Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c10.62

c10.62

The brahmanical Śānti-parvan says that Bhīṣma learnt dharma from Bhārgava Cyavana (who belonged to the very earliest age), from Vasiṣṭha and Mārkaṇḍeya (these are only gotra names), and from Rāma (that is, Jāmadagnya, who was long anterior).¹ Similarly, Droṇa is said to have visited Rāma Jāmadagnya.² The story of Utaṅka³ is a farrago of absurdities and chronological errors, plainly brahmanical. So the Bṛhaddevatā (iv, 112) and the Vedārthadīpikā on Rigveda iii, 53 make the first Viśvāmitra (son of Gāthi or Gādhi) contemporary with Śakti Vāsiṣṭha who was far later.⁴ This chronological ignorance produces at times the most absurd positions, as where persons are made to describe events long posterior to their time; thus king Dilīpa of Ayodhyā is instructed by his priest ‘Vasiṣṭha’ about Kaṃsa’s tyranny and Kṛṣṇa’s birth.⁵