Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c9.s3.195

c9.s3.195

Already in the time of Āśvalāyana’s *Gṛihya Sūtra*⁴ Vaiśampāyana was known as *Mahābhāratāchārya*. He is also mentioned in the *Taittirīya Araṇyaka*⁵ and the *Ashṭādhyāyī* of Pāṇini.⁶ Whether the traditional reciter of the original *Mahābhārata* was actually a contemporary of Janamejaya or not, cannot be ascertained at the present moment. But I have found nothing in the Vedic literature itself which goes against the epic tradition. The early Vedic texts no doubt make no reference to the *Mahābhārata*, but they mention *Itihāsas*.¹ It is well-known that the story supposed to have been recited by Vaiśampāyana to Janamejaya was at first called an *Itihāsa* and was named *Jaya*² or song of victory, *i.e.*, victory of the Pāṇḍus, the ancestors of the king: