Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c9.33

c9.33

began at the close of the Bhārata battle, or at the latest about a century afterwards.¹ The difference is not material for the present purpose. The transition manifestly implies a definite stage in the position of tradition, and indicates that previous tradition must have been collected then and formed into a definite compilation, which closed ‘the past’. That would have been the precise consequence of the formation of the original Purana. Tradition says that the original Purana was composed about that time (p. 21).² The two therefore agree and the former corroborates the latter. True Puranas multiplied, the Bhaviṣyat was devised, and the Puranic brahmans had ample time to begin incorporating brahmanic matter, before Āpastamba’s date.