Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c9.s3.204

c9.s3.204

**Janamejaya's brothers**, Bhīmasena, Ugrasena and Śrutasena, appear in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa*⁴ and the *Śāṅkhāyana Śrauta Sūtra*⁵ as performers of the horse-sacrifice.⁶ At the time of the *Bṛihad-āraṇyaka Upanishad* their life and end excited popular curiosity and were discussed with avidity in learned circles. It is clear that the sun of the Pārikshitas had set before the time of the *Upanishad*,⁷ and it is also clear that they had been guilty of some sinful deeds which they had atoned for by their horse-sacrifice. The *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* quotes a *gāthā* which says:—