 | This article may need clearer distinction between fact and fiction. (June 2024) |
Kingdom of Kuru | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 1200 BCE – c. 500 BCE | |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
| Capital |
| ||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Vedic Sanskrit now is Kauravi known as Khadiboli | ||||||||||||||
| Religion | Historical Vedic religion | ||||||||||||||
| Government | Elective monarchy[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Raja (King) | |||||||||||||||
• 12th–9th centuries BCE | Parikshit | ||||||||||||||
• 12th–9th centuries BCE | Janamejaya | ||||||||||||||
| Legislature | Sabhā | ||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Iron Age | ||||||||||||||
• Established | c. 1200 BCE | ||||||||||||||
• Kuru Kingdom got divided into Kuru and Vatsa Kingdom | c. 700 BCE | ||||||||||||||
• Disestablished | c. 500 BCE | ||||||||||||||
| Currency | Karshapana | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Today part of | India | ||||||||||||||
Kuru was a Vedic Indo-Aryan tribal union in northern Iron Age India of the Bharata and Puru tribes. The Kuru kingdom appeared in the Middle Vedic period[2][3] (c. 1200 – c. 900 BCE), encompassing parts of the modern-day states of Haryana, Delhi, and some North parts of Western Uttar Pradesh. The Kuru Kingdom was the first recorded state-level society in the Indian subcontinent.[4][5][6]
The Kuru kingdom became a dominant political and cultural force in the middle Vedic Period during the reigns of Parikshit and Janamejaya,[4] but declined in importance during the late Vedic period (c. 900 – c. 500 BCE) and had become "something of a backwater"[6] by the Mahajanapada period in the 5th century BCE. However, traditions and legends about the Kurus continued into the post-Vedic period, providing the basis for the Mahabharata epic.[4]
The Kuru kingdom corresponds with the archaeological Painted Grey Ware culture.[6] The Kuru kingdom decisively changed the religious heritage of the early Vedic period, arranging their ritual hymns into collections called the Vedas, and transforming the Historical Vedic religion into Brahmanism, which eventually contributed to the Hindu synthesis.[6][7]
- ^ Misra 1973, p. 12.
- ^ Pletcher 2010, p. 63.
- ^ Witzel 1995, p. 6.
- ^ a b c Witzel 1995.
- ^ B. Kölver, ed. (1997). Recht, Staat und Verwaltung im klassischen Indien [Law, State and Administration in Classical India] (in German). München: R. Oldenbourg. pp. 27–52.
- ^ a b c d Samuel 2010.
- ^ Hiltebeitel 2002.