Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c10.114

c10.114

Kṣatriya tradition comprises genealogies, tales, notices and allusions. The genealogies will be dealt with fully in chapters VII to IX. The tales are of two kinds—those that appear to be historical and those that manifestly are merely laudatory. The former are generally told simply and naturally without excessive exaggeration, and have the appearance of being ancient and genuine, for it is very improbable that they could have been the work of Puranic brahmans, so that they must have belonged to the ancient kṣatriya traditions preserved by the sūtas. They are most trustworthy when narrated simply. The best occur in the genealogies, such as the Puranic stories of Satyavrata-Triśaṅku and Sagara, mentioned above; and others that occur elsewhere are those of Duṣyanta and Śakuntalā,¹⁰ Saṃvaraṇa and Vasiṣṭha,¹¹ Bhīṣma and Ugrāyudha.¹² They are open to doubt the more they are elaborated and amplified, the most striking example being the detailed account of the early kings of the Vaiśālī dynasty in the Mārkaṇḍeya,¹³ wherein occur many anachronisms such as the introduction of Agastya in the earliest times (115, 16).