The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c24.23

v1.c24.23

Some such antiquity is implicitly claimed by the Purāṇas in their prologues. Parāçara, who narrates the Vishṇu Pur., is the grandson of Vasishṭha, the rishi of the seventh maṇḍala of the Rigveda; and his narration takes place in the reign of Parikshit² who is celebrated as a king of the Kurus in the Atharvaveda. Nearly all the other Purāṇas are attributed to the Sūta and to a period four generations later. Of the prologues to these that of the Vāyu Pur. may be selected as typical. The rishis are performing their twelve-year sacrifice in the Naimisha forest on the bank of the sacred river Dṛishadvatī. To them comes the Sūta, the custodian of the ancient Kshatriya traditions. At their request he takes up his parable and retells the legends entrusted to his care by Vyāsa. The scene is laid in the reign of the Pūru king Adhisīmakṛishṇa, who is supposed to have lived before the beginning of the Kali Age, or, as we should say, before the historical period. But the genealogy assigned to him indicates a more definite date; for of his immediate forbears—Açvamedhadatta, Çatānīka, Janamejaya, Parīkshit—all but the first, his father Açvamedhadatta, are no doubt to be identified with kings of the same names who appear in the Brāhmaṇas.