Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c30.116

c30.116

But these facts and conclusions are in full agreement with what tradition says about the outspread of the Druhyus beyond the north-west of India (p. 264), for that is assigned to about the time No. 40 in the genealogical table (p. 146), namely, some 55 steps earlier than the Bhārata battle of 950 B. C. (p. 182); and if we allow 12 years per step (p. 183), that outflow would have begun 950 + 660, that is, about 1600 B. C., and would have spread gradually to allow of the appearance of Indian gods in the treaty of 1400 B. C. Tradition shows that the Ailas or Aryans had entered North India earlier still, and had dominated the greater part of it by the time of that outflow. Their entry, calculated on the 92 steps from Purūravas to the Bhārata battle, according to the same scale, would be placed 950 + 1104, that is, about 2050 B. C. Indian tradition and the facts of that treaty are thus in complete harmony, and the former furnishes a simple and sufficient explanation of the latter. This is testimony to the value of Indian tradition, and goes to show that the genealogies are substantial and may supply a scale for approximate chronological computation. Those migrants kept the names of their gods correctly, but the kings naturally modified their own names as they and their language became more separated from India.