Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c7.184

c7.184

The Mahābhārata puts forward similar claims for itself; thus it declares it is the chief of all śāstras,¹ it is a Veda² and outweighs the four Vedas,³ it cleanses from sin,⁴ it enables a man to attain to Brahmā’s abode⁵ and Viṣṇu’s abode,⁶ and it procures final emancipation from existence.⁷ These claims are not however quite as thoroughgoing as those that the Puranas assert for themselves, and moreover it seems that the Puranas were first with their claims and the epic followed and copied them (p. 22). The Rāmāyaṇa, being a brahmanical production, is less assertive, and claims but to be equal to the Veda and to free from sin.⁸