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Gopa (caste)

Gopa or Gop or Gope is a synonym of the Ahir (Yadav) caste found in India and Nepal.[1] in the Mahabharata, Ahir, Gopa, Gopal and Yadavas are all synonyms. The Amarakośa mentions Gopa, Gopāla, Gosaṁkhya, Godhuk and Ballava as the synonyms for Abhira and says that the village or place where Abhiras lived is named as ghosa or Abhirapalli.[2] The modern Ahirs are the descendants of the Abhiras of ancient times.[3] the Abhiras were the same as the Gopas or Ballavas of Mathura becomes evident from the fact that the Padma Purana relates that Vishnu informed the Abhiras: I shall be born amongst you, O Abhiras, at Mathura in my eighth birth.[4]

The Yadavas of the Mahabharata period were known to be the followers of Vaishnavism, of which Krishna was the leader: they were Gopas (cowherd) by profession, but at the same time they held the status of the Kshatriyas, participating in the battle of Kurukshetra. The present Ahirs/Yadavs are also followers of Vaisnavism.[5][6]

In Harivamsa Purana, it has been said that Gopas and Yadav are generic of same lineage and they are called Gope or Yadav.[7]

Origin and History

According to Bhagavata Purana, The Gopas are re-incarnation of Devas. They are the messengers of Krishna, They are fond of Gavya or the products of Cows. The relation between Krishna and the Gopas is that between an object and its image.[8]

in the Rigveda, Vishnu is called Gopa, a cowherd. His place is populated with 'many horned swiftly moving cows'. This is, in a way, the Goloka of Krishna described by the later Puranas.[9]

In Rigveda, King Yadu (ancestor of the Yaduvanshi (Yadavas)) is mentioned as Gopa, here the term Gopa may have been used to refer to the king or chief of the tribe[10][11] as Gopa or Gopati was also the epithet given to the king in that period.[12][13][14][15]

Mahabharat's Narayani (Gopayan) Army

Narayani Sena (Gopayan)[16][17] or Yadav(Ahir) Sena, the army of Lord Krishna of Dwarka Kingdom is called as the supreme Sena of all time. It is described in the Mahabharat as being all of the Abhira caste.[18] They were the basic threat to the rival kingdoms. Fearing Narayani Sena, many Kings did not try fighting against Dwaraka. Because Dwaraka sorted most of the threats through Krishna's politics and talent of Yadavas. Using Narayani Sena, the Yadavas extended their empire to most of India.[19][20][21]

Krishna had offered Arjuna, the choice of selection between him or his whole army of Narayani Sena against Duryodhana. He possessed 10 million fighting Gopes who were brave fighters and were famous by the name of Narayan. In Harivansa Purana, it has been said that Gope or Yadav are generic of the same lineage.[22]

Before the war started in the Kurukshetra battlefield in Mahabharat (one of the two major epics of ancient India), both sides – the Kauravas and the Pandavas started out in all directions to meet various kings to solicit support. Incidentally, both Duryodhana (from Kauravas side) and Arjuna (from Pandavas side) reached Dwarika, the kingdom of Shree Krishna together. Lord Krishna put forward a condition in front of both – you can have either me on your side or my entire army, the Yadav army – known as the Narayani Sena. He also told both that he wouldn't take to any arms during the entire war. So when Krishna first asked Arjun what he wanted, much to Duryodhana's delight, he opted for the Lord- 'Narayan' and Duryodhana got these great warriors of the strong army-'the Narayani Sena. When Narayani Sena was fighting for Kauravas, only Kritavarma and his army unit fought for the Kauravas. Satyaki fought for the Pandavas. The rest of the Atirathas and Maharathis were withheld from the Kurukshetra war on the advice of Balram and Krishna.[23][24][25][26]

These Gopas, whom Krishna had offered to Duryodhana to fight in his support when he himself joined Arjuna's side, were no other than the Yadavas themselves, who were also the Abhiras.[27][28][29] They were the supporters of the Duryodhana[30][31] and Kauravas, and in the Mahabharata,[32] Abhir, Gopa, Gopal[33] and Yadavas are all synonyms.[34][35][36] They defeated the hero of Mahabharatha war (Arjuna), and spared him when he disclosed the identity of the members of the family of Sri Krishna.[37]

Gopa (caste) Media

References

  1. ↑ Rao, M. S. A. (1987). Social Movements and Social Transformation: A Study of Two Backward Classes Movements in India. Manohar. ISBN 978-0-8364-2133-0.
  2. ↑ Sharma, Tej Ram (1978). Personal and Geographical Names in the Gupta Inscriptions. Concept Publishing Company.
  3. ↑ Garg, Gaṅgā Rām (1992). Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World. Concept Publishing Company. ISBN 978-81-7022-374-0.
  4. ↑ Institute, Bhandarkar Oriental Research (1917). Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona. The Institute.
  5. ↑ Shashi, Shyam Singh (1994). Encyclopaedia of Indian Tribes: The tribal world in transition. Anmol Publications, 1994. p. 76. ISBN 9788170418368. The Yadavas of the Mahabharata period were known to be the followers of Vaisnavism, of which Krsna was the leader: they were gopas (cowherd) by profession, but at the same time they held the status of the Ksatriyas, participating in the battle of Kurukshetra. The present Ahirs are also followers of Vaisnavism.
  6. ↑ Vaidya, Chintaman Vinayak (2001). Epic India, Or, India as Described in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Asian Educational Services, 2001. p. 423. ISBN 9788120615649. The fact that the Yadavas were pastoral in their habits is distinctly proved by the fact that Krishna's sister Subhadra when she was taken away by Arjuna is described as having put on the dress of a Gopi or female cowherd. It is impossible to explain this fact unless we believe that the whole tribe was accustomed to use this dress. The freedom with which she and other Yadava women are described as moving on the Raivataka hill in the festivities on that occasion also shows that their social relations were freer and more unhampered than among the other Kshatriyas. Krishna again when he went over to Arjuna's side is said in the Mahabharata to have given in balance for that act an army of Gopas to Duryodhana. The Gopas could have been no other than the Yadavas themselves.
  7. ↑ Soni, Lok Nath (2000). The Cattle and the Stick: An Ethnographic Profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh. Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Department of Culture. ISBN 978-81-85579-57-3.
  8. ↑ Sinha, Purnendu Narayana (2018-11-08). A Study of the Bhagavata Purana; Or, Esoteric Hinduism. Creative Media Partners, LLC. ISBN 978-0-344-87980-7.
  9. ↑ Varadpande, Manohar Laxman (1982). Krishna Theatre in India. Abhinav Publications. ISBN 978-81-7017-151-5.
  10. ↑ Halahawi, Shalomim Y. (2007-10-01). The Way! the Prophetic Messianic Voice to the Path of the Edenic Kingdom Redemption. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1-4303-0816-4.
  11. ↑ Catalogue of syriac manuscripts in the British Museum, acquired since the Year 1838. Gilbert & Rivington. 1860.
  12. ↑ Indian History. Allied Publishers. 1988. ISBN 978-81-8424-568-4.
  13. ↑ Soni, Lok Nath (2000). The Cattle and the Stick: An Ethnographic Profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh. Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Department of Culture. ISBN 978-81-85579-57-3.
  14. ↑ Shashi, Shyam Singh (1994). Encyclopaedia of Indian Tribes: The tribal world in transition. Anmol Publications, 1994. p. 76. ISBN 9788170418368.
  15. ↑ Vaidya, Chintaman Vinayak (2001). Epic India, Or, India as Described in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Asian Educational Services, 2001. p. 423. ISBN 9788120615649.
  16. ↑ Soni, Lok Nath (2000). The Cattle and the Stick: An Ethnographic Profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh. Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Department of Culture. p. 16. ISBN 978-81-85579-57-3.
  17. ↑ Nava Kumar (1979). The Mahabharata: A Spiritual Interpretation. Sura Sadan Pub.
  18. ↑ Pandey, Braj Kumar (1996). Sociology and Economics of Casteism in India: A Study of Bihar. Pragati Publications, 1996. p. 78. ISBN 9788173070365. The Narayani Army which he organized, and which made him so powerful that his friendship was eagerly sought by the greatest kings of his time, is described in the Mahabharat as being all of the Abhira caste.
  19. ↑ Hasan, Amir (2005). People of India: Uttar Pradesh, Volume 42, Part 1. Anthropological Survey of India, 2005. p. 17. ISBN 9788173041143.
  20. ↑ Gopal Chowdhary (4 March 2014). The Greatest Farce of History. Partridge Publishing India. pp. 129–. ISBN 978-1-4828-1925-0.
  21. ↑ Subhash Krishna (19 July 2020). Salvation by Lord Shri Krishna. Notion Press. pp. 431–. ISBN 978-1-64587-108-8.
  22. ↑ Soni, Lok Nath (2000). The Cattle and the Stick: An Ethnographic Profile of the Raut of Chhattisgarh. Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Department of Culture. p. 16. ISBN 978-81-85579-57-3.
  23. ↑ "The Narayani Sena Dilemma - Follow Krishna or follow Conscience". media.radiosai.org. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  24. ↑ "Narayan or the narayani sena?". StoryMirror. 2020-01-03. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  25. ↑ Jyoti Bhusan Das Gupta (2007). Science, Technology, Imperialism, and War. Pearson Education India. pp. 291–. ISBN 978-81-317-0851-4.
  26. ↑ Amit Palkar (1 February 2019). Moral Stories for All. Evincepub Publishing. pp. 46–. ISBN 978-93-88277-92-1.[dead link]
  27. ↑ Man in India – Google Books. 1974.
  28. ↑ Shah, Popatlal Govindlal (13 February 2009). Ethnic history of Gujarat – Popatlal Govindlal Shah – Google Books.
  29. ↑ Ethnic history of Gujarat
  30. ↑ Man in India – Google Books. 17 July 2007.
  31. ↑ Man in India, Volume 54-page-39
  32. ↑ Ancient Nepal
  33. ↑ Regmi, D. R. (1 December 1973). Ancient Nepal – D. R. Regmi, Nepal Institute of Asian Studies – Google Books.
  34. ↑ Kapoor, Subodh (2002). Encyclopaedia of ancient Indian ... – Subodh Kapoor – Google Books. ISBN 9788177552980.
  35. ↑ Rao, M. S. A. (14 December 2006). Social movements and social ... – M. S. A. Rao – Google Books. ISBN 9780333902554.
  36. ↑ Rao, M. S. A. (14 December 2006). Social movements and social ... – M. S. A. Rao – Google Books. ISBN 9780333902554.
  37. ↑ Singh Yadav, J. N. (28 August 2007). Yadavas through the ages, from ... – J. N. Singh Yadav – Google Books. ISBN 9788185616032.
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