Aratta

Aratt (अराट्ट) Aratta (आरट्ट) Artat (अर्टाट) Aratta (आर्त) is a Jat Gotra.

Origin

It is the name of one of The Mahabharata Tribes.

History

They consider themselves the descendants of Buddha. In Greece they were known as Oreturi means arashtaka. These people came to India and settled in desert of Rajasthan. Megasthenes has wrtten them as the Oraturae - The inhabitants on the other side of this mountain Capitalia, Whose king has only ten elephants, though he has a very strong force of infantry. (See - Jat clans as described by Megasthenes)

Thakur Deshraj writes that they were probably Jats and the Rathor Jat gotra is its local variant.It is also likely that they are Rathi Jats. There is a district in Alwar district called Rath. They had helped Chandragupta Maurya against Alexander, due to which Alexander had called them dacoits.

Karna Parva/Mahabharata Book VIII Chapter 30 mentions about Aratta at various places. They have been obnoxiously painted as fallen and degenerated as depicted in the great epic to denounce the ancestors of the present Jats for adopting Buddhism and for not submitting to the yoke of brahmanism which after its revival sought to impose on them in ancient period. A clever play has been made to conceal the truth, which cannot be easily understood by common man. . For the general reader we we quote the parts of Karna Parva where Arattas have been mentioned first in English and then in Sanskrit:

Where forests of Pilus stand, and those five rivers flow, viz., the Satadru, the Vipasa, the Iravati, the Candrabhaga, and the Vitasa and which have the Sindhu for their sixth, there in those regions removed from the Himavat, are the countries called by the name of the Arattas. Those regions are without virtue and religion. No one should go thither. (VIII.30.36)

आरट्टा नाम ते थेशा नष्टधर्मान न तान वरजेत

वरात्यानां थासमीयानां विथेहानाम अयज्वनाम (VIII.30.36)

The Aratta-Vahikas that are steeped in ignorance, should be avoided. (VIII.30.40)

पुत्र संकरिणॊ जाल्माः सर्वान नक्षीर भॊजनाः

आरट्टा नाम बाह्लीका वर्जनीया विपश्चिता (VIII.30.40)

There where the five rivers flow just after issuing from the mountains, there among the Aratta-Vahikas, no respectable person should dwell even for two days. (VIII.30.43)

पञ्च नथ्यॊ वहन्त्य एता यत्र निःसृत्य पर्वतात

आरट्टा नाम बाह्लीका न तेष्व आर्यॊ थव्यहं वसेत (VIII.30.43)

The regions are called by the name of Arattas. The people residing there are called the Vahikas. (VIII.30.47)

आरट्टा नाम ते थेशा बाह्लीका नाम ते जनाः

वसाति सिन्धुसौवीरा इति परायॊ विकुत्सिताः (VIII.30.47)

The Prasthalas, the Madras, the Gandharas, the Arattas, those called Khasas, the Vasatis, the Sindhus and the Sauviras are almost as blamable in their practices. (VIII.30.74)

कृतघ्नता परवित्तापहारः; सुरा पानं गुरु थारावमर्शः

येषां धर्मस तान परति नास्त्य अधर्म; आरट्टकान पाञ्चनथान धिग अस्तु (VIII.30.74)

Aratta (आर्त) - A north-western tribe; part of the forces of Krtavarma (VII.165.69).

विचेतसॊ हतॊत्साहाः कश्मलाभिहतौजसः

आर्तस्वरेण महता पुत्रं ते पर्यवारयन (VII.165.69)

The Mahabharata Tribe -Aratta (आरट्ट) may be identified with Jat Gotra - Rathor or Rathi Jats.

The Mahabharata Tribe -Aratta (आर्त) may be identified with Jat Gotra - Aratt (अरट्ट) Artat (अर्टाट).

H. L. Kosare after Mahabharata informs that Arattas had their three branches Takka, Vahika and Jartika. All the tree branches belong to Jats.

Periplus (P. 183) has written about "ARATTII. This is a Prakrit form of the Sanscrit Arashtra, who were a people of the Punjab; in fact the name Aratta is often synonymous with the Panjab in Hindu literature."

Susa is one of the oldest-known settlements of the region and indeed the world, possibly founded about 4200 BCE; although the first traces of an inhabited village have been dated to ca. 7000 BCE. Evidence of a painted-pottery civilization has been dated to ca. 5000 BCE. In historic times, Susa was the primary capital of the Elamite Empire. Its name in Elamite was written variously Šušan, Šušun, etc. The city appears in the very earliest Sumerian records, eg. in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta it is described as one of the places obedient to Inanna, patron deity of Uruk. (See - Parthian Stations)

References

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