Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c7.48

c7.48

The use of *śruti* for ordinary tradition is thus well-established in the earlier parts of the Puranas and especially in those containing kṣatriya tradition. When there was need to distinguish Vedic tradition, it was cited as *Vaidikī śruti*;¹ and so also Vedic *gāthās*² and Vedic *mantras*³ were distinguished from ordinary *gāthās* and Puranic *mantras* by the same epithet. Sometimes the word *laukika* was added to distinguish ordinary or popular matters from Vedic, as in the cases of *dharma*,⁴ *vidyā*⁵ and *śabda*.⁶