About
Turvasu — Second Son of Yayati, Ancestor of the Southern Dynasties, Progenitor of the Dravida Peoples
Turvasu · Turvash · Turvashu · Devayani-suta · Yayati-dvitiya-putra · Yavana-pitamaha · Dravida-purvajanaka
Turvasu is the second son of Yayati and his first wife Devayani; the full brother of Yadu; and the founding ancestor of a set of peoples and dynasties that the tradition variously identifies with the Yavanas (the Indo-Greeks, or more broadly foreigners of the north-west), the Mlecchas of Balochistan, and the Dravidas of South India — including the ancestors of the Chola, Pandya, and Chera (Kerala) royal dynasties. His personal canonical record is almost entirely confined to his refusal to exchange youth with Yayati, the curse he received in consequence, and his territorial assignment to the south-eastern region. His dynastic line is notable principally for the episode of its absorption into the Puru dynasty through adoption: when the last Turvasu-line king Marut died sonless, he adopted the Paurava prince Dushyanta (husband of Shakuntala and father of Bharata) as his heir, causing the Turvasu line to merge back into the Puru dynasty.
✦ Lineage
- Father: Yayati; Mother: Devayani
- Full brother: Yadu
- Half-brothers: Druhyu, Anu, Puru
- Territorial grant: south-eastern province — Reva (the Narmada region) per the Yadav History source; the south-eastern territories per other accounts
- Sons: Vahni (or Vahrina) — whose descendants through Gobhana, Tribhana, and Karandhama lead to Marut, the last of the line
- Descendants: identified by the Mahabharata as the Yavanas; by the Bhagavata Purana as the Mlecchas of Balochistan and Dravidas of South India; by the Turvasu-Druhyu-Anu dynasties Wikipedia article as the ancestors of the Chola, Pandya, Chera (Kerala), and Pallava-Tondai dynasties of South India — those early dynasties whose kings are recorded as disciples of the sage Agastya who developed Tamil language and diverted the Kaveri river; by the List of Puru and Yadu Dynasties Wikipedia article as the ancestors of the Tusharas (Tukharas) and the Dravida peoples
- Absorption into Puru line: the last of Turvasu's direct male line was Marut, who was childless; he adopted Dushyanta — the Paurava king who married Shakuntala and fathered Bharata — as his own son; from this adoption the Turvasu line formally merged into the Paurava dynasty and ceased as a separate dynastic branch
✦ The Refusal and the Curse
When Yayati asked Turvasu to exchange youth for old age, Turvasu refused on the grounds that he was too attached to his own pleasures and did not want to bear the infirmities of old age. Yayati cursed him accordingly — that his descendants would be Yavanas, outside the main Chandravamsha royal order, associated with peoples at the frontier of the Vedic world. The Vishnu Purana records that he received a smaller portion of the kingdom as a result of his refusal. His line continued but did not carry the prestige or the divine destiny of Yadu's or Puru's branches.
✦ References
- Mahabharata (Adi Parva, Chapter 85) — Turvasu's refusal; the curse; the identification of his descendants as Yavanas
- Bhagavata Purana (Canto 9) — the identification of Turvasu's descendants as Mlecchas and Dravidas; the genealogy through Vahni to Marut; Marut's adoption of Dushyanta
- Harivamsa — the fuller genealogy of Turvasu's line
- Wikipedia — Turvasu Druhyu and Anu dynasties; EverybodyWiki — Turvasu Druhyu and Anu Dynasties; JKYog — Yadu Dynasty: modern summaries drawing from the above primary sources