Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c14.s4.1

c14.s4.1

The Dvimīḍha dynasty is given by six Puranas.¹ It is derived correctly by the Vāyu, Viṣṇu, Garuḍa and Bhāgavata, but is wrongly attributed to Ajamīḍha by the Matsya and Harivaṃśa; and the Viṣṇu by the loss of words, that closed the South Pañcāla dynasty with Bhallāṭa's son Janamejaya and opened this, says Dvimīḍha was Bhallāṭa's son and thus tacks it on to that line. This is clearly wrong, because it thus makes Ugrāyudha of this dynasty the tenth descendant from Bhallāṭa, but he killed Bhallāṭa's son Janamejaya, and both of them were contemporaries of Bhīṣma, as will be explained in chapter XIII.² As regards the kings the lists agree generally (the Vāyu and Matsya having the best texts), with however some mistakes. Thus the Viṣṇu, Garuḍa and Bhāgavata omit four kings, Sudharman to Rukmaratha; and the Bhāgavata, misunderstanding the relation of teacher and disciple between Hiraṇyanābha of Kosala and king Kṛta,³ wrongly introduces the former here as Kṛta's father, and also wrongly assigns the last five kings as Nīpa's descendants in the South Pañcāla line. The Vāyu, Matsya and Harivaṃśa declare that in Sārvabhauma's lineage was Mahant Paurava, thus indicating a gap between them. This line is set out in the Table of Genealogies in chapter XII.