Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c9.37

c9.37

Kauṭilya says, ‘The three Vedas, the Sāman, Ṛc and Yajus, are the threefold (scripture). The Atharva-veda and the Itihāsa-veda are also Vedas’.^3 He calls the Itihāsa a Veda and puts it on the same footing as the Atharva-veda. Clearly therefore the Itihāsa was something as definite and well known as that Veda. He also defines the Itihāsa thus—‘Itihāsa means the Purāṇa, Itivṛtta (history), Ākhyāyikā (tale), Udāharaṇa (illustrative story), the Dharmaśāstra and the Arthaśāstra’.^4 All these terms are obviously generic,⁵ and Purana here means Puranas. As the Itihāsa was a Veda and definite, its component parts cannot have been indefinite, hence the Puranas were not an indefinite collection of ancient tales but must have been compositions certain and well established in character then. This is corroborated by another passage which says that a minister skilled in the Arthaśāstra should admonish a king, who is led astray, by means of the Itivṛtta and Purāṇa.⁶ Here also the terms are generic, and the serious purpose for which the Puranas were to be used shows that they were not mere ancient tales but were definite and instructive compositions.