Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c14.s1.6

c14.s1.6

The derivation from Ajamīḍha is certainly wrong. He was the seventh successor of Bharata. Viśvāmitra was the descendant of Jahnu by some eight steps, and must, if Jahnu was son of Ajamīḍha, have been some fifteen generations below Bharata; but it is well known that Bharata was son of king Duṣyanta and Śakuntalā⁵ who was daughter of Viśvāmitra;⁶ so that Viśvāmitra was an ancestor of Bharata. Viśvāmitra cannot have been both an ancestor and a descendant of Bharata. The story of Śakuntalā is one of the best alleged tales in ancient tradition, so that Viśvāmitra was certainly prior to Bharata and therefore to Ajamīḍha, and the versions which make his ancestor Jahnu son of Ajamīḍha are certainly wrong. Moreover it will be seen from the discussion of Jahnu, Viśvāmitra and their contemporaries in chapter XIII, that they belonged to the age of the early Aikṣvāku, Haihaya and Paurava kings, long anterior to Bharata and Ajamīḍha. The error appears also from the condition, that it makes this kingdom arise at the same time as N. and S. Pañcāla, though they comprised all its territory.