Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c9.18

c9.18

There is some definite information concerning, first, what was ranked as ‘past’, and secondly, what was considered to be ‘future’. First, all the epic and Puranic traditions that deal with kings and princes, and less markedly with rishis, stop short soon after the great Bhārata battle. Till that event they are fairly copious, and after that they take in the reign of Yudhiṣṭhira and his brothers, and, in the early and final chapters of the Mahābhārata, speak of their successors Parīkṣit II and Janamejaya III;² but there are no traditions about Janamejaya’s successors, nor about any of the kings of the great dynasties of Ayodhyā and Magadha after that battle beyond a few curt allusions in the list of the kings of the Kali age.³ ‘The past’ therefore was to that extent regarded as ending with the decease of the Pāṇḍavas, or later with Janamejaya III.