page_title: Yadava
section_title: The Vrishnis
hierarchical_section_title: Yadava / The Satvatas / The Vrishnis
caption_attribution_description: Coin of the Baktrian King Agathokles, written in Brahmi language. The coin shows Hindu deities: Vasudeva-Krishna and Balarama-Samkarshana. Another, sharper, view of the same collection
context_page_description: The Yadavas were an ancient Indian people who believed themselves to be descended from Yadu, a legendary king. The community was formed of four clans, being the Abhira, Andhaka, Vrishni, and Satvatas, who all worshipped Krishna. They are listed in ancient Indian literature as the segments of the lineage of Yadu. At various times there have been a number of communities and royal dynasties of the Indian subcontinent that have claimed descent from the ancient Yadava clans and legendary Yadava personalities, thus describing themselves as the Yadavas.
  Amongst the Yadava clans mentioned in ancient Indian literature, the Haihayas are believed to have descended from Sahasrajit, elder son of Yadu and all other Yadava clans, which include the Chedis, the Vidarbhas, the Satvatas, the Andhakas, the Kukuras, the Bhojas, the Vrishnis and the Shainyas are believed to have descended from Kroshtu or Kroshta, younger son of Yadu.
  It can be inferred from the vamshanucharita sections of a number of major Puranas that, the Yadavas spread out over the Aravalli region, Gujarat, the Narmada valley, the northern Deccan and the eastern Ganges valley.
context_section_description: The Vrishnis are mentioned in a number of Vedic texts, which include the Taittiriya Samhita (III.2.9.3), the Taittiriya Brahmana (III.10.9.15), the Satapatha Brahmana (III.1.1.4) and the Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana (I.6.1). The Taittiriya Samhita and the Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana mention about a teacher, Gobala belonging to this clan.
  Although, Panini, in his Ashtadhyayi (IV.1.114) includes the Vrishnis in the list of the clans of the Kshatriya gotra, having a sangha (tribal oligarchy) form of government, but in the Drona Parva (141.15) of the Mahabharata, the Vrishnis, like the Andhakas were categorized as the Vratyas (deviators from orthodoxy). In the Shanti Parva (81.25) of the Mahabharata, the Kukuras, the Bhojas, the Andhakas and the Vrishnis are together referred as a sangha, and Vasudeva Krishna as Sanghamukhya (seignor of the sangha) According to the Puranas, Vrishni was one of the four sons of Satvata. Vrishni had three (or four) sons, Anamitra (or Sumitra), Yudhajit and Devamidhusha. Shura was son of Devamidhusha. His son Vasudeva was father of Balarama and Krishna.
  According to the Harivamsa (II.4.37-41), the Vrishnis worshipped goddess Ekanamsha, who, elsewhere in the same text (II.2.12), described as daughter of Nandagopa. The Mora Well Inscription, found from a village near Mathura and dated to the early decades of the Common era records the installation of the images of the five Vrishni viras (heroes) in a stone shrine by a person, named Tosha. These five Vrishni heroes have been identified with Samkarshana, Vasudeva, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Samba from a passage in the Vayu Purana (97.1-2).
  A unique silver coin of the Vrishnis was discovered from Hoshiarpur, Punjab. This coin is presently preserved in the British Museum, London. Later, a number of copper coins, clay seals and sealings issued by the Vrishnis were also discovered from Sunet, near Ludhiana.
caption: Images of Samkarshana and Vāsudeva, the two most celebrated Vrishni heroes, on a coin of the Indo-Greek king Agathocles (c. 190–180 BCE)
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