Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c9.s3.90

c9.s3.90

¹ The absorption of the Bharatas by the Kurus is suggested by such passages as *Kuravo nāma Bhāratāḥ* (Mbh. XII. 349. 44). In the *Rām.* IV. 33. 11 Bharatas are still distinguished from the Kurus. It has been suggested by some scholars, e. *g.*, C. V. Vaidya (*History of Mediaeval Hindu India*, Vol. II, pp. 268 ff.) that the Bharata of Ṛigvedic tradition is not to be identified with Dauḥshanti Bharata, the traditional progenitor of the Kuru royal family, but rather with Bharata, the son of Ṛishabha, a descendant of the first Manu called Svāyambhuva. It should, however, be remembered that the story of Bharata, son of Ṛishabha, is distinctly late. The Bharata princes and people of Ṛigvedic tradition are clearly associated with the Kuru country watered by the Sarasvatī and the Dṛishadvatī and the names of their rulers, *e.g.*, Divodāsa and Sudās occur in Purāṇic lists of kings descended from the son or daughter of Manu Vaivasvata and not of Manu Svāyambhuva. The Bharata priests Vasishṭha and Viśvāmitra Kauśika are connected in early literature with the royal progeny of Manu Vaivasvata and his daughter, and not of Manu Svāyambhuva. For the association of Vasishṭha with the descendants of Bharata Dauḥshanti see the story of Saṁvaraṇa and Tapatī in the *Mahābhārata*, I. 94 and 171 f. Viśvāmitra Kauśika's association with the Pūru-Bharata family is, of course, well-known (Mbh. I. 94. 33). It may be argued that Bharata, ancestor of Viśvāmitra, who is called *Bharata-rishabha* in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*, must be distinguished from the later Bharata, the son of Śakuntalā, daughter of Viśvāmitra. But there is no real ground for believing that the story of Viśvāmitra's connection with the nymphs is based on sober history. The Ṛigvedic Viśvāmitra belonged to the family of Kuśika. In the *Mahābhārata* (I. 94. 33) the Kuśikas are expressly mentioned as descendants of Bharata Dauḥshanti.