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CHAPTER LXVIII
THE MATSYAS
The Matsyas appear to have been one of the prominent Kṣatriya tribes that made up the Vedic Aryan people in the earliest period of their residence in India. We read in a hymn of the Ṛgveda (VII, 18, 6) that the Matsyas were attacked by Turvasa, a famous king, in order to extract from them the wealth which he required for the performance of a sacrifice. We observe that the Matsyas were regarded as a wealthy people, their riches most probably consisting of cows which were much in demand for the performance of lengthy and elaborate sacrifices. It is well known that in Epic times the Matsyas were very rich in this wealth of cows, for which the Trigarttas and the Kurus led predatory expeditions against them. In the Rigvedic passage referred to above, the word 'Matsya' in the text has been taken by some scholars to mean 'fish' (its original meaning). Sāyaṇa gives both meanings, and the authors of the Vedic Index (Vol. II, p. 121) also think both possible. From the context, however, Matsya clearly refers to the people. There is, moreover, no doubt that cattle made up the wealth here intended, for the verse following the one in question states clearly that Indra recovered the cows (gavya) from the Tritsu plunderers (just as Indra's son, Arjuna, recovered the cattle plundered by the Kurus as described in the Mahabharata). Further, other tribes of Western India, e.g. the Druhyus and the Bhrgus, are mentioned in the verse (VII, 18, 7) side by side with the Matsyas. So it is evident that the latter is here also a tribal name.
The question arises whether the name Matsya has anything to do with totemism, as suggested by Prof. Macdonell in his Vedic Mythology. He says: "There are possibly in the Ṛgveda some survivals of totemism, or the belief in the descent of the human race or of individual tribes or families from animals or plants', and he refers to the Matsyas as an illustration of his statement (Vedic Mythology, p. 153). But, as Prof. A. Berriedale Keith points out, 'mere animal names prove little as to totemism, which is not demonstrated for any Aryan stock'. The myth about the birth of a king called Matsya from the womb of a fish along with Matsyagandha Satyavati, as related in the Mahabharata (Adiparvan,
1 Aitareya Aranyaka (Anecdota Oxoniensia), p. 200, f.n., a.
