Mleccha
Encyclopedia
Mleccha also spelt as Mlechchha, people of foreign extraction (non-aryans) in ancient India
. Mleccha was used by the Aryans much as the ancient Greeks
used barbaros, originally to indicate the uncouth and incomprehensible speech of foreigners and then extended to their unfamiliar behaviour. Mlecchas were found in northwestern India. In the Mahabharata
the root Sanskrit word barbar meant stammering, wretch, foreigner, sinful people, low and barbarous. The Vayu
, Matsya
and Brahmanda
Puranas state that the seven Himalayan
rivers pass through the Mleccha countries. Brahmanas lay mlecchas outside the varna system.Southworth suggests that the name comes from mizi meaning 'speak', or 'one's speech' derived from Dravidian for language. (see Southworth's etymological derivation of Tamil)
The India
ns referred to all alien cultures that were less civilized in ancient times as 'Mlechcha' or Barbarians. The Mlechchas were people who were barbaric and who had given up the Vedic
beliefs. Among the tribes termed Mlechcha were Sakas, Hunas, Yavanas, Kambojas
, Pahlavas, Bahlikas and Rishikas
. The Amara-kosa
described the Kiratas, Sabaras and Pulindas
as the Mleccha-jatis.Rajput
, Abhira, Gujars, Indo-Greeks, Scythians, Kushanas,Kalinga
and Pandya were also mlecchas.
, some Mleccha warriors are described as having "heads completely shaved or half-shaved or covered with matted locks, [as being] impure in habits, and of crooked faces They are "dwellers of hills" and "denizens of mountain-caves. Mlecchas were born of the cow (belonging to Vasishtha), of fierce eyes, accomplished in smiting looking like messengers of Death, and all conversant with the deceptive powers of the Asuras"
Chanakya
refers to mleccha forces once attacked Chandragupta
. An old sanskrit
verse found in the ancient work on astrology identifies Mlecchas with Yavanas or Greeks
. It says Mleccha hi yavanstesthu samyak shastramidam sthitam. By this verse means that mleccha, that is Yavana, were expert in the science of astronomy.
Chanakya also comes to know that five kings-Chitravarma, King of Kulu, Simhanad, King of Malayadesha, Pushkarakhsa, King of Kashmir
, Sindhushena, king of Sindh
, Megha king of Persia are five main pillars of the army of Mleccha king.
. Mahabharata gives the following information regarding them:-
"This shows mlecchas were against Pandavas and Brahmins".
and eastern Rajasthan
, as also the eastern Anava tribes occupying parts of Bihar
, Bengal
and Orissa
. The tribes of the north were mlecchas either because they were located on the frontiers such as Gandhara
and Kambojas and therefore both their speech and culture had become contaminated and differed from that of aryavart
, or else, as in the case of Dravidians, they were once aryas but having forsaken the rituals were regarded to mleccha status.
in mleccha language. The latter explained the mleccha language to Kunti in sanskrit, because it was indistinct for her. During the epic age some people having acquaintance with the Asuras used to speak their mleccha language.
The Jaimini Dharmasastra (1.3.10) mentions certain mleccha words i.e pika, nema, sata and tamaras meaning respectively a bird, a half, a vessel, a red lotus which are sanskritized versions of words used in the dravidian languages.It means that the mleccha words were in use among the non Aryans.
. The law giver Baudhâyana
defines a Mleccha as someone "who eats meat or indulges in self-contradictory statements or is devoid of righteousness and purity of conduct". Mleccha in Hinduism
could refer to any being who has different teachings than Hinduism and does not follow the Vedas. In the Indian history some indigenous rulers in Assam
were called Mlechhas (Mlechchha dynasty
).
In the Bhagavata Purana
the term is used in the context of meat eaters, outcastes.
became a mleccha area the staple food was given a lower place in the food-ranking. Whereas Rigvedic Aryans had a staple diet of wheat
and barley
, by the twelfth century AD wheat was described in one lexicon as 'food of the mlecchas' and rice
became the 'pure' cereal. Onions and garlic
were also regarded as the food of the mlecchas and therefore prohibited to the brahman. Mlecchas drank alcohol
and ate flesh of the cow, and this in later periods was strictly forbidden to the Aryan twice-born.
, also uses the term to refer to those of larger groups of other religions, especially Muslim
s. In medieval India, a foreign visitor Al Biruni (died 1048) noted that foreigners were regarded as 'unclean' or 'Mleccha' and Hindus were forbidden any social or matrimonial contact with them.
was called Mletačka Republika in Croatian language
and Venetians were called Mletci or Mleci. The term designates stranger or alien.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Mleccha was used by the Aryans much as the ancient Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
used barbaros, originally to indicate the uncouth and incomprehensible speech of foreigners and then extended to their unfamiliar behaviour. Mlecchas were found in northwestern India. In the Mahabharata
Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
the root Sanskrit word barbar meant stammering, wretch, foreigner, sinful people, low and barbarous. The Vayu
Vayu Purana
The Vayu Purana is a Shaiva Purana, a Hindu religious text, dedicated to the god Vayu , containing about 24,000 shlokas.-Date:Banabhatta refers to this work in his Kadambari and Harshacharita...
, Matsya
Matsya Purana
Matsya Purana is the sixteenth purana of the Hindu scriptures. During the period of mahapralaya, Lord Vishnu had taken Matsya Avatar to save the seeds of all lives and Manu...
and Brahmanda
Brahmanda Purana
The Brahmanda Purana is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts and has been assigned the eighteenth place in almost all the lists of the Puranas.Brahma in Sanskrit means "the biggest", anda/andam means globe...
Puranas state that the seven Himalayan
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
rivers pass through the Mleccha countries. Brahmanas lay mlecchas outside the varna system.Southworth suggests that the name comes from mizi meaning 'speak', or 'one's speech' derived from Dravidian for language. (see Southworth's etymological derivation of Tamil)
Foreigners
In ancient India, this term was also applied by the Aryan kingdoms to foreigners. The word Mleccha was commonly used for 'another class of untouchable' or 'outer barbarians of whatever race or colour'.The India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
ns referred to all alien cultures that were less civilized in ancient times as 'Mlechcha' or Barbarians. The Mlechchas were people who were barbaric and who had given up the Vedic
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
beliefs. Among the tribes termed Mlechcha were Sakas, Hunas, Yavanas, Kambojas
Kambojas
The Kambojas were a kshatriya tribe of Iron Age India, frequently mentioned in Sanskrit and Pali literature.They were an Indo-Iranian tribe situated at the boundary of the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, and appear to have moved from the Iranian into the Indo-Aryan sphere over time.The Kambojas...
, Pahlavas, Bahlikas and Rishikas
Rishikas
Rshikas were an ancient tribe living in the northern division of ancient India. They find references in the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Brhat Samhita, Markendeya Purana etc. Ashtadhyayi of Pāṇini does not mention the Rishikas, but Mahabhasya of Patanjali does make reference to this people. Mahabharata...
. The Amara-kosa
Amarakosha
The Amarakosha from amara "immortal" and kosha "treasure, casket, pail, collection, dictionary", also Namalinganushasana from nama-linga-anu-shasana "instruction concerning nouns and gender") is a thesaurus of Sanskrit written by the Jain or Buddhist scholar Amarasimha...
described the Kiratas, Sabaras and Pulindas
Pulindas
The Pulindas were an ancient tribe of India, likely resident in the environs of the Vindhya Range of Central India. The Rock Edicts of Ashoka mention the Pulindas, their capital Pulinda-nagara, and their neighboring tribes, based on which their capital is sometimes located in present-day Jabalpur...
as the Mleccha-jatis.Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
, Abhira, Gujars, Indo-Greeks, Scythians, Kushanas,Kalinga
Kalinga
Kalinga is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Tabuk and borders Mountain Province to the south, Abra to the west, Isabela to the east, Cagayan to the northeast, and Apayao to the north...
and Pandya were also mlecchas.
Fierce Warriors
In the epic MahabharataMahabharata
The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
, some Mleccha warriors are described as having "heads completely shaved or half-shaved or covered with matted locks, [as being] impure in habits, and of crooked faces They are "dwellers of hills" and "denizens of mountain-caves. Mlecchas were born of the cow (belonging to Vasishtha), of fierce eyes, accomplished in smiting looking like messengers of Death, and all conversant with the deceptive powers of the Asuras"
Chanakya
Chanakya
Chānakya was a teacher to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta , and the first Indian emperor generally considered to be the architect of his rise to power. Traditionally, Chanakya is also identified by the names Kautilya and VishnuGupta, who authored the ancient Indian political treatise...
refers to mleccha forces once attacked Chandragupta
Chandragupta
Chandragupta may refer to:* Chandragupta Maurya, Indian Emperor, Mauryan Empire, 322–293 BCE* Chandragupta I, Indian king, Gupta Empire, 320-335 CE* Chandragupta II, Also known as Chandragupta Vikramaditya. Indian Emperor, Gupta Empire, 375-414 CE...
. An old sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
verse found in the ancient work on astrology identifies Mlecchas with Yavanas or Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
. It says Mleccha hi yavanstesthu samyak shastramidam sthitam. By this verse means that mleccha, that is Yavana, were expert in the science of astronomy.
Chanakya also comes to know that five kings-Chitravarma, King of Kulu, Simhanad, King of Malayadesha, Pushkarakhsa, King of Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
, Sindhushena, king of Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
, Megha king of Persia are five main pillars of the army of Mleccha king.
Against Pandavas
According to Swami Parmeshwaranand Mleccha tribe was born from the tail of the celestial cow Nandini, kept by Sasista for sacrificial purposes when there was a fight between Vishvamitra and VasisthaVasistha
Vashist in the seventh, i.e the present Manvantara, and the Rajpurohit / Rajguru of the Suryavansha or Solar Dynasty. He was the mānasaputra of Brahma. He had in his possession the divine cow Kamadhenu, and Nandini her child, who could grant anything to their owners...
. Mahabharata gives the following information regarding them:-
- Mleccha who sprang up from the tail of the celestial cow Nandini sent the army of Viswamitra flying in terror.
- BhagadattaBhagadattaBhagadatta, was the son of Narakasura. He was a king of the city Pragjyotisha in the epic Mahabharata. In the Battle of Kurukshetra, Bhagadatta fought on the side of the Kauravas. He was very well known to attack his enemies with his elephant in the warfare. In the Mahabharata war, he was...
was the king of mlecchas. - Pandavas, like Bhimsean, Nakul and SahadevaSahadevaSahadeva was one of the five Pandava brothers according to the epic Mahābhārata. He was one of the twin sons of Madri, who invoked Ashvins using a mantra shared by Kunti for a son. His twin brother was named Nakula...
once defeated them. - KarnaKarnaKarna or Radheya is one of the central characters in the epic Mahābhārata, from ancient India. He was the King of Anga...
during his world campaign conquered many mlaccha countries. - The wealth that remained in the Yagasala of YudhisthiraYudhisthiraIn the great Hindu epic Mahabharata, Yudhisthira , the eldest son of King Pandu and Queen Kunti, was king of Indraprastha and later of Hastinapura. He was the leader of the Pandava side in the Kurukshetra War...
after the distribution as gifts to BrahminBrahminBrahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
s was taken away by the mlecchas. - The melecchas drove angered elephants on the army of the Pandavas.
"This shows mlecchas were against Pandavas and Brahmins".
Areas of Melecchas
Together with the shift eastwards of the 'pure land' the northern Punjab and trans-Indus region came to be regarded as mleccha-desa'. Later Vedic literature speaks of the western Anava tribes as mlecchas and occupying northern Punjab, SindhSindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
and eastern Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
, as also the eastern Anava tribes occupying parts of Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
, Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
and Orissa
Orissa
Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...
. The tribes of the north were mlecchas either because they were located on the frontiers such as Gandhara
Gandhara
Gandhāra , is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River...
and Kambojas and therefore both their speech and culture had become contaminated and differed from that of aryavart
Aryavarta
Āryāvarta is a name for Northern India in classical Sanskrit literature. The Manu Smriti gives the name to "the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the eastern to the Western Sea"....
, or else, as in the case of Dravidians, they were once aryas but having forsaken the rituals were regarded to mleccha status.
Language
Prof. Vasudeava Sharana Agrawala admits that the Indians were familiar with the mleccha language right from the time of Satapatha Brahmans. In support of the contention he quotes the Mbh.(Adi Parva,2/103), which refers to the talks between Vidur and YudhisthiraYudhisthira
In the great Hindu epic Mahabharata, Yudhisthira , the eldest son of King Pandu and Queen Kunti, was king of Indraprastha and later of Hastinapura. He was the leader of the Pandava side in the Kurukshetra War...
in mleccha language. The latter explained the mleccha language to Kunti in sanskrit, because it was indistinct for her. During the epic age some people having acquaintance with the Asuras used to speak their mleccha language.
The Jaimini Dharmasastra (1.3.10) mentions certain mleccha words i.e pika, nema, sata and tamaras meaning respectively a bird, a half, a vessel, a red lotus which are sanskritized versions of words used in the dravidian languages.It means that the mleccha words were in use among the non Aryans.
Vedas
The term is not attested in the Vedas, but occurs for the first time in the late Vedic text Shatapatha BrahmanaShatapatha Brahmana
The Shatapatha Brahmana is one of the prose texts describing the Vedic ritual, associated with the Shukla Yajurveda. It survives in two recensions, Madhyandina and Kanva , with the former having the eponymous 100 adhyayas,7624 kandikas in 14 books, and the latter 104 adhyayas,6806 kandikas in 17...
. The law giver Baudhâyana
Baudhayana
Baudhāyana, was an Indian mathematician, whowas most likely also a priest. He is noted as the author of the earliest Sulba Sūtra—appendices to the Vedas giving rules for the construction of altars—called the , which contained several important mathematical results. He is older than the other...
defines a Mleccha as someone "who eats meat or indulges in self-contradictory statements or is devoid of righteousness and purity of conduct". Mleccha in Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
could refer to any being who has different teachings than Hinduism and does not follow the Vedas. In the Indian history some indigenous rulers in Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
were called Mlechhas (Mlechchha dynasty
Mlechchha dynasty
The Mlechchha dynasty ruled Kamarupa from their capital at Hadapeshvar in the present-day Tezpur after the fall of the Varman dynasty. The rulers were aboriginals, though their lineage from Narakasura was constructed to accord legitimacy to their rule...
).
In the Bhagavata Purana
Bhagavata purana
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...
the term is used in the context of meat eaters, outcastes.
Mlecchas eating habits
The sanskritizing of names was a common feature among both indigenous and foreign mlecchas who slowly tried to move away from their status of mleccha. Very often, in the case of ruling families, it took one to two generations to make a transition. One of the most direct forms of the expression of the brahmanical ritual purity was the form and type of food which a brahman could eat. He was forbidden to accept cooked food from any nonbrahman. Thus when the PunjabPunjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
became a mleccha area the staple food was given a lower place in the food-ranking. Whereas Rigvedic Aryans had a staple diet of wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
and barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
, by the twelfth century AD wheat was described in one lexicon as 'food of the mlecchas' and rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
became the 'pure' cereal. Onions and garlic
Garlic
Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
were also regarded as the food of the mlecchas and therefore prohibited to the brahman. Mlecchas drank alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
and ate flesh of the cow, and this in later periods was strictly forbidden to the Aryan twice-born.
Medieval India
Medieval Hindu literature, such as that of Chaitanya MahaprabhuChaitanya Mahaprabhu
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a Vaishnava saint and social reformer in eastern India in the 16th century, believed by followers of Gaudiya Vaishnavism to be the full incarnation of Lord Krishna...
, also uses the term to refer to those of larger groups of other religions, especially Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s. In medieval India, a foreign visitor Al Biruni (died 1048) noted that foreigners were regarded as 'unclean' or 'Mleccha' and Hindus were forbidden any social or matrimonial contact with them.
Other
Republic of VeniceRepublic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
was called Mletačka Republika in Croatian language
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
and Venetians were called Mletci or Mleci. The term designates stranger or alien.
Further reading
- Parasher, A (1991), Mlecchas in Ancient India, Munshiram Manoharlal, ISBN 81-215-0529-X