Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c10.7

c10.7

Taking then traditions that profess to deal with history, we find that many tales are manifestly and essentially brahmanic, such as the story of Vasiṣṭha, Viśvāmitra and king Triśaṅku in the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa,¹ that of Viśvāmitra and king Hariścandra in the Mārkaṇḍeya (7 and 8), and that of king Hariścandra, Rohita and Śunaḥśepa in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa² and Śaṅkhāyana Śrauta Sūtra.³ Others are plainly kṣatriya tales, such as the ballad of king Satyavrata-Triśaṅku, Vasiṣṭha and Viśvāmitra in the Puranas (p. 38), that of king Sagara in the Puranas (p. 38), and that of Bhīṣma and Ugrāyudha in the Harivaṃśa (p. 37). Others again are neither kṣatriya nor brahmanical precisely, but combine features of both those classes and are thus of a mixed or intermediate character, such as the story of Agastya and Lopāmudrā (p. 38), that of king Mitrasaha Kalmāṣapāda,⁴ and that of king Janamejaya II Pārikṣita who hurt Gārgya’s son.⁵ And there is a fourth class, namely, stories which have obviously been devised in order to explain names.