Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c7.67

c7.67

After that he composed the Mahābhārata.¹ The epic itself implies that the Purana preceded it. It says that Vyāsa, just after he had composed it, declared that he had already made the Itihāsas and Puranas manifest.² It also asserts that a Vaiṣṇava may gain the same merit by listening to it that is gained by listening to the eighteen Puranas³—a statement which (however much we discount the number eighteen) would hardly have suggested itself, if the epic was believed to be prior to all the Puranas. The epic has also borrowed from the Puranas,⁴ more often I think than they cite it.