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Kuru ((サンスクリット:कुरु)) was the name of a Vedic Aryan tribal union in northern Iron Age India, encompassing the modern-day states of Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand and western part of Uttar Pradesh, which appeared in the Middle Vedic period (c. 1200 – c. 850 BCE) and developed into the first recorded state-level society in South Asia around 1000 BCE, corresponding archaeologically to the Painted Grey Ware culture. It decisively changed the Vedic heritage of the early Vedic period, arranging the Vedic hymns into collections, and developing new rituals which gained their position in Indian civilization as the orthodox srauta rituals, which contributed to the so-called "classical synthesis" or "Hindu synthesis". It became the dominant political and cultural center of the middle Vedic Period during the reigns of Parikshit and Janamejaya, but it declined in importance during the Late Vedic period (ca.850-500 BCE), and had become "something of a backwater" by the Mahajanapada period in the 5th century BCE. However, traditions and legends about the Kurus continued into the post-Vedic period, providing the basis for the Mahabharata epic. ==History== The Kurus figure prominently in the later Rigveda. The Kurus here appear as a branch of the early Indo-Aryans, ruling the Ganga-Jamuna Doab and modern Haryana (earlier Eastern Punjab). The focus in the later Vedic period shifted out of Punjab, into the Doab, and thus to the Kuru clan.〔(''The Ganges In Myth And History'' )〕 The increasing number and size of Painted Grey Ware (PGW) settlements in the Doab area shows this. These developments resulted in the substantial enlargement of certain settlements such as Hastinapur and Kaushambi towards the end of the Later Vedic period. These settlements slowly began to acquire characteristics of towns. The Kuru tribe was formed, in the Middle Vedic period, as a result of the alliance and merger between the Bharata and Puru tribes.〔National Council of Educational Research and Training, History Text Book, Part 1, India〕 With their center of power in the Kurukshetra region, the Kurus formed the first political center of the Vedic period, and were dominant roughly from 1200 to 800 BCE. The first Kuru capital was at Āsandīvat, identified with modern Assandh in Haryana.〔http://books.google.com/books?id=AL45AQAAIAAJ&q=asandh〕〔http://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC&pg=PA177〕 Later literature refers to Indraprastha (modern Delhi) and Hastinapura as the main Kuru cities. The Atharvaveda (XX.127) praises Parikshit, the "King of the Kurus", as the great ruler of a thriving, prosperous realm. Other late Vedic texts, such as the Shatapatha Brahmana, commemorate Parikshit's son Janamejaya as a great conqueror who performed the ashvamedha (horse-sacrifice).〔Raychaudhuri, H. C. (1972). ''Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty'', Calcutta:University of Calcutta, pp.11-46〕 These two Kuru kings played a decisive role in the consolidation of the Kuru state and the development of the srauta rituals, and they also appear as important figures in later legends and traditions (e.g. in the Mahabharata). The Kurus declined after being defeated by the non-Vedic Salva tribe, and the center of Vedic culture shifted east, into the Panchala realm, in Uttar Pradesh. In the later Vedic period, the capital of the Kurus was transferred to Kaushambi, in the lower Doab, after Hastinapur was destroyed by floods as well as because of upheavals in the Kuru family itself.〔(Kaushambhi.nic.in )〕〔(All-art.org )〕 In the late Vedic period (by the 6th century BCE), the Kuru dynasty evolved into Kuru and Vatsa janapadas, ruling over Upper Doab/Delhi/Haryana and lower Doab, respectively. The Vatsa branch of the Kuru dynasty further divided into branches at Kaushambi and at Mathura.〔(Political History of Uttar Pradesh ); Govt of Uttar Pradesh, official website.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kuru Kingdom」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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