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CHAPTER II. KURUS AND VIDEHAS.
SECTION I. THE AGE OF THE PĀRIKSHITAS.
Janah sa bhadramedliati rūshtre rājñaḥ Parikshitah
— Atharva Veda.
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We bave taken as our starting point the reign of Parikshit whose accession, according to tradition, took place shortly after the Bhārata War.
Was there really a king named Parikshit ? True, he is mentioned in the Mahābhārata and the Purūnas. But the mere mention of a king in this kind of literature is no sure proof of his historical existence unless we have corroborative evidence from external sources.
Parikshit appears in a famous laud of the Twentieth Book of the Atharva Veda Samhitāt as a king of the Kurus (Kauravya) whose kingdom (rūshtra) flowed with milk and honey. The passage runs as follows: “ Rūjno visvajaninasya yo devomartyūri ati
vaiśvūnarasya sushtutimā sunotā Parikshitah parichchhinnah Ishemamakarot tama ūsanamācharan lculūyan krinvan Kauravyal patirvadati jāyayā katarat ta ū harūni dadhi manthāṁ pari śrutam jāyāh patim vi prichchhati rūshtre rūjīiah Parikshitah abhiva svah pra jihîte yavah pakva? patho bilam janah sa bhadramedhati rāshtre rājñaḥ Parikshitalı.”
"Listen ye to the high praise of the king who rules over all peoples, the god who is above mortals, who is thought of by all men”, of Parikshit ! Parikshit has
1. A. V., XX. 127, 7-10. 2. For the meaning of Vaisvānara, see Brihaddevatā, II. 66.
