The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c22.s3.1

v1.c22.s3.1

Of the warriors who are mentioned as having been engaged in battles and aided by the gods, we have absolutely no reason to assign the majority to any but the world of past reality. Historic reminiscence and poetic imagination are sufficient to account for what is said about them, just as the same factors together with aetiological myths explain adequately the legends of the priest of old days. To seek in any of them gods is erroneous: ¹ treated as history, it is perfectly possible to make good sense out of the history of Sudās, and even of the older and more mystic Divodāsa Atithigva.² With Sudās Viçvāmitra and Vasiṣṭha stand in the closest relation: we have a poem which tradition places in the mouth of Viçvāmitra extolling the rivers Vipāç and Çutudrī for giving an easy crossing to his master’s hosts,³ and another hymn recounts with jeers at the expense of Viçvāmitra ⁴ the failure of the great coalition which he had brought against his former master, and the success of the army of Sudās through the help of Vasiṣṭha.