[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [Ancient Indian Historical Tradition](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.pargiter-1922) › c8.12 # Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c8.12 Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c8.12 - **Language:** English ### [c8.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.pargiter-1922.c8.12) ⁴ So Yāska uses \*aitihāsika\* for those who interpreted the Veda with reference to traditional history (\*Vedic Index\* i, 122. Cf. opening verses in chap. I). It shows that \*itihāsa\* as traditional history was well understood, and therefore that \*itihāsas\* must have been commonly current. \*Itihāsas\* according to Sāyaṇa are cosmological myths or accounts, such as ‘In the beginning this universe was nothing but water’, &c.; so SBE xliv, p. 98: but this is very doubtful, because (1) \*itihāsa\* is, I believe, very rarely found applied to such accounts, (2) the definition of \*itihāsa\* and the references to it in the Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra (which will be noticed in chap. IV) distinctly negative it, and (3) so also does Yāska’s use of the word \*aitihāsika\*. - [Previous: c8.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.pargiter-1922.c8.11) - [Next: c8.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.pargiter-1922.c8.13) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.pargiter-1922.c8) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.pargiter-1922.c8.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.pargiter-1922.c8.12) · Pramāṇa