The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s17.6

c8.s17.6

The early history of the family is to be found partly in epigraphic records, and partly in the introduction to Hêmâdri's *Vrata-khaṇḍa*.⁴ The Purâṇic genealogy is perhaps given most fully by Hêmâdri. Among epigraphic records, it is found first in the Saṅgamnêr copper-plate grant of the *Mahâsâmanta* Bhillama II., dated in A. D. 1000,⁵ and finally in the Paiṭhaṇ grant of king Râmachandra, dated in A. D. 1272.⁶ And the essence of it is as follows:— In the beginning of things, there was the god Vishṇu; in connection with whom, the Yâdavas claimed to belong to the Vishṇuvaṁśa or race of Vishṇu.⁷ From the water-lily that grew from Vishṇu's navel, there sprang the god Brahman. His son was Atri. And his was Sôma, Chandra, or Indu, the Moon;⁸ whence The Yâdavas belonged also to the Sômavamśa or Lunar Race. The descent is then taken through various persons, until we come to Yadu, the founder of the Yaduvamśa, or race of Yadu, in the Lunar Race. Hêmâdri, who professes to give an absolutely complete pedigree, then proceeds to name all the descendants of Yadu in the line to which the Yâdavas of Dêvagiri belonged. The epigraphic records, however, do not aim at such completeness; and simply say that in the lineage of Yadu there was born that particular person with which each of them commences the genealogy.