Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c10.153

c10.153

Of the first kind, some appear to be ancient and may be genuine, such as the explanation of Pañcāla from pañca alam, which began as a jocose nickname, the ‘Five capables’, given to the five sons of king Bhṛmyaśva in consequence of a jocular boast of his;⁵ of the nickname Nandanodaradundubhi of a Yādava king;⁶ and possibly of the name Triśaṅku.⁷ But most of such stories have been coined out of the names themselves, sometimes fanciful, sometimes mistaken, and sometimes absurd. Some no doubt arose from popular etymology, but many were certainly the invention of Puranic brahmans. Some may be fairly old, though silly, as that Ikṣvāku was so named because Manu sneezed,⁸ and that Śaśāda got his name because he ate a hare.¹ But many, if not most, are obviously late fabrications, being sometimes fashioned with grotesque ingenuity, such as those explaining the names Māndhātṛ,² Videha,³ Jarāsandha,⁴ Gāndinī⁵ and Bharadvāja.⁶ These are quite on a par with similar explanations in brahmanical books, such as those of Atri,⁷ Ayāsya and Aṅgiras,⁸ and yūpa.⁹