Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c11.12

c11.12

The Brahma and Harivaṃśa agree closely in their genealogical account and have practically the same text, subject to small variations. The Brahma is cited from the Ānandāśrama edition. The Harivaṃśa text (Calcutta edition) is better than the Brahma, for the latter has suffered through losses; thus it is manifestly incomplete in the North Pañcāla genealogy, and most copies of it omit the Cedi-Magadha dynasty descended from Kuru (chapter IX). Their version is very similar to the ‘Vāyu version’, and has the same basis, and appears to be a revision of that version. Sometimes it has omissions, sometimes additions which seem to contain genuine tradition, sometimes it varies, and sometimes it makes mistakes. It may be called the ‘Harivaṁśa version’. It is manifestly later than the ‘Vāyu version’, and this is best illustrated by the fact that it gives two incompatible origins for the Kānyakubja and Kāśī dynasties, one in each case being necessarily wrong, devised at a later time when erroneous views had obtained currency.