Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c23.117

c23.117

The genealogy makes this Vasiṣṭha Maitrāvaruṇa ancestor only of the Kuṇḍins, or Kuṇḍinas as the name is more often given. This family obviously took its name from its ancestor, just like the Viśvāmitras, Kaṇvas and others. Hence he was Kuṇḍin, or Kuṇḍina, Maitrāvaruṇa, son of Mitrāvaruṇa. Kuṇḍina is named as a Vasiṣṭha twice and mentioned along with Mitrāvaruṇa,³ and both (p. 214) were Vasiṣṭhas who were brahma-vādins. Kuṇḍina would naturally be connected with kuṇḍin, ‘having a pitcher,’ and Maitrāvaruṇa was taken to mean ‘son of Mitra and Varuṇa’; thus these two names reveal at once how the above fables were fabricated by way of folk etymology.