Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c16.2

c16.2

WHEN the genealogies are examined, differences are found in that a name or even several names appear in one or more lists while wanting in others. These variations are often unsubstantial, and may be due to faults sometimes in the MSS and sometimes in the structure of the genealogy itself. The former faults arise through copyists’ mistakes or defects in the MSS. Omissions may include one or two kings, as will appear on comparing the common text of the Vāyu and Matsya in the North Pañcāla dynasty,¹ or a group of kings, as will appear from the common text of the Brahmāṇḍa and Vāyu in the Vaiśāla dynasty.² A case where a passage is in the process of disappearing occurs in the Brahma when compared with its counterpart in the Harivaṃśa in the North Pañcāla dynasty.³ Large omissions would be due to loss of pages in the ancient MSS; and the clearest example of this is the great lacuna in the Brahmāṇḍa (p. 78).