Charmanvati () is a river mentioned in the epic

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

. It is believed that the ancient name of

Chambal river The Chambal River is a tributary of the Yamuna River in Central India, Central and North India, Northern India, and thus forms part of the drainage system of the Ganges. The river flows north-northeast through Madhya Pradesh, running for a brie ...

was ''Charmanvati'', meaning the river on whose banks leather is dried. In due course of time, this river became famous as the river of ‘charman’ (skin) and was named as ''Charmanvati''. The

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

epic

, refers to the Chambal river as the Charmanyavati: originating in the blood of thousands of animals and cows sacrificed by the Aryan King Rantideva. Mbh.3.207.10715 though, sanskrit scholars and Mahabharat researchers like

Bhandarkar oriental research institute The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) is a research institute involved in the conservation, preservation, and research of old manuscripts and rare books related to Orientalism, particularly Indology. It is located in Pune, Maharash ...

who have compiled over 250 sanskrit manuscripts of Mahabharat have rejected this story as an interpolation as it is not there in most of the ancient manuscripts. "And in days of yore, O Brahmana, two thousand animals used to be killed every day in the kitchen of king Rantideva; and in the same manner two thousand cows were killed every day." :"So large was the number of animals sacrificed in the

Agnihotra Agnihotra (IAST: ''Agnihotra'', Devnagari: अग्निहोत्र) refers to the yajna of offering ghee into the sacred fire as per strict rites, and may include twice-daily heated milk offering made by those in the Śrauta tradition. Th ...

of that king that the secretions flowing from his kitchen from the heaps of skins deposited there caused a veritable river which from this circumstance, came to be called the ''Charmanvati''. "

References in Mahabharata

Charmanvati was the southern boundary of

Panchala Kingdom Panchala () was an ancient kingdom of northern India, located in the Ganges-Yamuna Doab of the Upper Gangetic plain which is identified as Kanyakubja or region around Kannauj. During Late Vedic times (c. 1100–500 BCE), it was one of the ...

:- King

Drupada Drupada (), also known as Yajnasena (, ), is the king of the southern part of Panchala Kingdom, in the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. He is the father of Draupadi, the epic's lead female character. In the Kurukshetra War as the head of 1 akshauhi ...

ruled the southern Panchalas up to the bank of the Charmanvati river (1:140). King Rantideva is mentioned as performing animal sacrifices on the banks of Charmanvati (7:65, 12:29, 13:66).

Kunti Kunti (, un̪t̪iː ), also known as Pritha (, ">r̩t̪ʰaː/nowiki>, ), is a prominent female character in the ancient Hindu epic '' Mahabharata''. She is chiefly recognised as the mother of the central characters—the five Pandavas—h ...

left her new-born baby (

Karna Karna (Sanskrit: कर्ण, IAST: ''Karṇa''), also known as Vasusena, Anga-Raja, Sutaputra and Radheya, is one of the major characters in the Hindu epic ''Mahābhārata''. He is the son of Surya (the Sun deity) and princess Kunti (later ...

) in a basket and made it float in the river. The basket floated from the river Aswa to the river Charmanvati, and from the Charmanvati it passed to the

Yamuna The Yamuna (; ) is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of Bandarpunch peaks of the Low ...

, and so on to the

Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

(3:306) and reached the city called

Champapuri Champapuri, Champa Nagri or Champanagar is a neighbourhood in Bhagalpur in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the site of the ancient city of Champa, the capital of the Anga Mahajanapada. It is also the main centre of capital of cultural re ...

the capital of

Anga Kingdom Anga was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of eastern South Asia whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The members of the Aṅga tribe were called the Āṅgeyas. Counted among the "sixteen great nations" in Buddhist texts like the Ang ...

. Marching to the banks of the Charmanvati, the Kuru warrior

Sahadeva Sahadeva () was the youngest of the five Pandava brothers in the ancient Indian epic, the '' Mahabharata''. He and his twin brother Nakula were the sons of Madri, one of the wives of the Pandava patriarch Pandu, and Ashvini Kumaras, the ...

met the son of king Jamvaka, who had, on account of old hostilities, been defeated before by Vasudeva Krishna. The son of Jamvaka gave battle to Sahadeva. And Sahadeva defeating the prince marched towards the south (2:30).

References

Mahabharata Ancient Indian rivers Mythological rivers {{DEFAULTSORT:Charmanvati

References in Mahabharata

See also

References