have seen above that the Singalese registers of the Buddhists assigned to the sons of Kalâsoka 22 years, and to the Nanda brothers also 22 years, which is explained by a late commentator as meaning that the Kalâsoka brothers were the Nanda. Consequently this made 44 years. The Brahminical lists assign to Mahânanda (i. e. "the great Nanda") 40 or 43 years; and 12 to Sumâlya, the son of the great upstart (Mahâpadma). Our calculation makes it 66 years, which agrees as well as could be expected with the history, as far as we know it, and the above numbers. It requires more than some 20 years for an adventurer to form a great empire, and for the dynasty which he founded to be overthrown. Lassen prefers 88 years, a number to which our objections have been already stated, and one which must be rejected on account of the trustworthy statement, that the great Nanda's reign was brief.

Kandragupta dethroned the last Nanda and took Pataliputra. After the murder of Porus by Eumenes, the general of Eudemus I., in the year 317, Sandrakottus, who was present, seems to have placed himself at the head of the popular party, to have taken immediate possession of the empire, and then to have directed his forces towards the Ganges. I agree with Benfey, therefore, in making the last year of the Nanda 313, and consequently the first of Kandragupta 312.

This series of kings forms a bright spot in the history, and we are enabled to restore it with tolerable precision. Besides the Indian accounts we have always Greek synchronisms, either through the Seleucidæ or from the inscriptions of the Great Asoka.

To the kingdom of Kandragupta (the kingdom of the Prasians, that is to say, of the Easterns) also belonged the Peninsula of Guzerat; it extended on the north as far as the Indus 247, and on the south its sovereignty was ac

247 Lassen, ii. 211. seq.

knowledged as far as the mouths of the Ganges, and the limits of Kalinga. His grandson and second successor was, when prince, viceroy over the Uggayini. He may be said therefore to have conquered the whole of Aryâvara. His forces consisted of 600,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, and 900 elephants. He died in the 24th year of his reign, consequently B. c. 289. He was succeeded by Vindusara, who reigned 28 years, consequently until B.C. 261. His successor, Asoka, is the great Buddhist king. His inscriptions, in which the Buddhist doctrines are earnestly inculated, and the 84,000 Buddhist sanctuaries (Kaitya), that is to say, partly temples and partly tumuli (Stupa, whence Topes), which he is said to have erected, are in the present day the greatest monuments of Buddhism. He was crowned in Pataliputra in the third year of his reign (B. C. 25), and openly seceded from the Brahminical to the Buddhist religion, converted, as it seems, by the son of his brother, whom he had murdered.

His reign of thirty-seven years was the meridian of the empire of the Maurya. Immediately afterwards (B. C. 225) the partition took place and its downfall ensued.

Having arrived at this point, we shall discontinue the adjustment of the chronology from below, and proceed to an approximate definition of the earlier epochs.

We have seen that Alexander found in India a great and mighty empire, which, although seated at the confluence of the Yamuna and Ganges, nevertheless protected the northern frontier.

We have seen that the age of Buddha is established, and with it that of Bimbisâra also, the chief of the dynasty which overthrew the kings of Pradyôta.

We can no longer calculate upon accurate chronology, but the question is whether we can determine the century in which, after bloody and destructive contests and a period of anarchy, the greater princely kingdoms are again found to exist.

B.

APPROXIMATE DETERMINATION OF THE REAL COMMENCEMENT OF THE KALIYUGA, AND THE PRELIMINARY LIMITATION OF THE PRECEDING PERIOD.

AFTER having established, reckoning upwards, a fixed point for the accession of Kandragupta, by the year of Buddha's death, 543 B.C., and, through it, that the first year of Bimbisâra was 578, the earlier dates will stand thus.

Bhattiya, the father of Bimbisâra, cannot be included in our calculation from above, as we find no chronological notice about him; indeed, the imperial succession in Magadha clearly only begins with his great son.

We must consequently proceed with the Pradyôta kings. The 138 regnal years of these five sovereigns we cannot take for granted quite so readily as our predecessors have done, since we have found the Buddhist lists in a much better state than the Brahminical, and they only assign 68 years to this dynasty.

We have therefore:

First year of Bimbisâra

Last year of the Pradyôta Dynasty
(68 years)

First

B.C.

578

579

646

Prior to these is the Barhâdratha Dynasty of Somapi, down to Ripungaya, said to be 20 kings. We have seen above that three kings at all events must be omitted. The harmony of the lists is certainly an argument in favour of the others. We accordingly suppose it to have consisted of 17 kings, who reigned on an average 20 years each, making consequently 340 years. From this we should obtain the following dates:

But here we meet with another circumstance which requires to be noticed.

It is highly probable that during the interregnum the exiled princes of the Bârhadratha family continued their lists as though they still possessed the realms of their forefathers and kinsmen. The 120 years of the interregnum are consequently probably included in the general sum total of 340 years, which would leave only 220 for our computation.

In that case the calculation would stand thus:

Last year of Bârhadratha (220 years) B. c. 647

First

We shall consequently place the two limitations side by side.

The next step we are enabled to get over, at all events, by the aid of Megasthenes, in whose list of the time of anarchy (which intervened between the third and fourth periods) we find 120 years. According to the above computation, we obtain the following data:

Last year of Anarchy (120 years) B.C. 987 867
First

1106 986

This would therefore bring the beginning of the Kaliyuga up to 986 or 866. We can no more doubt the historical character of the close of the third period, and consequently of the kingdoms of the Kaurava and Pandava, than we can believe in any chronology formed from such data. We may possibly be able a few years hence to compute, like Herodotus, by generations or average lengths of reigns; but we are certainly not in a condition to do so now.

This, however, is by no means requisite for our pur pose; a reasonable approximation will suffice.

Now, as we have 120 years of anarchy after the third era, and 300 before it, and as we find at the close of the former a protracted war of extermination of the ruling family, we may safely conclude that we are within the narrowest bounds, if we set this epoch preliminarily at 500 years. Hence, the computation upwards from

below would stand thus:

The last year of the third period,

close of the great war after the
battle at Kuruksetra

B.C. 1107

987

1606 1486

First year of the Kaurava (500
years)

Within this period, which is characterized by great exploits, by rigid Brahminism, and the gradual obduracy of absolute power after the total loss of popular freedom, we meet with the grand form of Garâsandha. He was the son of the Patriarch of the Barhâdratha, the Magadha-ruler Brihadratha, and grandson of Vasu, the proper founder of the family. With his son Sahadîva, the first section of the race concludes. As Lassen has acutely remarked, Garâsandha is the historical personage among the heroic kings of the Mahâbhârata.248 The Pândava are already on the scene, and it was his wars and conquests which occasioned the great popular movement that took place immediately before the era of the five Pândava kings. He drove the Yâdava from their settlements on the Yamuna, and brought 86 kings prisoners to his royal residence.

It is a circumstance of twofold importance that this ruler belonged to the family which carries us down to the time of Alexander. He must necessarily have been entered in the list which Megasthenes obtained at the court of the sovereigns who were descended from him. His age, and everything connected with it, must

248 Lassen, i. 602. seqq.