The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c22.8

v1.c22.8

It is not till the second century B.C. that we find unmistakable allusion to what we may probably call our epic poem, in the account of the Mahābhāshya, which alludes to a poetic treatment of the epic story and speaks of epic characters. The second century B.C. is also the period to which those portions belong in which the foreign invaders of the Punjab—Yavanas, Çakas, and Pahlavas—are mentioned (*v. sup.* p. 224). These foreigners are represented as fighting on the side of the Kurus. As for the Pañchālas being opponents of the Āryan Kurus, the Çatapatha Brāhmaṇa represents them as allies, and in early literature they are frequently mentioned as forming one people, the Kuru-Pañchālas. A single reference in a formula may, indeed, imply disdain of the Pañchālas on the part of the Kurus¹, but it is not certain that any racial antagonism existed between the two. We may say with Weber¹ that ‘the epic commemorates a fight between Āryans in Hindustān after the time when the original inhabitants had been overthrown and Brāhmanised,’ only on the assumption that Kurus, Pañchālas, and Pāṇḍus were Āryans; but this is doubtful, and the force of the remark is in any case somewhat impaired by the fact that contests between Āryans are no indication of late date, since such contests are commemorated even in the Rigveda.