| Annotation |
The paper deals with the genealogical parts of the land grant charters of Eastern India dating back to the
reign of the Pāla dynasty (mid-VIII – early XIII centuries. The characteristic of these parts of land grant charters
was given: they were panegyrics by their shape, and starting from the second half of the early medieval period
(7th–13th centuries), were composed of rhythmic stanzas. A subset was also ascertained for further consideration,
consisting of 26 charters. For studying the genealogical parts, the method of comparative formal analysis was
applied. Based on the content of the text, the stanzas of each genealogical part were divided into the following
groups: directly genealogical, indirectly genealogical, historical descriptive and mythological descriptive. Historical
information in one form or another is contained in the first three of these groups. A detailed examination
of this information shows that the degree of its reliability is relatively low because, being a panegyric, it has an
exclusively positive color, in addition, there are intentional omissions in the genealogical lists. To testify the reliability
of this information, it is necessary to involve new independent sources (inscriptions) related to the reign
of other dynasties, contemporaneous with the dynasty under study. We draw a conclusion that genealogical
parts of letters of commendation of the rulers of East India in the 8th–13th centuries should be considered as a
genealogical myth. |
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