Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c21.7

c21.7

These brahman genealogies present a remarkable contrast with those of the royal dynasties. It is the difference between a genuine genealogy and one subsequently compiled; between a genealogy that grew contemporaneously with the prolongation of the dynasty, and a genealogy that was pieced together by some compiler out of such materials as he could collect and understand in after times. The bulk of the royal genealogies consists of persons who are named nowhere else; and it would be impossible to construct them out of the notices of kings which occur elsewhere. The brahman vamśas are defective in all their features. They do not set out continuous descent except occasionally for a very few steps. They are often manifestly incomplete where they give such descents, because they may assign only a few steps to periods in which the royal genealogies place many kings, as will be seen in the pedigree from Śakti to Vyāsa among the Vasiṣṭhas. Where they do set out copious names, the names form merely a list without any genealogical connexion.