A History of Indian Literature v1.c9.s8.3

v1.c9.s8.3

The connection of the Harivaṃśa with the Mahābhārata itself is purely external and is limited essentially to the fact that the same Vaiśampāyana who is said to have recited the whole Mahābhārata to Janamejaya,² is also regarded as the reciter of the Harivaṃśa. In connection with the frame story of the Mahābhārata, Śaunaka, at the beginning of the appendix, requests Ugraśravas, after he has told him all the beautiful stories of the Bhāratas, to relate something about the Vṛṣṇis and Andhakas—the families to which Kṛṣṇa belongs.