Etymology, Genealogy and History in Early South Asia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v5i1/2.79Keywords:
etymology, genealogy, history, Mahābhārata, nirukta, VedaAbstract
This paper explores the relationship between etymology, genealogy and the literary exploration of the past in early South Asia. By means of a close reading of a range of materials drawn from the Atharvaveda, Brahmanas and Upanisads, as well as the Nirukta, the Brhaddevata and the Mahabharata, I will demonstrate that there is a progression from etymology, to expanded etymology, by which I refer to narratives spun from the details of etymologies, to full accounts of birth and descent, that is to say, genealogy, and, from there, to larger-scale historical accounts. I will thus show that etymology played an important part in the formation of consensus understandings of the past in early South Asia.
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