In search of Saryati

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Saryati, Saryati or SaryAta (Manava) is a king in Vedic history whose

identification seems to be evading the scholar. In this post, I will

be using the name Saryati to denote any /all of the above names and

identities.

 

I see that he is possibly connected to the early formation period of

Vedic rituals. He taught the second day rituals to Angiras (the

Asuric Brahmins who learnt rituals from the Ksatriyas: NabhAga,

another kshatriya taught them the sixth day rituals) and perhaps for

this reason, you would not find his name in any of the Upanishads.

 

Several things are mentioned about him in Vedas, Brahmanas and

Puranas, which is possibly making it more difficult to fix him.

 

For e.g., his connection with the famous Haiheyas, as mentioned in

MBh, was never established. Haiheyas are popularly accepted as

Yadavas but Saryati was the son of Vaivasvata Manu at one place and

(perhaps, another) Saryati was mentioned as Puru King in an

encyclopedia. Even being a Puru king will not make him the direct

ancestor of Yadavas. I remember reading elsewhere he was in the

lineage Pracinvat-Saryati-Ahamyati but I am sure this description

belongs to Samyati.

 

Saryati is also mentioned as being the ancestor of AnArta

(geographically, denoting Gujarat), Rewata and Raivata. This lineage

dispersed thanks to Raksasas and the dispersed peoples were called as

SaryatAs.

 

Interestingly, both the clans mentioned above are related to river

Narmada- Mahismati, the later capital of Haiheyas was on the banks of

Narmada and Rewata shares his name with Narmada (cf Rewa) Thus, we

can possibly assume that the dispersed peoples must have traversed

along Narmada.

 

Another prevalent connection of Saryati is with sage Cyavana.

Saryati gives away his daughter to the aged and perhaps, blinded

Cyavana, who becomes young again with the help of Aswins. He offers

libation to the Aswins in return defying Indra's wishes. This story

with variations had been told in kausikata, padma purana, MBh,

Jaiminiya Br. and Satapata Br.

 

Cyavana himself is difficult to place since he is connected with

Sagara , the Ishwaku King on one hand and King Kusika (the grand

father of Viswamitra) on the other. These two kings have good amount

of time lag between them, unless Kusika is only an ancestor of

Viswamitra and not grandfather. To complicate the issue, Cyavana

also figures during the times of Kartavirya Arjuna also –he curses

him. However, we have to agree that it is not uncommon for sages to

appear across times, because they were recognized more by their

Gotras than by their first names.

 

Rg veda mentions that Madhu chandhas is the purohit of Saryati.

Perhaps for this reason, since Viswamitras are Bhrigus, Saryati

adopts the gotra of Brhigus. (there is another story of vita harya,

a Haiheya king being converted into Brahminism, into the Gotra of

Bhrigu. His son is the celebrated Grtsamada) The above makes things

clear that he certainly belonged to the times of Viswamitra proper.

 

Yet, under these circumstances, it is apparently difficult to fix the

time. At most, we can say that SaryAta belongs to the lineage of

Saryati , the son of Manu and has married his daughter to Cyavana,

which still leaves many questions unanswered and many legends

unexplained in terms of dating.

 

 

I invite the corrections, references and views from the learned

members.

 

 

Kishore patnaik