The Social and Military Position of the Ruling Caste in Ancient India, as Represented by the Sanskrit Epic c2.s2.24.2

c2.s2.24.2

The attempt to reconcile king Dhritarāshtra of the Yajur-Veda literature with the date of the late upstart Kurus may be abandoned, as common sense demands: and more than common sense. To that Brahmanic period king Dhritarāshtra is real; the Pāndus as a people are unknown. But to the Epic period the Pāndus are real, and the hypothecated king of the Kurus is a mere shadow. The real king of the Kurus (he receives the title of rājā in the poem as it stands to-day) is Duryodhana. It is only in the secondary fable that Dhritarāshtra is prominent. In the real action of the piece the latter is as good as silent, but becomes, first and last, conspicuous as a lay-figure on which to exhibit teachings of various sorts. To the writers of the Epic the Pāndus seem to have been genuine founders of a dynasty. What had they accomplished? They, a new race, not known by ancestors noble enough to be reflected in the older literature, became formidable through allying themselves with the Panchālas. They attacked and overthrew the venerable Kuru empire, and seated themselves upon the throne of these vanquished Kurus. And which Kurus? Those of the Vedic age? Is it likely that such an event could have taken place unnoticed in the light of the Dhritarāshtra of the Yajus? We must remember that Janamejaya is also of Brahmanic antiquity, but that the Pāndus are unknown. The solution of the difficulty seems to me to lie in a very likely assumption.