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pAnchAla-vaidikas

It is not just the RV; there are several mysteries (at least to me): We have on the pa~nchAla side a whole vaidika lineage who played a role in the shrauta religion:

sutvan yAj~Nasena…->shatAnIka->darbha->keshin->aShADha;

of these keshin dArbhya was a major figure whose uncle uchChaishravas kauvayeya was a kuru monarch. keshin triumphed over the kuru-s; however, aShADha was defeated by a group known as the kunti-s led by shyAparNa sAyakAyana. I wonder if these kunti-s in someway inspired the legend of the kaunteya-s in the Mbh.

Then we also have the dArbhya-s, who are a lineage of bharadvAja-s. Does this in anyway relate to the conquest of the pa~nchAla lands by the kaunteya-bharadvAja alliance in the Mbh?

But they appear to have gone out of the ken of the later tradition despite their important role in the shruti

It is indeed notable that your inference from the aitihAsika accounts is consistent with the duality in the RV. 25 or more years ago, I would have believed that it completely clinches it. However, over time I’ve become less certain as to how things fit – are the itihAsa-purANa nippets of real history but have placed those snippets in anachronistic cycles? Are they refitting new historical events in the template of old IE motifs & narratives? The problem looks more complex to me than it did when I was younger. A consequence of aging? I would think the same of the issue of the kuru-s shaMtanu, parIkShit, janamejaya, dhR^itarAShTra vaichitravIyra, & pa~nchAla-s like shikaNDin yAj~nasenI, keshin dArbhya (?) Several parallels & mysteries at the same time.