Matsya Deśa
Matsya Deśa · matsya-deśa, “the country of the Matsyas”
Matsya has other meanings too: see all meanings of Matsya.
Matsya is a country of Bhārata that the Bhāgavata Purāṇa names on the great roads of Śrī Kṛshṇa: between Kurukshetra and the Sārasvata country on his way from Hastināpura to Ānarta in the west, and between Pañcāla and Indraprastha on his way from Dvārakā to the Rājasūya of Dharmarāja. Its rulers were among the kings who strung their bows against Śrī Kṛshṇa; its heroes went west with Nakula in the conquest of the directions; its kings came to Samantapañcaka at the time of the great eclipse; and its men and women drank in the lotus-like face of Śrī Kṛshṇa as he went to Videha.
On Śrī Kṛshṇa’s road to Ānarta
After the war, when Śrī Kṛshṇa had taken leave of the Pāṇḍavas at Hastināpura, he went on to his own city with his companions. Sūta tells Śaunaka the countries he passed, in this order: Kurujāṅgala, Pāñcāla and Śūrasena; Brahmāvarta and Kurukshetra on the bank of the Yamunā; the countries of Matsya, Sārasvata and Marudhanva; and crossing past Sauvīra and Ābhīra, he reached the country of Ānarta, which lies to their west. By then his horses were a little tired. All along the road people came out to meet him, honoured him and gave him gifts.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 10
Its rulers before Śrī Kṛshṇa
Telling Nārada the līlā-avatāras of Śrī Hari, Brahmā names those who would string their bows on the battlefield and boast against Śrī Kṛshṇa: Pralambāsura, Dhenukāsura, Bakāsura, Keśī, Arishṭāsura, the wrestlers beginning with Cāṇūra, the elephant Kuvalayāpīḍa, Kaṃsa, Kālayavana, Narakāsura, Pauṇḍraka, Śālva, the vānara Dvivida, Balvala, Dantavaktra, the seven bulls of Nagnajit, Śambarāsura, Vidūratha, Rukmī and others, and the rulers of the lands of Kāmboja, Matsya, Kuru, Kaikaya and Sṛñjaya. Śrī Kṛshṇa, in the forms of Balarāma, Bhīma and Arjuna, slays them; they merge in him, and he grants them his divine abode, Vaikuṇṭha.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 7
On Vidura’s road
Vidura, on his tīrtha-yātrā, heard at Prabhāsa of the end of the Kuru vaṃśa and went to the bank of the Sarasvatī. From there he passed through the prosperous Saurāshṭra and the regions of Sauvīra, Matsya and Kurujāṅgala, and after some time reached the bank of the Yamunā, where he saw Uddhava, the devotee of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. Śuka tells this to Parīkshit.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 1
On the road to Indraprastha, and the heroes of Matsya
When Śrī Kṛshṇa set out from Dvārakā for Dharmarāja’s Rājasūya, he passed mountains, rivers, cities, villages, cowherd settlements and mines, and crossed in order the lands of Ānarta, Sauvīra and Maru, Kurukshetra, the river Dṛshadvatī, the river Sarasvatī, and the lands of Pañcāla and Matsya, and reached Indraprastha.
There Dharmarāja, at Śrī Kṛshṇa’s counsel, sent his younger brothers to conquer the directions: Sahadeva to the south with the heroes of Sṛñjaya, Nakula to the west with the heroes of Matsya, Arjuna to the north with the Kekayas, and Bhīmasena to the east with the heroes of Madra. Those heroes conquered the kings by their strength and brought great wealth back to Dharmarāja. Śuka tells this to Parīkshit.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapters 71–72
Its kings at Samantapañcaka
At the time of the total eclipse of the sun, the people of Bhārata went on tīrtha-yātrā to Samantapañcaka, the kshetra of Paraśurāma‘s pools, and the Yādavas went there from Dvārakā. When they had bathed, given cows to brāhmaṇas and eaten, they sat in the shade of the trees and saw the kings who had come: the kings of Matsya, Uśīnara, Kausalya, Vidarbha, Kuru, Sṛñjaya, Kāmboja, Kekaya, Madra, Kunti, Ānarta and Kerala, and kings of other lands by the hundreds.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 82
Its people on Śrī Kṛshṇa’s road to Videha
When Śrī Kṛshṇa went with the maharshis to Videha, to bless King Bahulāśva and the brāhmaṇa Śrutadeva, citizens and village-dwellers bowed to him on the way with pūjā materials in their hands. The men and women of the lands of Ānarta, Dhanva, Kurujāṅgala, Kaṅka, Matsya, Pāñcāla, Kunti, Madhu, Kekaya, Kosala and Arṇa, and others besides, drank with their eyes his lotus-like face, with its smile full of generosity and its glances full of love. By seeing him, the ignorance in people’s minds was destroyed and fearlessness arose. Śuka, who went with Śrī Kṛshṇa on that journey, tells this to Parīkshit.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 86
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapter 10; Skandha 2, Chapter 7; Skandha 3, Chapter 1; Skandha 10, Chapters 71–72, 82, 86