Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c6.24

c6.24

The result is displayed in the epics and Purāṇas on the one side and in the Vedic literature on the other. Sacred lore is the subject of that literature, and references to secular matters are generally incidental for the purpose of illustrating some religious point. The ancient portion of the Purāṇas consists largely, as will be shown in chapter III, of the royal genealogies and kṣatriya ballads and tales, while most of their teaching on religious matters was added by brahmans in later times. Dynastic accounts and heroic tales were the principal subjects of the kṣatriya record. Royal genealogies are found in thirteen Purāṇas, the epics and the Harivaṃśa; but brahman genealogies hardly exist and are most meagre. The former give long lists of kings, but among rishi families it is rare to find more than three or four descents remembered, and the longest rishi pedigree is that of Vyāsa’s family with six descents. Further it is noteworthy that, in cases where a king became a brahman, his kṣatriya descent is given fairly fully, but the succeeding brahman pedigree stops short or is dissipated into a mere list of gotra names, as is especially noticeable in the famous case of Viśvāmitra.²