Vena

Vena (वेना) Vainya (वैन्य) Ven (वेन) Ben (बेन) is a Gotra of Jats from Nagavanshi king the ancestor of Prithu / Prithu Vainya who is called the first consecrated king of the earth.

Jat Gotras from Vena

• Beniwal (बेनीवाल) Veniwal (वेणिवाल) Venhval (वेनवाल) Benhival (बेन्हीवाल) Vainiwal (वैनीवाल) Bhainiwal (बैनीवाल) Bahinwar (बहिनवार) Veniwal (वेनीवाल) Jats are the descendants of King Vena (वेन).
• Vehan (वेहन) Vihan (विहान) gotra of Jats found in Uttar Pradesh, started from their ancestral Nagavanshi king Vena (वेन).
• Ven is village in Salumbar tahsil Udaipur District in Rajasthan.

Jat Gotras Namesake

• Ven = Veneti (Pliny.vi.2)

• Vena (वेना) (Jat clan) → Wena River is a left bank tributary of the Wardha River, in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It flows in Nagpur and Wardha districts of Maharashtra. It joins the Wardha River near the Village of Dhiwri Pipri in Hinganghat tahsil of Wardha district.

• Vena (वेना) (Jat clan) → Vena River (वेणा नदी) is mentioned in Mahabharata which has been identified with Penaganga in Maharashtra state of India.

Mention by Pliny

Pliny mentions Paphlagonia.... Beyond this river begins the nation of Paphlagonia¹, by some writers called Pylæmenia²; it is closed in behind by the country of Galatia. In it are Mastya³, a town founded by the Milesians, and then Cromna⁴, at which spot Cornelius Nepos also places the Heneti⁵, from whom he would have us believe that the Veneti of Italy, who have a similar name, are descended.

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1 Paphlagonia was bounded by Bithynia on the west, and by Pontus on the east, being separated from the last by the river Halys; on the south it was divided by the chain of Mount Olympus from Phrygia in the earlier times, from Galatia at a later period; and on the north it bordered on the Euxine.

2 In the Homeric catalogue we find Pylæmenes leading the Paphlagonians as allies of the Trojans; from this Pylæmenes the later princes of Paphlagonia claimed their descent, and the country was sometimes from them called Pylæmenia.

3 Suspected by Hardouin to have been the same as the Moson or Moston mentioned by Ptolemy as in Galatia.

4 It is mentioned by Homer, Il. ii. 855, as situate on the coast of Paphlagonia.

5 Strabo also, in B. xii., says that these people afterwards established themselves in Thrace, and that gradually moving to the west, they finally settled in the Italian Venetia, which from them took its name. But in his Fourth Book he says that the Veneti of Italy owe their origin to the Gallic Veneti, who came from the neighbourhood known as the modern Vannes.

History

According to RajataranginiVainyasvami is the place where Vitasta and Sindhu on the right were made to meet one another. Vainyasvami is god setup by king Vainya. And even to this day the junction made by Suyya near this town exists ; as also the two gods Vishnusvami and Vainyasvami at Phalapura and Parihasapura situated on either side of the junction; and the god Hrishikesha whom Suyya worshipped, just at the junction. And to this day may also be seen the trees which grew on the banks of the river as it flowed before, distinguished by marks of ropes by which boats were tied to them. Thus Suyya diverted the course of rivers. He raised a stone embankment seven yojanas in length ; and thereby brought the waters of the Mahapadma lake under control.

Taitteriya Brahmana and Satapatha and Kathaka Samhita repeat this claim. He was the inventor of agriculture as per Atharva Veda. As usual, Manu denounces him as irreligious and wanting in respect and submission to the Brahmans; he is further represented as having caused the confusion of castes. Obviously, because he must have tried to unite the castes by mixing with each other.

Dilip Singh Ahlawat has mentioned it as one of the ruling Jat clans in Central Asia.

Bhim Singh Dahiya writes: Vena/Vainya is the ancestor of Prithi/Prithu Vainya who is called the first consecrated king of the earth. Taitteriya Br. and Satapatha and Kathaka Samhita repeat this claim. He was the inventor of agriculture as per Atharva Veda. As usual, Manu denounces him as irreligious and wanting in respect and submission to the Brahmans; he is further represented as having caused the confusion of castes.287 Obviously, because he must have tried to unite the castes by mixing with each other. Bhim Singh Dahiya identifies that the Vainka of present Central Asia and the Venhval / Benhival Jats are their descendants.

Bhim Singh Dahiya writes that Raja Ben/Ven Chakravarti, (the Chakva Ben of the legends) is famous in India from Punjab to Bengal, though he is not allotted any place in the present history. It was known that the Vens had played an important role in the history of Central Asia from very ancient times. One of their principal cities was Ardinis (the city of the Sungod) also called Musasir, Menuas (810 B.C.), the grandson of Sarduris I, then subjugated the other Jat clans. "Parsuas (present Parsvals) had already been attacked by Ispuinis, and Menuas now proceeded to subdue the Manna, farther east, on the southern side of Lake Urmia". He brought the Diaus, the Dia or Dayaeni of the Assyrians (present Dahiya clan) under control on the banks of Euphrates, which was made the western boundary of the kingdom. Menuas built many canals through the mountains which were cut open, and one of the canals is now called Shamiram Suo. He built the city of Menuasgert (Melazgert). His son, Argistis I, annexed the territories of the Etius and the Dayaeni. Mileds (Mardii of Herodotus) were brought under control. Sarduris II, his son fought many wars with the Assyrians and won them. He proclaimed his victory over Ashur Nirari V (754-745 B.C.). Later on under Tiglath Pilesar III Assyria avenged the defeats and Sargon of Assyria claims to have destroyed a city of Sarduris, named Riar.

Venad rulers in Kerala

Venad (वेनाड) was the ancient name of Travancore in Kerala. It was a medieval kingdom lying between the Western Ghat mountains and the Arabian Sea on the south-western tip of India with its headquarters at the port city of Kollam/Quilon.

Rulers of Venad trace their ancestry to the Vel chieftains related to the Ay lineage of the early historic south India (c. 1st – 4th century CE). Venad – ruled by hereditary "Venad Adikal" – appears as an autonomous chiefdom in the kingdom of the Chera/Perumals of Kodungallur from around 8th – 9th century CE. It came to occupy a position of pre-eminent importance in the structuring of the Perumal kingdom. The country was intermittently and partially subject to the Pandya kingdom and the Chola empire among others in the medieval period.

Venvanshi rulers

Benvanshi or Venvanshi ruled several kingdoms (princely states) and feudal zamindaries (estates). The Venvanshi people are the predominant people in southern parts of Uttar Pradesh like Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, parts of Madhya Pradesh like the Baghelkhand region and northern parts of Chhattisgarh and western parts of Bihar. The name is derived from Maharaja Ven of the Singrauli kingdom. The Venvanshis claim descent from Brihadratha Maurya. The theory is that the grandson of the last Mauryan emperor fled after his grandfather was assassinated by Pushyamitra Shunga in c. 185 BCE. The grandson then fled to Jhusi or the surrounding area in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. From there he and his descendants lived there. After a few hundred years his descendants became the Rajas of that area.

तुर्की में वेन वंश

दलीप सिंह अहलावतके अनुसार वेन वंश जाटों का राज्य 1000 ई० पू० वेन झील (तुर्की में) के क्षेत्र पर था। इस वेन वंश के सम्राटों की पदवी ‘राजाओं के राजा’ तथा ‘संसार के राजा’ की थी। इसके अतिरिक्त इनको ‘बैंस लोगों तथा नारा लोगों का राजा’ भी कहा गया है। इससे ज्ञात हो जाता है कि वेनसाम्राज्य में बैंस एवं नारा जाट भी शामिल थे। इन वेन लोगों ने मान तथा दहिया लोगों को भी अपने अधीन किया। ‘केम्ब्रीज एन्शन्ट हिस्ट्री’ के अनुसार मान जाटों की निवासभूमि का नाम मन्नाई था जिसकी स्थिति अर्मिया झील के दक्षिण में थी, वहां इनका शासन था।

इस वेन वंश का राजा चक्रवर्ती वेन/बेन (चकवा बेन) बहुत प्रसिद्ध था जिसका भारत में पंजाब से लेकर बंगाल तक शासन था। आर्मीनिया के वेन शासक सूर्यदेव के पुजारी थे। इसी तरह मान तथा मांडा जाट शासक भी सूर्य को पूजते थे। (जाट्स दी ऐनशन्ट रूलर्ज, पृ० XI, 64, लेखक बी० एस० दहिया)।

In Mahabharata

Adi Parva, Mahabharata/Mahabharata Book I Chapter 75 gives genealogies of the Yadavas and of the Kurus and of the king of the Bharata line.

"Manu's children - And Manu begat ten other children named Vena, Dhrishnu, Narishyan, Nabhaga, Ikshvaku, Karusha, Saryati, the eighth, a daughter named Ila, Prishadhru the ninth, and Nabhagarishta, the tenth. They all betook themselves to the practices of Kshatriyas."

वेनं धृष्णुं नरिष्यन्तं नाभागेक्ष्वाकुम एव च

करूषम अथ शर्यातिं तत्रैवात्राष्टमीम इलाम Mahabharata (1.75.13)

पृषध्र नवमान आहुः कषत्रधर्मपरायणान

नाभागारिष्ट दशमान मनॊः पुत्रान महाबलान Mahabharata (1.75.14)

The Mahabharata epic in Bhisma Parva, Mahabharata/Book VI Chapter 47 mentions about tribes in the great war headed by Dussasana and other immeasurable heroes assembled there for the battle, the Samsthanas, the Surasenas, the Venikas, the Kukkuras, the Rechakas, the Trigartas, the Madrakas, the Yavanas, with Satrunjayas, and Dussasana, and that excellent hero Vikarna, and Nanda and Upanandaka, and Chitrasena, along with the Manibhadrakas, protect Bhishma with their (respective) troops.

संस्दानाः शूरसेनाश च वेणिकाः कुकुरास तदा

आरेवकास तरिगर्ताश च मथ्रका यवनास तदा (VI. 47.7)

Thus The Mahabharata Tribe - Venika (वेणिक) which fought in the Kuru army (VI. 47.7) may be identified with Jat Gotra - Beniwal (बेनीवाल) Veniwal (वेणिवाल) .

In Rigveda

Bhim Singh Dahiya mentions Rigvedic tribes. One such tribe is Venya : (RV X/171/3) descendants of King Vena (RV X/64/23). Vena is Devata of RV X/123. Their most famous king was Prithu Venya, the inventor of agriculture, as per AV Vlll/10/24 and seer of RV/X/148. RV 1/117/21 says that Asvin-s used the plough for sowing seeds. He was the first of the ordained emperors as per Sat. Br. (V/3,5,4). They are to be identified with the Venya-Val/Benhval clan of the Jats . They are not to be confused with the founder of the ancient Van Kingdom in West-Asia; which was named after another clan, the Bana/Vana of Jats.

तवं तयमिन्द्र मर्त्यमास्त्रबुध्नाय वेन्यम |

मुहुःश्रथ्ना मनस्यवे || (RV X/171/3)

(RV X/64/23)

Vena tribe's rule in Middle East

Dalip Singh Ahlawat writes -

वेन वंश - 1000 ई० पू० वेन जाटों का राज्य वेन झील (तुर्की में) के क्षेत्र पर था। इस वेन वंश के सम्राटों की पदवी ‘राजाओं के राजा’ तथा ‘संसार के राजा’ की थी। इसके अतिरिक्त इनको ‘बैंस लोगों तथा नारा लोगों का राजा’ भी कहा गया है। इससे ज्ञात हो जाता है कि वेनसाम्राज्य में बैंस एवं नारा जाट भी शामिल थे। इन वेन लोगों ने मान तथा दहिया लोगों को भी अपने अधीन किया। ‘केम्ब्रीज एन्शन्ट हिस्ट्री’ के अनुसार मान जाटों की निवासभूमि का नाम मन्नाई था जिसकी स्थिति अर्मिया झील के दक्षिण में थी, वहां इनका शासन था।

इस वेन वंश का राजा चक्रवर्ती वेन/बेन (चकवा बेन) बहुत प्रसिद्ध था जिसका भारत में पंजाब से लेकर बंगाल तक शासन था। आर्मीनिया के वेन शासक सूर्यदेव के पुजारी थे। इसी तरह मान तथा मांडा जाट शासक भी सूर्य को पूजते थे। (जाट्स दी ऐनशन्ट रूलर्ज, पृ० XI, 64, लेखक बी० एस० दहिया)।

References

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