The History of Indian Literature c9.46.3

c9.46.3

and the warfare at least which forms the basis of the Mahá-Bhárata might have been waged concurrently with expeditions of other Aryan tribes to the south. Whether it was really the Kośalas, as whose chief Ráma appears in the Rámáyaṇa, who effected the colonisation of the south,∗ as stated in the poem; or whether the poet merely was a Kośala, who claimed this honour for his people and royal house, is a point upon which it is not yet possible to form a judgment. He actually represents Sítá as the daughter of Janaka, king of the Videhas, a tribe contiguous to the Kośalas, and renowned for his piety. The scanty knowledge of South India displayed in the Rámáyaṇa has been urged as proving its antiquity; since in the Mahá-Bhárata this region appears as far more advanced in civilisation, and as enjoying ample direct communication with the rest of India. But in this circumstance I can only see evidence of one of two things: either that the poet did not possess the best geographical knowledge; whereas many generations have worked at the Mahá-Bhárata, and made it their aim to magnify the importance of the conflict by grouping round it as many elements as possible: or else—and this is the point I would particularly emphasise—that the poet rightly apprehended and performed the task he had set himself, and so did not mix up later conditions, although familiar to him, with the earlier state of things.