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In theMahabharata epic, theHaihayakingdom (also spelled Heheya, Haihaya, Haiheya, Heiheya, etc.) is one of the kingdoms ruled by Chandravanshi (Yadava) kings in central and westernIndia. It was ruled byKartavirya Arjuna, who defeatedRavana. Its capital wasMahishmati on the banks of riverNarmada in present-dayMadhya Pradesh. Talajangha was an allied kingdom to the east of Heheya. They conquered many other kingdoms of India until enmity with the warriorBhargavas resulted in their demise.Parasurama was the Bhargava leader who ended the kingdom.
The Haihayas (Sanskrit:हैहय) were an ancient confederacy of fiveganas (clans), who claimed their common ancestry fromYadu. According to theHarivamsha Purana (34.1898) Haihaya was the great-grandson of Yadu and grandson of Sahasrajit.[1] In theVishnu Purana (IV.11), all the five Haihaya clans are mentioned together as the Talajanghas.[2] The five Haihaya clans were Vitihotra, Sharyata, Bhoja, Avanti and Tundikera.[2] The Haihayas were native to the present-dayMalwa region of WesternMadhya Pradesh. The Puranas style the Haihayas as the first ruling dynasty ofAvanti.[3]
In the Harivamsha (33.1847), the honour of founding their future capital city ofMahishmati (in present-dayMadhya Pradesh) was attributed to king Mahishmant, son of Sahanja and a descendant ofYadu through Haihaya. At another place it namesMuchukunda, one of the ancestors of lord Rama, as the founder of Mahishmati. It states that he built the cities of Mahishmati and Purika in theRksha mountains.[4]
According to thePadma Purana (VI.115), the city was actually founded by a certain Mahisha.[5]
According to theMahabharata and the Puranas, the most celebrated Haihaya king wasArjuna Kartavirya.[6] His epithet wasSahasrabahu. He was called aSamrat andChakravartin. His name is found in theRig Veda (VIII.45.26).[7] He ultimately conqueredMahishmati city fromKarkotaka Naga, a Naga chief, and made it his fortress-capital.[6] According to theVayu Purana, he invaded Lanka and tookRavana prisoner.[8] Arjuna propitiatedDattatreya and was favoured by him.[9] Arjuna's sons killed the sageJamadagni. Jamadagni's sonParashurama in revenge killed Arjuna. Arjuna's son Jayadhvaja succeeded him to the throne. Jayadhvaja was succeeded by his son Talajangha.[6]
Later, the Haihayas were mostly known by the name of the dominant clan amongst them, the Vitihotras (or Vitahotras or Vitahvyas). According to the Puranas, Vitihotra was the great-grandson of Arjuna Kartavirya and the eldest son of Talajangha. The Puranas also mention the names of two Vitihotra rulers: Ananta, son of Vitihotra and Durjaya Amitrakarshana, son of Ananta.[2] The Haihaya territory expanded northward to the mid-Ganges valley under the Vitihotra rulers until they were stopped by theIkshvaku kingSagara.[10] TheMahagovindasuttanta of theDighanikaya mentions an Avanti king Vessabhu (Vishvabhu) and his capital Mahissati (Mahishmati); probably he was a Vitihotra ruler.[11] Probably, during the rule of the later Vitihotras, the whole Avanti region developed into two realms, divided by the Vindhyas, having principal cities at Mahishmati and Ujjayini (present dayUjjain). According to theMatsya Purana (5.37), Pulika, one of the ministers of Ripunjaya, the last Vitihotra king of Ujjayini, killed his master and made his son Pradyota the new king.[12]
It is said that many of the Haihayas were learned in theVedas.[13]
A number of early medieval dynasties, which include theKalachuris and the MushakavamshaMushika kingdom of Kerala, claimed their descent from the Haihayas.[14] The Haihayas of eastern India fought againstIslamist invaders in medieval times.[15]
Sagara was a king ofKosala kingdom, ruling fromAyodhya. He was of the lineage ofIkshwaku, a famous royal dynasty in ancient India. Sagara is mentioned as the son of Jadu (MBh 12,56). His army was said to number 60,000 men, all of whom he treated as sons.
TheIkswaku king Sagara is said to have defeated the Haihayas and the Talajanghas. He brought under subjection the whole of the military caste. (MBh 3,106)
The Haihayas and Talajanghas likely had their origins in theVatsa kingdom. Haihayas in the Vatsa kingdom, known collectively as Vitahavyas and under King Vitahavya, attacked the neighbouring country calledKasi during the reign of four successive generations of Kasi kings: Haryaswa, Sudeva, Divodasa and Pratarddana. The last one among them, Pratarddana, defeated the Haihayas and probably expelled them from the Vatsa kingdom. Kasi kings were also born in theIkshwaku. This could be the seed of Haihayas's dispute with them.
In Saryati's lineage (Saryati and Ikshwaku were two among the many sons of Manu (MBh 1,75)), two kings took their birth, viz. Haihaya and Talajangha, both sons ofVatsa. Haihaya had ten wives and a hundred sons, all of whom were highly inclined to fighting. InKasi also there was a king, the grandfather of Divodasa, known as Haryyaswa. The sons of King Haihaya, who was otherwise known as Vitahavyas, invaded the kingdom of Kasi. Advancing into that country that lies between the riversGanges andYamuna, he fought a battle with King Haryyaswa, slaying him there. The sons of Haihaya fearlessly went back to their own delightful city in the country of the Vatsas.
Meanwhile, Haryyaswa's son Sudeva was installed on the throne of Kasi as its new ruler. That righteous-souled prince ruled his kingdom for some time before the hundred sons of Vitahavya once more invaded his dominions and defeated him in battle. Having vanquished King Sudeva thus, the Haihaya victors returned to their own city.
After that Divodasa, the son of Sudeva, was next installed on the throne of Kasi. Realising the prowess of those high-souled princes, the sons of Vitahavya, King Divodasa, endued with great energy, rebuilt and fortified the city of Baranasi (Varanasi orBanaras) atIndra's command. They teemed with articles and provisions of every kind and were adorned with shops and marts swelling with prosperity. Those territories stretched northwards from the banks of Ganges to the southern banks of Gomati, and resembled a secondAmravati (the city of Indra). The Haihayas once again attacked. The mighty King Divodasa, issuing from his capital, gave them battle. King Divodasa fought the enemy for a thousand days but at the end, having lost a number of followers and animals, he became exceedingly distressed. King Divodasa, his army lost and his treasury exhausted, left his capital and fled. He sought protection of his priest, Bharadwaja, the son of Vrihaspati.
Divodasa wished for a brave son who could avenge the Vitahavyas. With his priest Bharadwaja's, blessings he obtained a son named Pratarddana, would become well skilled in battle. Divodasa installed his son on the throne of Kasi and asked him to march against the sons of Vitahavya. He speedily crossed the Ganges on his car followed by his army and proceeded against the city of the Vitahavyas. The Vitahavyas issued out of their city in their cars and poured out on Pratarddana, showered of weapons of various kinds. Pratarddana slew them all in battle. The Haihaya king Vitahavya then, all his sons and kinsmen dead, sought protection of his priest Bhrigu. Bhrigu converted him a Brahmana. SageSaunaka, later receiver of the entireMahabharata narrative fromUgrasrava Sauti, was born from the line of this Vitahavya.
Kartavirya Arjuna (Sahasrabahu Arjun or Sahasrarjun) is described as a noble king and a devotee of LordDattatreya.Endowed with a thousand arms (thought to symbolise a thousand attendants acting as his hands, executing his commands) and great beauty the mighty Kartavirya, in days of yore, became the lord of all the world. He had his capital in the city ofMahishmati. Of impossible prowess, that chief of the Haihaya race of yadavKshatriyas swayed the whole earth with her belt of seas, together with all her islands and all her precious mines of gold and gems. Keeping before him the duties of the Kshatriya order, as also humility andVedic knowledge, the king made large gifts of wealth unto the Lord Dattatreya (MBh 13,152).
The Haihaya tribe's dispute withBhargavaBrahmins is mentioned at various places in the Mahabharata. The leader of the Bhargavas,Parasurama, son of Jamadagni, is said to kill the Haihaya king Kartavirya Arjuna. The dispute didn't end there. The Bhargavas went all over India and slew numerousKshatriya kings, most of them kinsmen of Kartavirya Arjuna. (MBh 1,104)
In acquiring the unrivaled "battleaxe of fiery splendour and irresistible sharpness" fromMahadeva of theGandhamadana mountains, in theHimalayas (MBh 12,49),Bhargava Rama became an unparalleled force on earth. Meanwhile, the mighty son of Kritavirya, Arjuna of the Kshatriya order and ruler of the Haihayas, imbued with great energy, highly virtuous in behaviour, and possessing a thousand arms through the grace of the great sageDattatreya, and having subjugated in battle by the might of his own arms the whole earth with her mountains and seven islands, became a very powerful emperor.(12,49)
The King Arjuna, mighty lord of the Haihaya tribe, would be killed byRama. (MBh 3,115)
"Even though only the leadersBhargava Rama and Kartavirya Arjuna are mentionedin most places, there is evidence that many people were involved in this dispute. It could be a dispute between two tribes, spanning generations."[citation needed]
Once upon a time theBrahmins, raising a standard of Kusa grass, encountered in battle theKshatriyas of the Haihaya clan imbued with immeasurable energy. The best of Brahmins inquired of the Kshatriyas themselves as to the cause of this. The Kshatriyas told them, "In battle we obey the orders of one person imbued with great intelligence, while you are disunited from one another and act according to your individual understanding." The Brahmins then appointed one amongst themselves as their commander, who was brave and conversant with the ways of policy. And they then succeeded in vanquishingHaihaya the Kshatriyas. (MBh 5,157)
Bhargava Rama, having his fatherJamadagni slain and his calf stolen by the Kshatriyas, slew Kartaviryas who had never been vanquished before by foes.
With his bow he slew 64 times 10,000 Kshatriyas. In that slaughter were included 14,000 Brahmana-hating Kshatriyas of the Dantakura country. Of the Haihayas, he slew a 1000 with his short club, a 1000 with his sword, and a 1000 by hanging. Rama slew 10,000 Kshatriyas with his axe. He could not quietly bear the furious speeches uttered by those foes of his. And when many foremost of Brahmans uttered exclamations, mentioning the name of Rama of Bhrigu’s race, he proceeding against theKashmiras, theDaradas, theKuntis, the Kshudrakas, theMalavas, theAngas, theVangas, theKalingas, theVidehas, the Tamraliptakas, the Rakshovahas, the Vitahotras, theTrigartas, the Martikavatas, counting by thousand, slew them all by means of his whetted shafts. Proceeding from province to province, he thus slew thousands of scores of Haihaya-Kshatriyas. Creating a deluge of blood and filling many lakes also with blood and bringing all the 18 islands under his subjection, he performed a 100 sacrifices. (MBh 7,68)
Kingdoms of Ancient IndiaOther kingdoms in this group include:
