The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c24.15

v1.c24.15

As yet this necessary preliminary process has not even been begun; and until it is completed the real value of the Purāṇas as historical evidence cannot be estimated. They still continue to be dated by scholars according to the latest indications which can be discovered in them, and they are too often rejected as incompetent witnesses for the events of any earlier period. The elementary fact that the date, whether of a building or of a literary production, is not determined by its latest addition is in their case generally ignored.