Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c15.13

c15.13

An excellent instance of a spurious genealogy is the account of the Yādavas in the Harivamśa (94, 5138 f.). It says Madhu, a king who reigned from Madhuvana on the river Jumna to Surāṣṭra and Ānarta (Gujarat), was descended from Yadu and Yayāti (5164). His daughter married Haryaśva, a scion of the Aikṣvāku race, and their son was Yadu, and from this Yadu were descended the Yādavas (5180, 5191). It thus makes Madhu both a Yādava and also grandfather of Yadu the ancestor of the Yādavas. It says the Yadu race thus issued from the Ikṣvāku race (5239), although it acknowledges that Madhu was already a Yādava, and introduces the further absurdity that this Yadu was like his ancestor Pūru (5176). Lastly, it styles Madhu a Daitya (5143) and a Dānava (5157),² although it acknowledges he was of the Lunar race (5165). The whole story is a mass of absurd confusion; and the confusion is carried on into the accounts of this Yadu's five sons (95, 5205 f.), except the short passage (5242-8) which appears to contain genuine tradition because it is corroborated elsewhere (see chapter XIV).