Kulutas

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

Kulutas (कुलूत) formed a tribal republic, in ancient times, situated around the Vahika region with coinage that displays notable similarities to that of the Audumbara and Kuninda tribes, this numismatic resemblance suggests close geographic proximity among the republics, typically associated with the Eastern Punjab.^[1]

Variants

Kuluta (कुलूत) (AS,p.210)
Kuluta
Kaulutas
Kaulutas (In Ramayana)
Kiuluto or Kiu-lu-to (by Xuanzang)
Uttarakuluta (उत्तरकुलूत) दे. Kuluta (कुलूत) (AS, p.91)

History

In Taxila, however, excavated coinage reflects a succession of Kuluta rulers alongside the Apracharajas in the 1st century CE, with the most significant being the silver coin of Virayasa disputed to have been dated between the 1st century CE and the 3rd century CE due to the coinage series produced in the Brahmi script with some Kharosthi remnants.^[2] The coinage finds display the names of multiple other rulers such as Vijayamitra, Arya and Satyamitra, whilst also containing the Swastika and Nandipada symbols.^[3] The Varāhamihira notes the North-West, situated around Taxila, and the North-East in the Kulu valley as two regions named as Kuluta strongholds,^[4] though it is also noted that after the Kushan Empire advance, the coinage of the Taxila Kulutas ceised to exist and the coinage of Virayasa continued in the North-East Punjab.^[5]

Buddha Prakash^[6] mentions ....While the Audumbaras and Kunindas were rising against the Yavanas, one Virayaśas organized the people of the Kulu Valley, the Kulutas, and established an independent state with its own coins. The obverse of these coins has a wheel surrounded by a circle of dots and the Brahmi legend virayaśasya rajña kulūtasya and the reverse bears the symbols of mountain, river, svastika, naga and nandipada, like the Kuninda coins, and a Kharohthi lenged raña. It appears that the Kauluta king Virayaśas collaborated with the Kuninda king Amoghabhuti in striking at the later Indo-Greeks.

In Mahabharata

Kuluta (कुलूत) was a King of Mahabharata priod who hailed from the modern Kulu- Kangra region and fought Mahabharata War on the side of the Kauravas (VI.10.52), (VII.8.45). ^[7]

Sabha Parva, Mahabharata/Book II Chapter 24 mentions that Arjuna subjugated the countries that lay to the North. Kuluta is mentioned in verse-4, ^[8] verse-9^[9] and verse-10 ^[10]

Bhisma Parva, Mahabharata/Book VI Chapter 10 describes geography and provinces of Bharatavarsha. Kuluta is mentioned in verse-52. ^[11]

कुलू = कुलूत

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर^[12] ने लेख किया है ...कुलूत (AS, p.210) वर्तमान कुल्लू का प्राचीन नाम है, जो कांगड़ा (पंजाब) घाटी का प्रसिद्ध पहाड़ी स्थान है। कुलूत का उल्लेख महाभारत, सभापर्व में निम्न प्रकार हुआ है- ‘तैरवै सहित: सर्वेरनुरज्य च तान् नृपान्, कुलूतवासिनं राजन् बृहन्तमुपजरिग्मवान्’; ‘कुलूतानुत्तरांश्चैव तांश्च राज्ञ: समानयत्’।^[13] उपर्युक्त श्लोक में कुलूत को 'उत्तरकुलूत' के नाम से कहा गया है। 'महाभारत' के समय यहाँ का राजा 'वृहन्त' था, जिसे पाण्डव अर्जुन ने अपनी दिग्विजय-यात्रा के प्रसंग में जीता था। प्रसिद्ध पहाड़ी स्थान 'कुल्लू' ही आज का कुलूत है, जो वर्तमान कांगड़ा,हिमाचल प्रदेश का प्रसिद्ध पहाड़ी स्थान है। (महाभारत में उपर्युक्त उद्धरणों में कुलूत का पाठान्तर उलूक भी है). संस्कृत कवि राजशेखर ने कन्नौजाधिपति महीपाल (6 वीं शती) के विजित प्रदेशों में 'कुलूत' का भी उल्लेख किया है।

'महाभारत' में कुलूत लोगों का इसका उल्लेख कश्मीर, सिंधु-सौवीर, गंधार, दर्शक, अभिसार, शैवाल और बाहलीक के साथ हुआ है। इसी ग्रंथ में इनका उल्लेख यवन, चीन और कंबोज के साथ हुआ है। वराहमिहिर ने इनका उल्लेख उत्तर-पश्चिम और उत्तर-पूर्व प्रदेश के निवासी के रूप में किया है। उत्तर-पश्चिम में कीर, कश्मीर, अभिसार, दरश, तंगण, सैरिंध, किरात, चीन आदि के साथ इनका उल्लेख है और उत्तर-पूर्व में तुखार, ताल, हाल, भद्र और लहद आदि के साथ इनकी चर्चा है।^[14]

References

↑ Agrawala, V. S. (1953). India as known to Panini. pp. 63–73.
↑ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. University Press. 1889. p. 212.
↑ Sircar, Dineschandra (1971). Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 200. ISBN 978-81-208-0690-0. Gandhara and Mleccha peoples were descendants respectively of Yayati's sons, Turvasu, Druhyu and Anu. Gandhara after whom the Gandhara-visaya was named is represented as the great grandson of Druhyu.
↑ Lahiri, Bela (1964). "The Kulutas as Known from Coins". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 26: 74–78. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44133091. It may be recalled here that Varahamihira refers to two peoples of this name, one in the North-West Division, another in the North East Division, the latter of which is identified with the Kulutas of the Kulu valley. It is not unlikely that Varahamihira's Kulutas of the North-West Division refer to a section of the tribe who remained in its original home near Taxila even after the migration of its another section under Virayasa.
↑ Lahiri, Bela (1964). "The Kulutas as Known from Coins". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 26: 74–78. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44133091. Virayasas whose coins alone are found both at Taxila and in the north-eastern Punjab, appears to be the latest of the rulers represented by the Taxila pieces. It may possibly be suggested, therefore, that the predecessors of Virayasas began to rule somewhere near Taxila in the north-western Punjab about the beginning of the first century A.D. Since the Taxila coins were buried during the period of Kadphises II, it appears that the Kulutas were driven from their original home near Taxila by the pressure of Kushana conquest about the latter part of the first century A.D, when Virayasas probably shifted his capital to the later and better-known settlement of the Kulutas, the Kulu valley. But since the coin of no other Kuluta ruler is found in this region, it seems that Virayasas could not hold long against the Kushana onslaughts and was probably the last independent ruler of the Kuluta.
↑ Buddha Prakash:Evolution of Heroic Tradition in Ancient Panjab, VIII. The Resistance to the Macedonian Invasion, p.113
↑ काश्मीराः सिन्धुसौवीरा गान्धारा दर्शकास तदा, अभीसारा कुलूताश च शौवला बाह्लिकास तदा (VI.10.52)
↑ तैर एव सहितः सर्वैर अनुरज्य च तान नृपान, कुलूतवासिनं राजन बृहन्तम उपजग्मिवान (II.24.4)
↑ स तथ राज्यम अवस्दाप्य कुलूत सहितॊ ययौ, सेना बिन्दुम अदॊ राजन राज्याथ आशु समाक्षिपत (II.24.9)
↑ मॊदा पुरं वामदेवं सुदामानं सुसंकुलम, कुलूतान उत्तरांश चैव तांश च राज्ञः समानयत (II.24.10)
↑ काश्मीराः सिन्धुसौवीरा गान्धारा दर्शकास तदा, अभीसारा कुलूताश च शौवला बाह्लिकास तदा (VI.10.52)
↑ Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p.210
↑ महाभारत, सभापर्व 27, 5; महाभारत 27, 11.
↑ [1] भारतकोश-कुलूत]

[1] Agrawala, V. S. (1953). India as known to Panini. pp. 63–73.

[2] Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. University Press. 1889. p. 212.

[3] Sircar, Dineschandra (1971). Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 200. ISBN 978-81-208-0690-0. Gandhara and Mleccha peoples were descendants respectively of Yayati's sons, Turvasu, Druhyu and Anu. Gandhara after whom the Gandhara-visaya was named is represented as the great grandson of Druhyu.

[4] Lahiri, Bela (1964). "The Kulutas as Known from Coins". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 26: 74–78. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44133091. It may be recalled here that Varahamihira refers to two peoples of this name, one in the North-West Division, another in the North East Division, the latter of which is identified with the Kulutas of the Kulu valley. It is not unlikely that Varahamihira's Kulutas of the North-West Division refer to a section of the tribe who remained in its original home near Taxila even after the migration of its another section under Virayasa.

[5] Lahiri, Bela (1964). "The Kulutas as Known from Coins". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 26: 74–78. ISSN 2249-1937. JSTOR 44133091. Virayasas whose coins alone are found both at Taxila and in the north-eastern Punjab, appears to be the latest of the rulers represented by the Taxila pieces. It may possibly be suggested, therefore, that the predecessors of Virayasas began to rule somewhere near Taxila in the north-western Punjab about the beginning of the first century A.D. Since the Taxila coins were buried during the period of Kadphises II, it appears that the Kulutas were driven from their original home near Taxila by the pressure of Kushana conquest about the latter part of the first century A.D, when Virayasas probably shifted his capital to the later and better-known settlement of the Kulutas, the Kulu valley. But since the coin of no other Kuluta ruler is found in this region, it seems that Virayasas could not hold long against the Kushana onslaughts and was probably the last independent ruler of the Kuluta.

[6] Buddha Prakash:Evolution of Heroic Tradition in Ancient Panjab, VIII. The Resistance to the Macedonian Invasion, p.113

[7] काश्मीराः सिन्धुसौवीरा गान्धारा दर्शकास तदा, अभीसारा कुलूताश च शौवला बाह्लिकास तदा (VI.10.52)

[8] तैर एव सहितः सर्वैर अनुरज्य च तान नृपान, कुलूतवासिनं राजन बृहन्तम उपजग्मिवान (II.24.4)

[9] स तथ राज्यम अवस्दाप्य कुलूत सहितॊ ययौ, सेना बिन्दुम अदॊ राजन राज्याथ आशु समाक्षिपत (II.24.9)

[10] मॊदा पुरं वामदेवं सुदामानं सुसंकुलम, कुलूतान उत्तरांश चैव तांश च राज्ञः समानयत (II.24.10)

[11] काश्मीराः सिन्धुसौवीरा गान्धारा दर्शकास तदा, अभीसारा कुलूताश च शौवला बाह्लिकास तदा (VI.10.52)

[12] Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p.210

[13] महाभारत, सभापर्व 27, 5; महाभारत 27, 11.

[14] [1] भारतकोश-कुलूत]

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