Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c24.s1.1

c24.s1.1

Among the Āṅgirasas were the Kāṇvas,³ and they were an offshoot from the Paurava line, as all the authorities agree, but two distinct points are assigned for their branching off in two different accounts. Both accounts say, Kaṇva had a son Medhātithi, and from Medhātithi were descended the Kāṇvāyanas who were brahmans. One account says, Kaṇva was son of Apratiratha (or Pratiratha), one of the sons of king Matināra (or Rantināra, p. 144) : but the other makes Kaṇva son of Ajamīḍha, a king who was Martināra’s successor by some 32 generations. This difference involves a great discrepancy as to the time when Kaṇva lived. Both origins can hardly be true, for it is difficult to believe that Kāṇvas started from ‘Medhātithi son of Kaṇva’ twice over many generations apart, that is, the double origin of a single brahman family from two persons ages apart. A gotra called Kāṇvas is named among the Vasiṣṭhas,⁴ but, even assuming that that unique mention is correct, that gotra appears unknown otherwise; and the above two accounts undoubtedly refer to one and the same family of Kāṇvas.