View source for Daradas

{{Short description|Ancient ethnic group of India and Pakistan}}
{{for|the modern ethnic group|Dard people}}
{{primary sources|date=July 2017}}
'''Daradas''' were an ancient people who lived north and north-west to the [[Kashmir Valley]]. This kingdom is identified to be the [[Gilgit River|Gilgit]] region, in the [[Gilgit-Baltistan]] region (part of ancient [[Baloristan]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/1725/1/Jettmar_Petroglyphs_2008.pdf|last1=Jettmar|first1=Karl|title=Petroglyphs as Evidence for Religious Configurations?|archivedate=2017-07-30|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730051454/http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/1725/1/Jettmar_Petroglyphs_2008.pdf|accessdate=2017-07-15|url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last1=Jettmar|first1=Karl|title=Bolor & Dardistan|publisher=National Institute of Folk Heritage|language=en|date=1980}}.</ref>) along the river [[Sindhu]] or [[Indus]]. They are often spoken along with the [[Kambojas]]. The [[Pandava]] hero [[Arjuna]] had visited this country of Daradas during his northern military campaign to collect tribute for [[Yudhishthira]]'s [[Rajasuya]] sacrifice. The country of Darada has also been mentioned in the [[Rasaratna Samuchaya|Rasa Ratna Samucchaya]], a book dealing about [[Rasashastra|Rasasastra]]
==Location of Daradas==
*The [[Vayu Purana]], [[Brahmanda Purana]] and [[Vamana Purana]] mention the Daradas with the Kambojas, Chinas, Tusharas and the Bahlikas etc. The Bhuvankosha of the Puranas locates the Daradas, [[Kambojas]], Barbaras, Bahlikas, Lampakas etc. in the [[Uttarapatha]] division of ancient India. e.g.:
:''ete desha udichyastu''
:''Kambojah '''Daradas'''hchaiva Barbarashcha Angalaukikah ||''
:''Chinashchaiva Tusharashcha Pahlavadhayata narah |''<ref>[[Kirfel]]'s text of the Uttarapatha Countries of Bhuvanakosha, based on the Puranas.</ref>
*Puranas also refer to river [[Sindhu]] as watering the lands of Daradas, [[Gandhara]]s and the Aurasas (Ursas).
*Brhatsamhita groups the Daradas with the Abhisaras and the Tanganas.
*[[Mahabharata]] also mentions the Daradas as neighbors to the [[Kambojas]] and [[Bahlikas]].<ref>Mahabharata II.27.20-23</ref>
*Mahabharata locates the country of Daradas in the ''Himavata-Pradesa''.
*[[Ptolemy]] refers to the Daradas as living below the sources of the [[Indus River]].
*[[Herodotus]] refers to the Daradas as ''Dadicae'' and groups them with the [[Gandhara]]s and the [[Afridi|Aparytae]]. Herodotus and [[Strabo]] also connect the Daradas with the gold producing area located in the west of [[Tibet]]. There is an evidence that the Daradas, in ancient times, had their colonies located in [[Baltistan]] and [[Leh]] also.
All the above references locate the Daradas in Uttarapatha as neighbors to Kambojas of [[Kashmir]]-[[Nuristan Province|Nuristan]].
==Struggles in Mahabharata==
''Sabha Parva'' of [[Mahabharata]] attests that [[Arjuna]] had led a digvijaya expedition against the [[Kashmira]]s, Ursas, Abhisaras, Sinhapuras, Suhmas, Daradas, [[Kambojas]], [[Bahlikas]], Lohas, [[Rishikas]] and [[Parama Kambojas]] etc.<ref>Mahabharata II.27.18-25.</ref>
''Drona Parva'' of Mahabharata attests that [[Krishna]] had vanquished the Daradas along with [[Anga]], [[Vanga]], [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadha]], [[Kingdom of Kashi|Kasi]], [[Kosala]], Vatsa, Garga, Karusha, Pundra, [[Avanti Kingdom (Mahabharata)|Avanti]], Daserka, [[Kasmira Kingdom|Kashmira]], Ursa, Madugalas, [[Kambojas]], Pisachas, Malavas, [[Sakas]], [[Yavanas]] etc.<ref>MBH 7.13.15-18.</ref>
==Daradas in Yudhishtra's Rajasuya ceremony==
The Daradas along with numerous other tribes from northwest had including the Bahlikas, Kiratas, Pahlavas, Paradas, Kambojas, Shakas, Yavanas, Trigartas, Kshudrakas, Malavas, Angas, Vangas etc. had joined Yudhishtra at his [[Rajasuya]]  ceremony and brought him numerous gifts.<ref>Mahabharata 2.51-2.53; 3.51</ref>
==Daradas in Kurukshetra war==
Daradas had also participated in the Kurukshetra war fought between the Kauravas and Pandavas. They are variously listed with Sauviras, Bahlikas, Shakas, Yavanas, Pahlavas, Paradas, Kekayas, Kambojas, Madras, Mlecchas, northern and westerner tribes etc.<ref>Mahabharata 6.51, 6.118, 7.20, 7.90, 7.116, 7.118, 8.73 etc</ref>
==Horses of Daradas==
[[Brahmanda Purana]] refers to the horses from Darada country.<ref>Brahmanda Purana, III, Upodghata -pada 16-17</ref>
==Daradas in Brahatsamhita of Varahamihira==
The Daradas are mentioned with the [[Shakas]], [[Yavanas]], [[Paradas]] and the [[Kambojas]] in the 6th-century AD Brhatsamhita of Varahamihira.<ref>Brhatasamhita verse 13.09</ref> They are also mentioned with the Abhisaras in the same text as living on the borders of [[Kashmir]].<ref>Brhatsamhita verse 14.29.</ref>
==Daradas in Tibetan chronicles==
The Daradas are mentioned in the [[Classical Tibetan|Tibetan]] chronicle '''Dpag-bsam-ljon-bzah''' (''The Excellent Kalpa-Vrksa''), along people like the [[Yavana]]s, [[Kambojas]], [[Tukharas]], [[Hunas]], [[Khasas]] etc.<ref>''Tho-gar yul dań yabana dań Kambodza dań Khasa dań Huna dań Darta dań...''(See: Pag-Sam-Jon-Zang (1908), I.9, Sarat Chandra Das; Ancient Kamboja, 1971, p 66, [[H. W. Bailey]].</ref>
==Rajatarangini references to Daradas==
According to ancient text [[Rajatarangini]] of [[Kalhana]], a [[Sanskrit]] text from the north, king [[Lalitaditya Muktapida]] of [[Kashmir]] undertakes to reduce his neighbouring countries. He launches war expedition onto the region of north from Kashmir and first he fights with the [[Kambojas]]<ref>Rajatrangini: 4.164- 4.165</ref> and deprives them of their horses. Immediately after the Kambojas, he meets the [[Tukharas]]. Tukharas do not give him fight, but run away even abandoning their horses in the field.<ref>Rajatrangini 4.166.</ref> Then Lalitaditiya meets the Bhauttas in [[Baltistan]] in western [[Tibet]] north of Kashmir,<ref>Rajatrangini 4.168</ref> then the Dardas in [[Karakorum]]/[[Himalaya]],<ref>Rajatrangini 4.169, 4.171</ref> the Valukambudhi<ref>Rajatrangini 4.172</ref> and then he encounters ''Strirajya'',<ref>Rajatrangini 4.173-174</ref> the [[Uttarakurus]]<ref>Rajatrangini 4.175</ref> and the [[Kamarupa|Pragjyotisha]] respectively.
[[Kalhana]] names several Darada rulers: ''Acalamangala'', during the reign of Ananta of [[Kashmir]], AD 1028 to AD 1063,<ref>Rajatrangini VII, 167</ref> ''Vidhyadhara Shahi'' during the reign of Harsa, 1089–1101&nbsp;AD,<ref>Rajatrangini VII, 913</ref> ''Jagaddala'' during the reign of Uccala, AD 1101 to AD 1111,<ref>Rajatrangini VIII, 209</ref> ''Manidhara'' during the reign of Sussala, AD 1112 to AD 1120<ref>Rajatrangini VIII, 614</ref>), and ''Yasodhara'' during the reign of Jayasimha, AD 1128 to AD 1149.<ref>Rajatrangini VIII, 2454</ref>
==Epigraphic references to Daradas==
Three inscriptions on rocks along the [[Indus River|Indus]] and [[Gilgit River|Gilgit]] Rivers in the southern reaches of the [[Karakoram]] provide the earliest epigraphic references to Darada kings. '''The first inscription''' is found on rocks where the present-day road between Gilgit and Skardu crosses the Gilgit River, over a bridge known as the Alam bridge, now called the Farhad bridge. The inscription is in poor [[Kharoshthi]], and Fussman has read "daradaraya", meaning "King of the Daradas".<ref>Fussman 1978:1-6.</ref> '''The second inscription ''' is found at Chilas Terrace, near to Chilas village along the Indus River, south of the junction of the Gilgit River and the Indus River. It is in [[Brāhmī script|Brahmi]] [[writing system|script]]. Hinuber has published a transliteration {{transl|mis|srir daranmaharajavaisrava}}, which he interprets as daran-maharaja "great king of Daran" or "great king of the Daradas" (1989:57-8). '''A third inscription''' is immediately below the Thalpan bridge over the Indus River on the Thalpan side of the bridge. It is also in Brahmi script. Hinuber publishes a transliteration of ''daratsu maharaja sri vaisravanasena ssatrudamanah'', which he translates as "The glorious Vaisravanasena, the subduer of enemies, great King in the land of the Daradas" (1989:59). Hinuber has interpreted these [[Brāhmī script|Brahmi]] [[inscription]]s as referring to the same king Vaiaravanasena, and dates them to the 4th or 5th centuries AD. He remarks that this king "is the second oldest king of the Daradas known by name, preceded only by the ''daradaraya'' mentioned at Alam bridge in a Kharoshthi inscription" (1989:59). These inscriptions appear to be the only known self-reference to a Darada people.
==See also==
* [[Darada Kingdom]]
* [[Kambojas]]
* [[Parama Kambojas]]
* [[Baloristan]]
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
[[Category:Ancient peoples of India]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of Pakistan]]