Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c9.s3.191

c9.s3.191

The very name of the Great Epic betrays the Bhārata (Kuru) connection of the principal heroes and combatants. The testimony of Buddhist literature points to the same conclusion. In the *Dasa-Brāhmaṇa Jātaka*¹ a king “of the stock of Yuddhiṭṭhila” reigning “in the kingdom of Kuru and the city called Indapatta” is distinctly called “Koravya,” *i.e.*, Kauravya—belonging to the Kuru race. The polyandrous marriage of the Pāṇḍavas does not necessarily indicate that they are of non-Kuru origin. The system of Niyoga prevalent among the Kurus of the *Madhya-deśa* was not far removed from fraternal polyandry,² while the law (*Dharma*) of marriage honoured by the Northern Kurus was admittedly lax.³