Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c30.92

c30.92

Now these tales are mythical,² and tradition becomes mythical when it reaches back to origins, yet such mythical tales can hardly have sprung from pure imagination, and must have been developed from some germ of reality. They certainly suggest that Purūravas's origin was in that north region; and this agrees with and explains the fact that that region, the countries in and beyond the middle of the Himalayas, has always been the sacred land of the Indians. Indian tradition knows nothing of any Aila or Aryan invasion of India from Afghanistan, nor of any gradual advance from thence eastwards. On the other hand it distinctly asserts that there was an Aila outflow of the Druhyus through the north-west into the countries beyond, where they founded various kingdoms and so introduced their own Indian religion among those nations.³