Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c32.44

c32.44

By the end of the seventh century B.C., the original Puranas had been compiled as shown in chapter IV, and the old traditions became known to a certain extent to the recluse brahmans who composed the Brāhmaṇas (pp. 10, 63): hence the Śatapatha notices much legend, though seemingly with doubtful success.⁸ The fact that the Brāhmaṇas make no reference to the Pāṇḍavas or the Bhārata battle has been explained;¹ and the reason why the Bharatas are not mentioned in the geographical lists of the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, in Manu, or in the Buddhist texts,² is simply that the term Bhārata had become too wide for particular use, as noticed in p. 293. The futility of expecting to find secular history in the Brāhmaṇas, which are purely priestly literature, is emphasized by the fact that they take very little notice even of contemporary kings.