Jayanta

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Jayanta (जयंत) was a king of region mentioned in Mahavansa, the isle which bore then the name of Mandadipa.[1]

Jayanta was also the king of Gaura country mentioned in Rajatarangini.[2]

Variants

  • Jayanta (जयंत) (AS, p.726)

Jat clans

History

Tej Ram Sharma[4] writes....Damodarpur Copper-plate Inscription of the Gupta Year 224 (= A.D. 543) mentions name Vijayanandin (विजयनन्दिन) (L. 9) : Vijaya is the name of god yama, [5] according to the lexicographical works, of a son of Jayanta (son of Indra), of a son of Vasudeva; of a son of Krisna and of an attendant of Visnu, and nandin means 'an attendant'.


Alexander Cunningham[6] writes that ....I would propose Pubna, which is just 100 miles from Kankjol, and on the opposite bank of the Gauges, but its direction is nearly south-east instead of east. The Chinese syllables may represent either Punya Varddhana, or Paundra Varddhana ; but the latter must be the true name, as it is mentioned in the native history of Kashmir[7] as the capital of Jayanta, Raja of Gaura, who reigned from A.D. 782 to 813.

In Rajatarangini

Rajatarangini[8] mentions that .....Sending his (Jayapira's) feudatory kings who followed him, to their respective countries, he with a few followers went to Prayaga. There having ascertained the number of his horses, he presented one lak minus one to Brahmanas with rich offerings. And there on the banks of the Ganges he erected a monument marked with his name, and an inscription to the effect that he who should be able to present one lak of horses might pull down Jayapira's monument, and erect his own. The Ganges still laves with its waters the


[p.85]: monument marked with the name of Jayapira. He then ordered his soldiers to return home, and separating him-self from them, went out alone one night, and entered the city of Paundravardhana, the possession of Jayanta, the king of Gaura.

In Mahavansa

Mahavansa/Chapter 15 tells ...Third in our age of the world was the Conqueror of the Kassapa clan, the all-knowing Teacher, compassionate toward the whole world. `The Mahamegha-grove was called (at that time) Mahasagara; the capital, named Visãla, lay toward the West. Jayanta was the name of the king of that region then, and this isle bore then the name of Mandadipa. At that time a hideous and life-destroying war had broken out between king Jayanta and his younger royal brother. When Kassapa, gifted with the ten powers, the Sage, full of compassion, knew how great was the wretchedness caused to beings by this war, then, to bring it to an end and afterwards to achieve the converting of beings and progress of the doctrine in this island, he, urged on by the might of his compassion, came through the air surrounded by twenty thousand (disciples) like to himself, and he stood on the Subhakuta-mountain.

In Mahabharata

Virata Parva, Mahabharata/ Book IV Chapter 5 mentions that when Pandavas spent their last year in exile in the Kingdom of Virata, they changed their names. One of them was called Jayanta (Mahabharata: IV.5.30). For purposes of non-discovery Yudhisthira kept these (five) names for himself and his brothers respectively, viz., Jaya, Jayanta, Vijaya, Jayatsena, and Jayatvala. Then they entered the great city, with the view to passing the thirteenth year undiscovered in that kingdom, agreeably to the promise (to Duryodhana)."

जयॊ जयन्तॊ विजयॊ जयत्सेनॊ जयथ्बलः
इति गुह्यानि नामानि चक्रे तेषां युधिष्ठिरः (Mahabharata: IV.5.30)
ततॊ यदाप्रतिज्ञाभिः पराविशन नगरं महत
अज्ञातचर्यां वत्स्यन्तॊ राष्ट्रं वर्षं तरयॊथशम (Mahabharata: IV.5.31)

Jat History

Jind or Jhind (जींद/ झींद) town in Haryana gets name from ancient Jayanta Province.[9]

References

  1. Mahavansa/Chapter 15
  2. Book IV (p.85, 87,88)
  3. Dr Mahendra Singh Arya etc,: Ādhunik Jat Itihas, Agra 1998 p.246
  4. Personal and geographical names in the Gupta inscriptions/Names of Local Officers,p.61
  5. Sanskrit-English Dictionary by Monier Williams, p. 960, col. 1.
  6. The Ancient Geography of India,p.480
  7. ' Raja Tarangini,' iv. 421. See also the Quart. Orient, Mag. ii. 188, for an account of Pundra-desa, taken by H. H. Wilson from the Brahmauda section of the Bhavishya Purana. The greater part of the province was to the north of the Ganges, including Gauda, Pubna, etc.
  8. Rajatarangini of Kalhana:Kings of Kashmira/Book IV , p.84-85
  9. Mahipal Arya, Jat Jyoti, August 2013,p. 15

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