and
Ottorokoras as a river. The Ottorokora city is shown as located at longitude of 165° 37' 25" E. Ptolemy has also referred to one mountain by the same name and fixes at with longitude from 169° 39' to 176° 39' E.
The
Attacori of
Pliny probably also refers to the Uttarakuru people and their country.
Ammianus Marcellinus refers to Uttarakuru as
Ottorogorae.
Geographical Location of Uttarakuru
Though the later texts mix up the facts with the fancies on Uttarakurus, yet in the earlier, and some of the later texts, Uttarakurus indeed appear to be
historical people. Hence scholars have attempted to identify the actual location of Uttarakuru.
Puranic accounts always locate the Uttarakuru varsa in the northern parts of
Jambudvipa.
The Uttarakuru is taken by some as identical with the Kuru country mentioned in the
Rig-Veda. The Kurus and Krivis (Panchala) are said to form the Vaikarana of
Rigveda and the Vaikarana is often identified with
Kashmir. Therefore, Dr Zimmer likes to identify the
Vaikarana Kurus with the Uttarakurus and places them in Kashmir
Dr Michael Witzel locates his Uttarakuru in
Uttarakhand Pradesh.
According to some scholars, the above locations however don't seem to be correct since they go against
Aitareya Brahmana evidence which clearly states that Uttarakuru and Uttaramadra lied beyond Himalaya (
pren himvantam janapada Uttarakurva Uttaramadra). Moreover, no notice of the Uttaramadras (
Bahlika,
Bactria) has been taken of while fixing up the above location of Uttarakuru. Uttarakurus and Uttaramadras are stated to be immediate neighbors in the Trans-Himalaya region per Aitareya Brahmana evidence .
Ramayana testifies that the original home of the Kurus was in Bahli country. Ila, son of Parajapati Karddama was a king of Bahli, where Bahli represents
Sanskrit Bahlika (Bactria). Also the kings from Aila lineage have been called Karddameyas. The Aila is also stated to be the lineage of the Kurus themselves . The Karddamas obtained their name from river Karddama in
Persia/ancient
Iran. Moreover,
Sathapatha Brahmana attests a king named Bahlika Pratipeya as of the Kauravya lineage. Bahlika Pratipeya, as the name implies, was a prince of Bahlika (Bactria). Thus, the Bahli, Bahlika was the original home of the Kurus. Thus, Bahlika or Bactria may have constituted the Uttarakuru. Mahabharata and Sumangalavilasini also note that the people of Kuru had originally migrated from Uttarakutru. Bactria is evidently beyond the
Hindukush i.e Himalaya. In ancient literature, Himalaya is said to be extending from eastern occean to western occean and even today isn't separated from it .
The above identification of Uttarakuru comes from Dr M. R. Singh .
Dr K. P. Jayswal identifies Mt Meru of the
Puranas with the Hindukush ranges and locates the Uttakuru in the Pamirs itself .
Dr V. S. Aggarwala thinks that the Uttarakuru was located to north of Pamirs in
Central Asia and was also
famous for its horses of Tittirakalamasha variety . Thus it probably comprised parts of
Kirgizstan and
Tian-Shan. Incidentally, the reference to horses from
Uttarakuru rules out any possibility of locating Uttarakurus
in Kashmir and Uttarakhand Pradesh since these regions have never been noted for their horses.
Dr Buddha Prakash locates the Uttarakuru-varsa in
Sinkiang province of
China.
Bhishamaparava of
Mahabharata attests that the country of Uttarakuru lied to the north of
Mt Meru and to the south of
Nila Parvata .
The Mt Meru of Hindu traditions is identified with the knot of
Pamirs. Mountain Nila may have been the
Altai-Mt.
The Mahabharata refers to the Kichaka bamboos growing on the banks of river Shailoda . Mahabharata further attests that the Kichaka bamboo region was situated between
Mountain
Meru (Pamirs) and Mountain Mandara (Alta Tag). The river valleys between these two mountains are still overgrown with forests of Kichaka Bamboos.
Ramayana also attests that the valleys of river Shailoda were overgrown with Kichhaka bamboos and the country of Uttarakuru lied beyond river Shailoda as well as the valleys of Kichaka bamboos.
River Shailoda of Ramayana and of Mahabharata has been variously identified with river Khotan, Yarkand, and Syr (Jaxartes) by different scholars.
Raghuvamsa also refers to the Kichaka bamboos of Central Asia in the eastern regions of the Pamirs or Meru mountains which were known as Dirghavenu in Sanskrit.
The above discussion shows that the land of Uttarakurus was located north of river Shailoda as well as of the Kichaka bamboo valley.
Rajatarangini places Uttarkuru land in the neighborhood of Strirajya. Based on Yuan Chwang's evidence, Strirajya is identified as a country lying north of Kashmir, south of Khotan and west of Tibet.
Thus, the Uttarakuru which finds reference in the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Rajatarangini probably can not be identified with the Bahlika or Bactria as Dr M. R. Singh has concluded.
Uttarakuru probably comprised north-west of Sinkiang province of China and parts of the Tian-Shan .
Dr Christian Lassen suggests that the Ottorokoroi of Ptolemy should be located in the east of Kashgar i.e in Tarim Basin .
Some writers, however, assert that Uttarakuru was the name for the vast area lying north of Himalaya and extending as far as Arctic Circle.
Some people tend to identify the Uttarakurus and the Uttaramadras with the Tocharian (Uttarakuru = Tokhari) branch of Indo-Europeans, located to the north of the Himalayas (External Link
)
Tokhari or Tukharas, the later Yucchis, are the same as the Rishikas of Mahabharata. The epic attests the Rishikas and the Parama-Kambojas as very close neighbors . In eighth century war campaign of king Lalitaditya of Kashmir, the Tukharas (Tusharas) and the Kambojas are again attested as very close neighbors located almost in the same epic location in Central Asia. At another place in Mahabharata, the Rishikas are stated to be a sub-section of the Kambojas (Ishwa) . According to B. N. Puri, the Kambojas were a branch of the Tukharas.. Based on the above Rishika-Kamboja connections, some scholars also claim that the Kambojas were a branch of the Yuezhi themselves .
It is possible that the Tocharians and Parama Kambojans formed parts of Uttarakuru.
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