Materials for the Study of the Early History of the Vaishnava Sect c8.210

c8.210

The theory of Hopkins rests on a mass of unproved hypothesis. There is no good reason to believe that the Pāṇḍavas were an “unknown folk connected with the wild tribes located north of the Ganges” and that Kṛiṣṇa was the “patron God” of the tribe. Hindu tradition is unanimous in representing the Pāṇḍavas as an offshoot of the Kuru race. In the *Mahābhārata* the epithet *Kurukulodvaha* is applied to Pāṇḍu¹ and to Yudhishṭhira.² The Kaurava affinity of the Pāṇḍus is known throughout the epic and is by no means confined only to the genealogical lists. Patañjali³ too calls Bhīma, Nakula and Sahadeva Kurus.⁴ The very name of the great Epic betrays the Bhārata (Kuru) connection of its principal heroes and combatants. The testimony of Buddhist literature points to the same conclusion. In the *Dasa-Brāhmaṇa Jātaka*⁵ a king “of the stock of Yuddhiṭhila” reigning “in the kingdom of Kuru and the city called Indapatta” is distinctly called “Koravya,” i.e., Kauravya—“belonging to the Kuru race.” In the *Kurudhamma Jātaka*⁶ Dhanañjaya, king of Indapatta city, is called “the Kuru King.” “He grew in Kuru righteousness, keeping the ten royal duties.”