Source: GhorAngirasa on TW
How Sudāsa’s war against his fellow Paurava/Bhārata neighbors, Āṇavas, Drauhyavas, Yādavas, Taurvasavas & several others in all directions is presented in the Ṛk-Sam̐hitā & the Mahābhārata.
Ṛk-Sam̐hitā (Śākalya-Śākhā - 7.18.17), from the North Pāñcala point of view, compares it to a ram (Sudāsa) vs lion scenario, where the ram prevails against all odds.
The Mahābhārata, when explaining the westward fleeing of the Hastināpura Bhāratas under King Samvaraṇa (Kuru’s father & ancestor of all Kauravas) to the Sindhu, refers to an unnamed Pāñcala king who was an aggressor with imperial ambitions & crushed the Hastināpura Bhāratas:
आर्क्षे संवरणे राजन् प्रशासति वसुन्धराम्।
संक्षयः सुमहानासीत् प्रजानामिति नः श्रुतम्।। 1-101-23 व्यशीर्यत ततो राष्ट्-क्षयैर् नानाविधैस् तदा।
क्षुन्मृत्युभ्याम् अनावृष्ट्या व्याधिभिश्च समाहतम्।। 1101-24
अभ्यजन्+++(??)+++ भारतांश् चैव सपत्नानां बलानि च।
चालयन्वसुधां चेमां बलेन चतुरङ्गिणा।। 1-101-25
अभ्ययात्तं च पाञ्चल्यो विजित्य तरसा महीम्।
अक्षौहिणीभिर्दशभिः स एनं समरेऽजयत्।। 1-101-26
Three facts stand out:
- The complete absence of any express mention of Sudāsa’s heroic exploits (the above account doesn’t name Sudāsa; it is only an implication), with Indra’s divine aid, in the Mahābhārata ++
- The Ṛk-Sam̐hitā’s reference to Bhāratas in the 3rd, 6th & 7th Maṇḍalas is to the North Pāñcala dynasty of Bhāratas (Divodāsa, Mitrāyu, Sudāsa, etc) while the Bhārata in “Mahābhārata” refers to the Hastināpura Bhāratas; indicating a clear shift in power.
- The sole, unmistakable mention of Sudāsa of Ṛgveda fame in the Mahābhārata is that of Sudāsa Paijāvana (The Ṛk-Sam̐hitā & Purāṇas also call Sudāsa “Paijāvana” i.e. son of Pijāvana; so it’s clear that the Mahābhārata is referring to him alone) the generous Śūdra. This is of course a massive aberration as it goes against every Paurāṇika testimony & all of known tradition. Sudāsa Paijāvana is a Kṣatriya, some of whose descendants became Brāhmaṇas.
All in all, there seems to have been a concerted attempt to push the memory of the greatest Vaidika hero into oblivion.
Sudāsa’s legacy itself is not simple. His clansmen, if not he himself, had orchestrated the death of their Kulapurohita, Vasiṣṭha’s son, Śakti. Of course, there is also an abhicāra element behind this fallout & murder (due to Viśvāmitra) that I have discussed elsewhere. Interestingly, Sāyaṇa & Durgācārya have preserved a historically & empirically more coherent version of what happened to Śakti, instead of the Mahābhārata & many Paurāṇika versions, which have replaced the historical core with a Rākṣasa-centric lore.
The death of Śakti leads to a rather intense sequence in the Vāsiṣṭha-Vyāsa-Mahābhārata, where Vasiṣṭha attempts suicide multiple times, with the Devas preventing it each time. The Taittirīya Sam̐hitā has Vasiṣṭha remember the Saudasas as the murderers of his sons. At the same time, since his hallowed memory (as a warrior blessed by Indra) was canonized in the Veda, there was no direct attack on him per se.
Tradition records these as Śakti’s final words before he is brutally consumed by the flames alive. He saw the 1st half of 7.32.26 of the Ṛk-Sam̐hitā:
“इन्द्र॒ क्रतुं॑ न॒ आ भ॑र
पि॒ता पु॒त्रेभ्यो॒ यथा॑ ।”
“Indra, bring to us the Kratu (a complex word that denotes wisdom, power & will) as a father would to his sons!”
One could visualize Śakti remembering his father for one last time, the great Vasiṣṭha who had so affectionately taught him the secrets of Vaidika ritual.
And Vasiṣṭha completes the 2nd half of the mantra.
“शिक्षा॑ णो अ॒स्मिन् पु॑रुहूत॒
याम॑नि जी॒वा ज्योति॑र् अशीमहि ॥”“Help us in this path (the pursuit of Kratu), you who are invoked by many; may we, the living, attain the light!”
Vasiṣṭha’s completion of his son’s words is so apt. The “living” ones refers to the Vāsiṣṭhas surviving Śakti; his father & son.
In the Mahābhārata, we see Vasiṣṭha switch his loyalties back to Samvaraṇa (Kuru’s to-be father), lending further corroboration to the traditional account of the Sudāsa/Vasiṣṭha fallout.
We will discuss the legacy of Sudāsa’s immediate successors later. Just to give you an idea about his importance in the larger scheme of things, his most famous & direct, albeit a little distant, descendant would be Draupadī &, to a lesser extent, Dhṛṣtadyumna. One of the few instances of “royal reincarnation” is the case of Sudāsa’s grandson, the great Somaka, who is stated to be a reincarnation of Ajamīḍha, a common ancestor of the North (Ahicchatra) & South (Kampilya) Pāñcalas and the Hastināpura Bhāratas. Ajamīḍha is the son of Hastin, the 5th in line from Bharata Dauhṣanti, & after whom Hastināpura is named.
It will be remembered by some that Bhārata, after his incompetent, biological sons were slain by their own mothers (Bharata’s wives), adopted a son of Bharadvāja Ṛṣi.
While the Turvasus were absorbed into the Puru line, they had maintained a separate identity for about 20 generations from Duhṣanta to Sudāsa & the North Pañcalas are not equated with the Taurvāsavas. They have their own dynastic identity.