Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c10.49

c10.49

Secondly, the brahmans confused kings, rishis and others with mythological persons of the same names, for names were common to both then as down even to modern times.¹ A few instances of such confusion may be noticed here. Bṛhaspati, the Āṅgirasa rishi, who lived just before Bharata’s time,² is confused with the divine priest Bṛhaspati.³ Madhu, the great Yādava king,⁴ from whom Kṛṣṇa obtained the patronymic Mādhava, is called a Daitya, a Dānava and an asura,⁵ being apparently confused with the demon Madhu whom Viṣṇu killed. Such cases of confusion led to the fabrication of brahmanical fables, and not a few other fables may be suspected to have arisen through similar misunderstanding.