(s/a--) m. (formed like etc.)"before whom the dasyu-s tremble", Name of a prince (son of puru-kutsa-;celebrated for his liberality and favoured by the gods;author of ),
दस्युः [दस्-युच्] 1 N. of a class of evil beings or demons, enemies of gods and men, and slain by Indra, (mostly Vedic in this sense). -2 An outcast, a Hindu who has become an outcast by neglect of the essential rites; cf. Ms.5.131;1.45; दस्यूनां दीयतामेष साध्वद्य पुरुषा- धमः Mb.12.173.2. -3 A thief, robber, bandit; नीत्वोत्पथं विषयदस्युषु निक्षिपन्ति Bhāg.7.15.46; पात्रीकृतो दस्यु- रिवासि येन Ś.5.2; R.9.53; Ms.7 143. -4 A villain, miscreant; दस्योरस्य कृपाणपातविषयादाच्छिन्दतः प्रेयसीम् Māl. 5.28. -5 A desperado, violator, oppressor.
m. class of demons hostile to the gods and frequently represented as being over- come by Indra and Agni, fiend, foe of the gods, unbeliever (V.); man of non-Brâh- manical tribes; robber.
m. N. of an ancient sage; -dhanvan, a. having a stiff bow; -dhriti, a. strong-willed; -prahâri-tâ, f. hardness of hitting; -bhakti, a. firm in de votion to (lc.); -mati, a. firmly resolved; -mushti, m. tight fist; a. close-fisted.
A word of somewhat doubtful origin, is in many passages of the Rigveda clearly applied to superhuman enemies. On the other hand, there are several passages in which human foes, probably the aborigines, are thus designated. This may be regarded as certain in those passages where the Dasyu is opposed to the Aryan, who defeats him with the aid of the gods. The great difference between the Dasyus and the Aryans was their religion : the former are styled 4 not sacrificing,’ 4 devoid of rites,’ 4 addicted to strange vows,’ ‘ god- hating,’ and so forth. As compared with the Dāsa, they are less distinctively a people: no clans (viśah) of the Dasyus are mentioned, and while Indra’s dasyu-hatya,. slaughter of the Dasyus,’ is often spoken of, there is no corresponding use of dāsa-hatya. That the Dasyus were real people is, however, shown by the epitdet anās applied to them in one passage of the Rigveda. The sense of this word is not absolutely certain : the Pada text and Sāyana both take it to mean 4 without face ’ (an-ās), but the other rendering, 4 noseless ’ (a-nās), is quite possible, and would accord well with the flat-nosed aborigines of the Dravidian type, whose language still persists among the Brahuis, who are found in the north-west. This interpretation would receive some support from Vrtra’s being called * broken-nosed ’ if this were a correct explanation of the obscure word rujānās. The other epithet of the Dasyus is mrdhra-vāc, which occurs with anās, and which has been rendered ‘of stam¬mering, or unintelligible speech.’ This version is by no means certain, and since the epithet is elsewhere applied to Aryans, its correct meaning is more probably ‘of hostile speech.’ Dasyu corresponds with the Iranian dañliu, daqyu, which denotes a ‘ province.’ Zimmer thinks that the original meaning was ‘enemy,’ whence the Iranians developed the sense of ‘hostile country,’ ‘conquered country,’ ‘province,’ while the Indians, retaining the signification of ‘ enemy,’ extended it to include demon foes. Roth considers that the meaning of human enemy is a transfer from the strife of gods and demons. Lassen16 attempted to connect the contrast daqyu: dasyu with that of daeva : deva, and to see in it a result of the religious differences which, according to Haug’s theory, had separated the Iranians and the Indians. The word may have originally meant 4 ravaged land ’ as a result of invasion ;hence ‘enemies’ country,’ then ‘hostile people,’ who as human foes were more usually called by the cognate name of Dāsa. Individual Dasyus are Cumuri, Sambara, Susna, etc.
In the Aitareya Brāhmana the word has, as later, the sense of uncivilized peoples generally.
Son of Purukutsa, is mentioned in the Rigveda as king of the Pūrus. He was born to Purukutsa by his wife, Purukutsānī, at a time of great distress; this, according to Sāyana, refers to Purukutsa’s captivity: possibly his death is really meant. Trasadasyu was also a descendant of Giriksit and Purukutsa was a descendant of Durgaha. The genealogy, therefore, appears to be: Durgaha, Giriksit, Purukutsa, Trasadasyu. Trasadasyu was the ancestor of Tpksi, and, according to Ludwig, had a son Hiranin. Trasadasyu’s chronological position is determined by the fact that his father, Purukutsa, was a contemporary of Sudās, either as an opponent or as a friend. That Purukutsa was an enemy of Sudās is more probable, because the latter’s predecessor, Divodāsa, was apparently at enmity with the Pūrus, and in the battle of the ten kings Pūrus were ranged against Sudās and the Trtsus. Trasadasyu himself seems to have been an energetic king. His people, the Pūrus, were settled on the Sarasvatī, which was, no doubt, the stream in the middle country, that locality according well with the later union of the Pūrus with the Kuru people, who inhabited that country. This union is exemplified in the person of Kuruśravana, who is called Trāsadasyava, ‘ descendant of Trasadasyu,’ in the Rigveda, whose father was Mitrātithi, and whose son was Upamaśravas. The relation of Mitrātithi to Trksi does not appear. Another descendant of Trasadasyu was Tryaruna Traivrsna, who is simply called Trasadasyu in a hymn of the Rigveda. He was not only a 4 descendant of Trivrsan,’ but, according to the Pañcavimśa Brāhmana, he was also Traidhātva, descendant of Tridhātu.’ The order of these two predecessors of Tryaruna cannot be determined in any way from Vedic literature. According to the later tradition, a prince named Tridhanvan preceded Tryaruna in the succession. Vedic tradition further fails to show in what precise relation Trasadasyu stood to Trivrsan or Tryaruna.
Is the name of a prince whose generosity to a singer is celebrated in a hymn of the Rigveda. In the Pañcavimśa Brāhmana he appears as Tryaruna Traidhātva Aiksvāka, and is the hero of the following story. He was out in his chariot with his Purohita, or domestic priest, Vrśa Jāna, and by excessive speed in driving killed a Brahmin boy. This sin was atoned for by the Puro- hita’s using his Vārśa Sāman (chant). The Sātyāyana Brāhmana, cited by Sāyana, elaborates the tale. As Vrśa had held the reins, king and priest accused each other of the murder. The Iksvākus being consulted threw the responsibility for the crime on Vrśa, who thereupon revived the boy by the Vārśa Sāman. In consequence of this unfairness of theirs—being Ksatriyas they were partial to a Ksatriya—Agni’s glow ceased to burn in their houses. In response to their appeal to restore it, Vrśa came to them, saw the Piśācī (demoness), who, in the form of Trasadasyu’s wife, had stolen the glow, and succeeded in restoring it to Agni. This version with some variations occurs also in the Brhaddevatā, which connects the story with a hymn of the Rigveda. Sieg’s attempt to show that the hymn really refers to this tale is not at all successful. It is clear that Trasadasyu must here mean ‘descendant of Trasadasyu,’ and not King Trasadasyu himself. The difference of the patronymics, Traivrsna and Traidhātva, by which he is referred to can best be explained by assuming that there were two kings, Trivrsan and Tridhātu (or possibly Tridhanvan), from whom Tryaruna was descended. The connexion with the Iksvākus is important (see Iksvāku).
noun (masculine) any outcast or Hindū who has become so by neglect of the essential rites (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
barbarian (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
enemy of the gods (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
impious man (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
not accepted as a witness (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
robber (Monier-Williams, Sir M. (1988))
Sanskrit Dictionary understands and transcodes देवनागर्-ई IAST, Harvard-Kyoto, SLP1, ITRANS. You can type in any of the Sanskrit transliteration systems you are familiar with and we will detect and convert it to IAST for the purpose of searching.
Using the Devanagari and IAST Keyboards
Click the icon to enable a popup keybord and you can toggle between देवनागरी and IAST characters. If you want a system software for typing easily in देवनागरी or IAST you can download our software called SanskritWriter
Wildcard Searches and Exact Matching
To replace many characters us * example śakt* will give all words starting with śakt. To replace an individual character use ? for example śakt?m will give all words that have something in place of the ?. By default our search system looks for words “containing” the search keyword. To do an exact match use “” example “śaktimat” will search for this exact phrase.
Special Searches
Type sandhi: and a phrase to search for the sandhi of the two words example.
sandhi:sam yoga will search for saṃyoga
Type root: and a word to do a root search only for the word. You can also use the √ symbol, this is easily typed by typing \/ in SanskritWriter software.
Feedback
icon to enable a popup keybord and you can toggle between देवनागरी and IAST characters. If you want a system software for typing easily in देवनागरी or IAST you can download our software called SanskritWriter