Studies in the Epics and Puranas c9.9

c9.9

Now to turn to the grounds cited by Pargiter in support of his thesis. It may be observed at the outset, that even accepting all the grounds to be valid and proved, they are not sufficient to postulate the existence of originals in Prakrit. In the first place, they relate only to the genealogical portions, which occupy but a small part of the bulky mass the Purāṇas contain. The number of instances quoted in support of each of the grounds is quite disproportionate to the total number of stanzas these accounts include. One would have expected a stronger and an all-pervasive evidence to support even a *prima facie* case. The evidence brought forward by Pargiter is not sufficient to warrant the inference.