Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c17.18

c17.18

Secondly, the use of a patronymic does not always denote that the person to whom it is applied was the son of the bearer of the simple name, but often means a descendant. This is patent as regards tribal or family names, such as Yādava, Paurava, Bhārata and Kaurava; and is also clear in less comprehensive names, as when Rāma is called Rāghava after his great grandfather Raghu,⁶ and Kṛṣṇa is styled Dāśārha, Mādhava, Sātvata, Vārṣṇeya and Śauri after various ancestors,⁷ as well as Vāsudeva after his father. This use of patronymics seems to be more frequent in kṣatriya than in brahmanic traditions; thus Ṛcīka (p. 68) and the later ṛṣi Agni of Sagara’s time⁸ are both called Aurva after their common ancestor Ūrva. Moreover, a man had various patronymics from different ancestors, and the choice in poetry was often governed by the metre; and perhaps this may explain Kakṣīvant’s patronymic Auśija in Rigveda i, 18, 1, instead of Dairghatamasa or Aucathya.⁹