The Vishnu Purana, Vol. IV, by H.H. Wilson

That's French for "the ancient system," as in the ancient system of feudal privileges and the exercise of autocratic power over the peasants. The ancien regime never goes away, like vampires and dinosaur bones they are always hidden in the earth, exercising a mysterious influence. It is not paranoia to believe that the elites scheme against the common man. Inform yourself about their schemes here.

The Vishnu Purana, Vol. IV, by H.H. Wilson

Postby admin » Mon Oct 11, 2021 10:57 am

The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition, translated from the Original Sanskrit, and Illustrated by Notes Derived Chiefly From Other Puranas
by the Late H.H. Wilson, M.A., F.R.S., Boden Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Oxford, etc., Etc., Edited by Fitzedward Hall, Vol. IV
1868

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Works by The Late Horace Hayman Wilson, M.A., F.R.S., Member of the Royal Asiatic Society, of the Asiatic Societies of Calcutta and Paris, and of the Oriental Society of Germany; Foreign Member of the National Institute of France; Member of the Imperial Academies of St. Petersburgh and Vienna, and of the Royal Academies of Munich and Berlin; Ph.D. Breslau; M.D. Marburg, etc.; and Boden Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Oxford, Vol. IX, 1868



Table of Contents:[PDF HERE]

• Book IV (Cont'd.
o Chapter VI
o Chapter VII
o Chapter VIII
o Chapter IX
o Chapter X
o Chapter XI
o Chapter XII
o Chapter XIII
o Chapter XIV
o Chapter XV
o Chapter XVI
o Chapter XVII
o Chapter XVIII
o Chapter XIX
o Chapter XX
o Chapter XXI
o Chapter XXII
o Chapter XXIII
o Chapter XXIV
• Book V
o Chapter I
o Chapter II
o Chapter III
o Chapter IV
o Chapter V
o Chapter VI
o Chapter VII
o Chapter VIII
o Chapter IX
o Chapter X
o Chapter XI
o Chapter XII
o Chapter XIII
o Chapter XIV
o Chapter XV
o Chapter XVI
• Corrigenda &c
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Re: The Vishnu Purana, Vol. IV, by H.H. Wilson

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Part 1 of 3

CHAPTER XXIV.

Future kings of Magadha. Five princes of the line of Pradyota. Ten Saisunagas. Nine Nandas. Ten Mauryas. Ten Sungas. Four Kamwayanas.* [Corrected from "Kanwas". Vide infra, p. 193. note __.] Thirty Andhrabhrityas. Kings of various tribes and castes, and periods of their rule. Ascendancy of barbarians. Different races in different regions. Period of universal iniquity and decay. Coming of Vishnu as Kalki. Destruction of the wicked, and restoration of the practices of the Vedas. End of the Kali, and return of the Krita, age. Duration of the Kali. Verses chanted by Earth, and communicated by Asita to Janaka. End of the Fourth Book.

THE last of the Brihadratha dynasty, [The Vayu-purana, the Matsya-purana, and the Brahmanda-purana premise the extinction of the Brihadrathas and Vitahotras, and do not here name the last of the Brihadrathas. But vide supra, p. 176, notes 6 and (Add the Brahmanda-purana.] Ripunjaya, [Vide supra, p. 176, note __.] will have a minister named Sunika,1 [Munika,** (Sunika is the reading in all my four copies of the Vayu-purana, and in Colonel Wilford's manuscript extracts. The Brahmanda-purana has the same name.) Vayu; Pulika, Matsya; Sunaka, Bhagavata.] § [A single MS. has Sunaka.] who, having killed his sovereign, will place his son Pradyotana (Corrected from "Pradyota", which I find in only one MS. Pradyota is the reading of the Vayu-purana and of the Bhagavata-purana. The Brahmanda-purana has Sudyota, and 23 years. Mention is found of a Pradyota who had a son Jaghanjaya. See my Preface to the Vasavadatta, p. 53.) upon the throne:2 [For 23 years, Vayu and Matsya. (The Matsya-purana, in my copies, gives to Pulika's son the name of Balaka. Nowhere does it speak of Pradyota or of the Pradyotas.)] his son will be Palaka;3 [24 years, Vayu; (Add the Brahmanda-purana.) Tilaka or Balaka,§§ (The only reading I find is Palaka.) 28, Matsya.] [Gopalaka, in one copy.] his son will be Visakhayupa;1 [50 years, Vayu;§ (Three of my MSS., including the two oldest and best, have Visakhadhupa; another, Visakhayupa; the remaining one, Visakhasupa.) 53, Matsya.|| (Two MSS. have Visakharupa; one, Visakhayupa, the reading of the Bhagavata-purana. The Brahmanda-purana has Visakhayupa, and 100 years.)] * [Almost as ordinary a reading, in my MSS., is Visakharupa; and two of them have Visakhapupa.] his son will be Janaka;2 [Ajaka, 21 years, Vayu; (One MS. of the Vayu-purana — very inferior, — has 31 years. In the Brahmanda-purana, Ajaka is assigned 21 years.) Suryaka, 21, Matsya; Rajaka,** (Corrected from "Rajaka".) Bhagavata.] and his son will be Nandivardhana.3 [20 years, Vayu (The name that I find everywhere in the Vayu-purana is Vartivardhana.) and Matsya. (30 years are assigned to Nandivardhana in all my copies of the Matsya-purana. The Brahmanda-purana gives him 20 years.)] These five kings of the house of Pradyota [The original is [x], "the five Pradyotas;" the reading recognized by the commentator. One MS. yields, however, "the five Pradyotanas." The Bhagavata-purana has [x], the gloss on which is [x]. The Vayu-purana has Pradyotas.] will reign over the earth for a hundred and thirty-eight ["Twenty-eight", according to four copies.] years.4 [This number is also specified by the Vayu and Bhagavata;§§ (XII., I., 4.) and the several years of the reigns of the former agree with the total. The particulars of the Matsya compose 145 (By note __ above, we are enabled to alter this number to one nearer correctness, — namely, 155. There is, however, still a mistake of 3 in excess, — owing, doubtless, to corruptness of the MSS.; for all mine agree in stating the total to be 152.) years; but there is, no doubt, some mistake in them.]

The next prince will be Sisanaga;1 [Sisunaka — who, according to the Vayu ([x]. Two copies have Giripraja; one, Girivrata. Equally gross mistakes, it is to be presumed, disfigure all my MSS. of the Vayu-purana.) and Matsya,§ (The first verse of a stanza there given is the same as in the preceding note. The second verse runs: [x].) relinquished Benares to his son, and established himself at Girivraja (or Rajagriha), in Behar, — reigns 40 years, Vayu and Matsya.] his son will be Kakavarna;2 [36 years, Vayu (Sakavarna or Sakavarna is the name in all my copies of the Vayu-purana.) and Matsya.] * [A Kakavarna, Raja of Chandi, is spoken of in the Harsha-charita. See my Vasavadatta, Preface, p. 53.] his son will be Kshemadharman;3 [Kshemakarman, (Kshemavarman, in three MSS. of the Vayu-purana, those of best note; while the rest have Kshemadharman. The Brahmanda-purana has Kshemadharman, and 20 years. There is a break in Colonel Wilford's manuscript extract from the Brahmanda-purana, where there should be mention of the two kings preceding Kshemadharman.) 20 years, Vayu; Kshemadharman, 36. Matsya.] his son will be Kshattraujas;4 [40 years, Vayu;** (Therewith agrees the Brahmanda-purana.) Kshemajit or Kshemarchis. 36, Matsya; (Three of my copies have Kshemavit, 24 years; the other, Kshemarchis, 40 years.) Kshetrajna, Bhagavata.] his son will be Vidmisara;5 [Bimbisara, (This reading says much for the comparative correctness of the Vayu-purana.) 28 years, Vayu; Bindusena or Vindhyasena, 28, Matsya;§§ (Viddhisara(?), and 28 years: Brahmanda-purana.) Vidhisara, Bhagavata.] [Two MSS. have Vidhisara: another, Vidisara. But all three are corruptions. See note __ in the next page.] his son will be Ajatasatru;1 [25 years, Vayu; (In all my MSS. of the Vayu-purana, the order is: Ajatasatru, Kshattranjas, Bimbisara.) 27, Matsya: (The Brahmanda-purana, at least in my single MS, gives 35 years to Ajatasatru.) but the latter inserts a Kanwayana,§ (The name here intended is very doubtful in all my three MSS. of the Matsya-purana.) 9 years, and Bhumimitra (or Bhumiputra), 14 years, before him. In this and the preceding name we have appellations of considerable celebrity in the traditions of the Bauddhas. Vidmisara — read, also, Vindhusara. (This — and so the Bindusena mentioned in the Translator's last note, looks like a corruption of Bindusara; and Bindusara was a remote descendant of Bimbisara. Vide infra, p. 186, note __.) Vilwisara, &c., — is, most probably, their Bimbasara, (Vidmisara, &c. are, all, misspellings of Bimbisara. Vide infra, p. 186, note __. On the correct form of the name of the king intended, see Burnouf's Introduction a l'Histoire du Buddhisme Indien, Vol. I., p. 145, note I.) who was born at the same time with Sakya, and was reigning at Rajagriha, when he began his religious career.

The king of Rôruka (3) [(3) So far I have not found any precise information on the position of this town. The legend of Rudrâyana, who was converted to Buddhism by the influence of Bimbisâra, king of Râdjagrïha, teaches us that Rôruka was to the east of the latter city, and that it competed with its riches with the famous Pàtaliputtra, the Palibothra of the Greeks, after the invasion of Alexander. {Div. avad., f. 306 a.) She could not have been very far from Râdjagrïha, and it is probably in the eastern part of Bihar that it should be sought; but I can't find any. Today on our cards only Row, whose name offers some analogy to that of Rôruka. I do not have any information on this locality.] had need money; his two prime ministers once said to him: "From a country like sesame seed, which does not give its oil, unless it is pressed, cut, burnt, or grinds" (4). I will quote below, speaking of the struggles of Çâkyamuni against that of Bimbisâra. I consulted, in order to get out of this small difficulty, the Tibetan versions of Kah-gyur, and they seemed to me to settle the question in favor of the spelling of Bimbisâra. This name is translated there Gzugs-tchanshing-po, “the essence of the being which has a body. This title, little clear in himself, was given to the young prince by his father Mahâpadma, in memory of when the child was born, the body of the queen her mother shines like the disc of the sun at its rising. (Hdulva, vol. ka or i, fol. 5 a.) The use of the suffix tchan after gzugs indicates a possessive; It is therefore Bimbi and not Bimba that the Tibetan interpreters have had in front of them. I add that the spelling of Bimbisâra is that adopted by the Buddhists of the South, thus that can be seen in M. Turnour's Mahâvamsa....

This is why each of them says to himself: I have obtained the power supernatural. Purana and the five other masters, who imagined they knew everything, went to Bimbisâra, nicknamed Çrênya (3) [(3) The Tibetan translation of the legends relating to the Discipline teaches us that the king Bimbisâra had received the title of Çrênya or Çrênika, because he was an expert in all the arts” (Csoma, Anahjs. Of the Dul-va, in Asiat. Researches, t. XX, p. 46.)], the king of Magadha; and approaching him, they said thus unto him, Know, O king, that we are gifted of a supernatural power, which we know how to discuss on science. the Çramana Gâutama also claims that he is endowed with a supernatural power, and that he knows how to discuss science. He who knows how to discuss science struggles with those who know as much as they do [etc. as above, up to:] So let's fight with Çramana Gâutama in the art of operating, at means of supernatural power, miracles superior to what man can do.

“Having said this, Bimbisâra Çrênya, the king of Magadha, spoke thus to the Tîrthyas: Si you want to become corpses, you just have to strive for supernatural power with Bhagavat. [Some time later,] Pûrana and the five other masters, who not knowing everything imagined they knew everything, having encountered on the way Bimbisâra Çrênya, the king of Magadha, repeated to him what they already had to him said; but Bimbisâra replied in these terms to the beggars Tîrthyas: If you repeat the same thing to me a third time, I will drive you out of the country. The Tîrthyas then made this reflection: King Bimbisâra is an Auditor of Çramana Gàutama, let's leave Bimbisâra there; but Prasênadjit, king of Kôçala, is impartial; when the Çramana Gàutama goes to the city of Çravasli, we will will return there, and we will provoke him there to operate, by means of his supernatural, miracles superior to what man can do. Having said these words, they withdrew.

Then Bimbisâra said to one of his people: Go and quickly splint a good tank; I will go up there, because I want to go and see Bhagavat, in order to do him honor. Yes, lord, replied the servant; and having promptly harnessed a good chariot, he went to Bimbisara, and having approached him, he said to him: Here is harnessed the king's good chariot; the time set for what the king wants to do is come. So Bimbisâra, having mounted this good chariot, left Râdjagrïha and walked towards Bhagavat with the intention of seeing him, in order to do him honor. As long as the ground allowed him to use his chariot, he advanced from this manner; then going down, he walked into the hermitage and saw Bhaghavat. Having immediately stripped himself of the five insignia of royal power, that is to say the turban, the parasol, the dagger, the fly swatter made of a tail of yak and shoe of various colors, he walked towards Bhagavat, and having approached him, he saluted his feet, touching them with the head and sat down next to. Bhagavat seeing King Bimbisara seated aside, began to instruct him by a speech relating to the law; he made him receive it, he excited his zeal, he rewarded him plethora of joy; and after having more than one way instructed by speeches relating to the law, after having made him receive it, after having excited his zeal and having filled him with joy, he remained silent. So Bimbisâra, after having rented Bhagavat and showing his assent to him, greeted his feet by touching them with his head and withdrew from his presence.

-- Introduction to the History of Indian Buddhism, by Eugene Burnouf, 1801-1852
-- Introduction to the History of Indian Buddhism, by Eugene Burnouf, 1801-1852 (ENGLISH VERSION)


The Mahawamso says that Siddhatto and Bimbisaro were attached friends, as their fathers had been before them. P. 10. Sakya is said to have died in the reign of Ajatasatru, the son of Bimbasara, in the eighth year of his reign. The Vayu transposes these names; and the Matsya still more alters the order of Ajatasatru; but the Bhagavata concurs with our text. The Buddhist authority differs from the Puranas, materially, as to the duration of the reigns; giving to Bimbisaro, 52 years, and to Ajatasattu, 32. The latter, according to the same, murdered his father. Mahawamso, p. 10. We may, therefore, with some confidence, claim for these princes a date of about six centuries B.C. They are considered contemporary with Suddhodana, &c., in the list of the Aikshwakas** (Vide supra, p. 171, note __.) (vide supra, p. 169, note 7).] * [An Ajatasatru, king of the Kasis, is commemorated in the Kaushi-taki-brahmana Upanishad, IV., I., and elsewhere.] his son will be Darbhaka;1 [Harshaka,§ (I find Darsaka.) 25 years, Vayu; Vamsaka, 24, (Two of my MSS. have 24; the other two, 40.) Matsya. (The Brahmanda-purana, at least in my MS., has Dasaka, and a reign of 35 years.)] * [Corrected from "Dharbaka". The Bhagavata-purana agrees with our text.] his son will be Udayaswa;2 [33 years, Vayu;** (The name that I find there in Udayin; but, in two MSS., Udaya.) Udibhi or Udasin, (Three of my MSS. have Udambhin; one, Udasin. The Brahmanda- purana has the latter, and 23 years.) 33, Matsya. According to the Vayu, Udaya or Udayaswa founded Kusumapura (or Pataliputra), on the southern angle (I find [x], 'bank'.) of the Ganges: [x] (Two MSS. read [x] and so does the Brahmanda-purana.) [x]. The legends of Sakya, consistently with this tradition, take no notice of this city, in his peregrinations on either bank of the Ganges. The Mahawamso calls the son and successor of Ajatasatru, Udayibhaddako (Udayibhadraka (Corrected from "Udayinbhadraka". )). P. 15.] [Udayana is almost as common a reading. Ajaya is the name in the Bhagavata-purana.] his son will, also, be Nandivardhana; and his son will be Mahanandin.3 [42 and 43 years, Vayu; 40 and 43, Matsya. (More clearly: Nandivardhana, 42 years, Vayu-purana; 40 years, Matsya-purana: Mahanandin, 43 years, in both those Puranas. The Brahmanda-purana agrees, as to these two kings, with the Vayu-purana.) The Mahawamso has, in place of these, Anuruddhako, Mundo, and Nagadasako; all, in succession, parricides: the last, deposed by an insurrection of the people. P. 15.] [Corrected from "Mahanandi", the reading of the Bhagavata-purana.] These ten Saisunagas will be kings of the earth for three hundred and sixty-two years.4 [The several authorities agree in the number of ten Saisunagas, and in the aggregate years of their reigns, which the Matsya and the Bhagavata call 360. The Vayu has 362, (And so has the Brahmanda-purana.) with which the several periods correspond: (I make only 332.) the details of the Matsya give 363.§ (Even taking account of the reigns mentioned near the beginning of note 1 in p. 181, supra, I make out but 354.) The Vayu (The nominal and numerical details given below are there expressed as follows: [x].) and Matsya (The following particulars answer to those contained in the last note: [x]. There are similar verses in the Brahmanda-purana; but they are copied, in Colonel Wilford's volume of Pauranik extracts,—where alone I have access to them,—with such deplorable carelessness, and with so many omissions, that I can do no more than refer to them. They seem to resemble the corresponding stanzas in the Matsya-purana rather more closely than those in the Vayu-purana.) call the Saisunagas Kshattrabandhus, which may designate an inferior order of Kshattriyas. They also observe, that, contemporary with the dynasties already specified,—the Pauravas, the Barhadrathas, and Magadhas,— there were other races of royal descent, as: Aikshwaka princes. 24: (It is to be understood, in this and similar cases, that the two Puranas agree.) Panchalas, 25, Vayu ; 27, Matsya: Kalakas (This is the name that I find in the Vayu-purana.), or Kasakas, or Kaseyas,§ (Two of my MSS. of the Matsya-purana have this reading; another, Kasheyas; another, Kaleyas.) 24: Haihayas, 24, Vayu; 28, Matsya: Kalingas. 32. Vayu; 40. (One of my MSS. of the Matsya-purana gives 22: the other three, 32.) Matsya: Sakas, Vayu; 28, Asmakas, Matsya, 25: (That is to say, where the Vayu-purana names the Sakas, the Matsyapurana names the Asmakas.) Kurus,** (Corrected from "Kuravas".) 26: (I find 36 in both Puranas.) Maithilas, 28: Surasenas, 23: and Vitihotras, 20.]

The son of Mahanandin* [Corrected from "Mahananda".] will be born of a woman of the Sudra (or servile) class: his name will be Nanda, (called) Mahapadma; for he will be exceedingly avaricious.1 [The Bhagavata calls him Mahapadmapati, 'the lord of Mahapadma;' which the commentator interprets 'sovereign of an infinite host' or 'of immense wealth'; (See the commentator's words, at the end of note __, below.) Mahapadma signifying 100,000 millions. The Vayu and Matsya,§§ [They say nothing of Nanda, naming Mahapadma only. The same is the case with the Brahmanda-purana.] however, consider Mahapadma as another name of Nanda. (So considers the Bhagavata-purana, where we read—XII., 1., 8 and 9: [x] On the first of these verses the commentator, Sridhara, remarks: [x].] Like another Parasurama,* [It is to be understood, in this and similar cases, that the two Puranas agree.] he will be the annihilator of the Kshattriya race; for, after him, the kings of the earth will be Sudras. He will bring the whole earth under one umbrella: he will have eight sons, Sumalya* [Several of my MSS. have Sumatya; and so has Professor Wilson's Bengal translation. The Matsya-purana, in my copies, has Sukulya, with Kusala as a variant Sahalya: Brahmanda-purana.] and others, who will reign after Mahapadma; and he and his sons1 [So the Bhagavata, also; but it would be more compatible with chronology to consider the nine Nandas as so many descents. The Vayu and Matsya (Add the Brahmanda-purana.) give eighty-eight years to Mahapadma, and only the remaining twelve to Sumalya and the rest of the remaining eight; these twelve years being occupied with the efforts of Kautilya [Chanakya] to expel the Nandas. The Mahawamso, evidently intending the same events, gives names and circumstances differently; it may be doubted, if with more accuracy. On the deposal of Nagadasako, the people raised to the throne the minister Susanago, who reigned eighteen years. This prince is, evidently, confounded with the Sisunaga of the Puranas. He was succeeded by his son, Kalasoko, who reigned twenty years; and he was succeeded by his sons, ten of whom reigned together for twenty-two years: subsequently there were nine, who, according to their seniority, reigned for twenty-two years. The Brahman Chanako [Chanakya] put the ninth surviving brother, named Dhananando (Rich Nanda), to death, and installed Chandagutto [Chandragupta Maurya]. Mahawamso, pp. 15 and 21. These particulars, notwithstanding the alteration of some of the names, belong, clearly, to one story: and that of the Buddhists looks as if it was borrowed and modified from that of the Brahmans. The commentary on the Mahawamso, translated by Mr. Turnour (Introduction, p. xxxviii.), calls the sons of Kalasoko "the nine Nandos;" but another Buddhist authority, the Dipawamso, omits Kalasoko, and says that Susanago had ten brothers, who, after his demise, reigned, collectively, twenty-two years. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, November, 1838 (p. 930).] will govern for a hundred years.

Here follows an account of the schism, and of the second convocation held in consequence, in the tenth year of the reign of Kalasoko, with which the fourth Bhanawaro concludes, the particulars of which are given in the paper, No. 2, and in the Mahawanso. The fifth commences with recapitulating the principal particulars of the first and second convocations and the schisms, and then proceeds:

"In the second year of the reign of Chundagutto, when Siggawo was sixty-four years old, which was the fifty-eighth year of the reign of Pandukabhayo, the raja (of Lanka) Moggaliputto was ordained an upasampada in the fraternity of Siggawo; and the said Moggaliputtatisso, having acquired the knowledge of the wineyo in the fraternity of Chandawajji, was released from the sins inseparable from liability to future regeneration. Both Siggawo and Chandawajji taught the whole of the Pitako, which embraces both (the wineyo, discipline, and dhammo, doctrine), to the pre-eminently endowed Moggaliputto. Siggawo of profound wisdom died at the age of seventy-six, having constituted the pre-eminently endowed Moggaliputto the chief of the wineyo. Chandagutto reigned twenty-four years. In the fourteenth year of his reign Siggawo died.

"In the sixth year of the reign of Dhammasoko, Moggaliputto was sixty-six years old. Mahindo was then ordained an upasampada in his fraternity, and acquired a knowledge of the Pitako.

"Upali attained his seventy-fourth, Dasako his sixty-fourth, the thero Sonako his sixty-sixth, Siggawo his seventy-sixth, and Moggaliputto his eightieth year. The following are the periods that all of these theros were upasampada, of whom at all times the learned Upali was recognized as the first chief, viz.; Dasako was an upasampada fifty, Sonako, forty-four, Siggawo five* [This is evidently a mistake.], and Moggaliputto, sixty-eight years.

"Udayo reigned sixteen years, and in the sixth year of Udayo's reign, Upali died.

"Susanago, the opulent monarch, reigned ten years, in the eighth year of Susanago's reign, Dasako died.

"At
[The reign of Kalasoko is omitted, who was the father of the Nandos who are here designated the brothers of Susanago.] the demise of Susanago he had ten brothers, who collectively reigned twenty-two years, in great celebrity. In the sixth year of their reign Sonako died.

[BREAK IN LINEAGE! WHERE DID CHANDAGUTTO COME FROM?]

"Chandagutto reigned twenty-four years, and in the fourteenth year of his reign Siggawo died.

"The celebrated Dhammasoko the son of Bindasaro reigned thirty-seven years.


In the twenty-sixth year of his reign, Moggaliputto died, having caused religion to be glorified, and having completed the full measure of human existence.

"The learned Upali, the chief of a great fraternity died at the age of seventy-four, having appointed his learned disciple Dasako to the office of chief wineyo.

"Dasako, died at the age of sixty-four, having appointed his senior learned disciple Sonako to the office of chief of the wineyo.

"Sonako, who was endowed with the six abinna, died at the age of sixty-six, having appointed his arahat son (disciple) Siggawo to the office of chief of wineyo.

"Siggawo who was endowed with the six abinna, died at the age of seventy-six, having appointed his son (disciple) Moggaliputto to the office of chief of wineyo.

"Moggaliputtatisso died at the age of eighty, having appointed his disciple Mahindo to the office of chief of wineyo.

The conclusion of the fifth Bhanawaro.

"Piyadassano [Having erroneously written this name "Piyadasino" in a former paper, Vol. VI. p. 1056, you have been led to suppose it was the genitive case of Piyadasi.] was inaugurated in the two hundred and eighteenth year after the death of the supreme Buddho. At the installation of Piyadassano preternatural manifestations took place."

(For these manifestations I must refer to the Mahawanso.)

"That royal youth, who was the grandson of Chandagutto and the son of Bindusaro was at that time the (karamolino) ruler of Vjjeni.

"In the course of an official circuit he visited Wessanagaran; where lived a damsel, the daughter of a Sitthi, who became celebrated under the name of Dewi. By his connection with her, an illustrious son was born. (The said son) Mahindo and (his daughter) Sangamitta formed the resolution to enter the order of priesthood. Both these individuals having been thus ordained, overcame subjection to regeneration. Asoko was then reigning in the illustrious Pataliputto. In the third year of his inauguration he became a convert to the religion of the supreme Buddho. (If it be asked) what the duration of the term is, from the date of the parinibbanan of the supreme Buddho to the date of the birth of Mahindo, who was descended from the Moriyan dynasty, (the answer is) two hundred and five years. In that year Mahindo the son of Asoko was born. In Mahindo's tenth year, his father put his own brothers to death; and he past four years in reducing Jambudipo to order. Having put to death his hundred brothers, and reduced the dynasty to one (family), they (the people) inaugurated him in the fourteenth year of Mahindo's age. Asoko, who was endowed with great personal superiority and good fortune, and was destined to rule the world, was inaugurated under miraculous manifestations. They installed Piyadassano on his completing his twentieth year* [This is evidently a clerical error, his son Mahindo being then fourteen years old. It was subsequently mentioned that Asokodhammo was forty-five years old at his inauguration.]."


The account of the interview with Nigrodho, the expulsion of the brahman sects, and the construction of the wiharos is then given, to the close of the sixth Bhanawaro.

The seventh Bhanawaro begins with the account of Mahindo and Sangamitta being admitted into the order of the priesthood, (the former was at once ordained upasampada, being of the age of twenty; but the latter remained a samaneri for two years, being only eighteen,) in the sixth year of Asoko's inauguration. These particulars will be found in the Mahawanso.

"Asokadhammo was fifty-four years old at the time of his inauguration, and at the time of Asokadhammo being inaugurated, Moggaliputtatisso was sixty-six. Mahindo entered into the order of priesthood in the fraternity of Mogaliputtatisso. Mahadewo performed the ceremony of admission, and Mojjhanto, the ceremony of the upasampada ordination. These were the three preceptors who qualified Mahindo for the priesthood. The said preceptor Moggaliputtatisso taught Mahindo, who illuminated (Lanka) dipo, the whole of the Pitako, both as regards its import and its doctrine. In the tenth year of Mahindo's (ordination) having acquired a perfect knowledge of the whole creed, he became the head of a fraternity, and (pachariyo) a subpreceptor (under Moggali). The said Mahindo having thus acquired a knowledge of the perfectly profound and well arranged (Pitakattayan), containing the two doctrinal portions (the wineyo and the abhidhammo) and the suttako (the parables) as well as the history of the schisms of the preceptors, became a perpetuater of the same. Moggaliputtatisso thus perfected Mahindo the son of Asoko, in the knowledge of the three wejja and the four putisambhida, and (thereby) Moggaliputtatisso permanently established in his disciple Mahindo, the whole of the Pitakattayan which had been thus handed down to him.

"Nigrodho was admitted into the priesthood in the third year of Asoko's reign, his brother (Tisso) in the fourth, and in the sixth his son Mahindo. Tisso and Sumittako, the two theros who were descended from the Kunti, and were endowed with supernatural powers, died in the eighth year of the reign of Asoko. From these two princes having entered the order of priesthood, and from (the manner in which) these two theros died, multitudes of the khattiya and brahman castes proclaimed themselves to be devotees in this creed, and great benefits and honors resulted to the religion of the vanquisher; and the heretics, who had been influential schismatics, lost all their ascendancy. The pandaranga, the jatila, nigantha, chetaka and other sects for seven years continued, however, to perform the uposatha in separate fraternities. The sanctified, pious, and virtuous ministers (of Buddho) would not attend those uposatha meetings. At this conjuncture, it was the two hundred and thirty-sixth year (of the Buddhistical era)."

The Dipawanso then gives the account of the third convocation and of the dispersion of the missionaries for the promulgation of Buddhism through the adjacent kingdoms of Asia, viz. Gandharo, Mahiso, Aparantako, Maharatthan, Yono, Hiwawanto, Suwannabhumi and Lankadipo.


The ninth Bhanawaro commences with the history of Ceylon, and it is singular that the origin of the Sihala race is here divested of the fabulous character given to it in the Mahawanso to the extent formerly suggested by me. If the popular legend of the lion (siho) had not been previously known, the account in the Dipawanso would have been rendered, by any unprejudiced translator, into English without naming the fabulous monster, literally thus:

"This island Lanka acquired the name of Sihala from Siho* ["Pachchantan," I have translated, "foreign" in the Mahawanso, as the word is compounded of "pati" and "antan." It would be better rendered as "situated on the confines." Wanawasi is here omitted, probably by an error of transcription. This passage is important Matacha Susimanama, pitacha Sihasawhayo. If "Siho'' was intended for a "lion," "Sawhayo" which signifies "named" or "called" would not be used.]. Listen to this narrative of mine, being the account of the origin of this island and this dynasty. The daughter of a king of Wango, having formed a connection with a certain Siho, who found his livelihood in a wilderness, gave birth to two children. These two children named Sihabahu and Sewali were of prepossessing appearance. The mother was named Susima, and the father was called Siho, and at the termination of sixteen years, secretly quitting that wilderness, he (Sihabahu) founded a city, to which capital he gave the name of Sihapura. In that Lala kingdom, the son of Siho becoming a powerful monarch, reigned supreme in his capital Sihapura."


This Bhanawaro proceeds with the account of Wijayo landing in Ceylon, and the establishment of his dynasty, omitting however, entirely, Wijayo's marriage with Kuweni, and narrates the reigns of the ensuing kings to Dewananpiyatisso, assigning to them reigns of the same duration, as that given to them in the Mahawanso. We then find the synchronisms in the chronologies of India and Ceylon, which are quoted in the introduction to the Mahawanso from the Atthahatha in the Wineyo.

I do not notice any matter in the Dipawanso, not found in the Mahawanso, till I come to the eighteenth Bhanawaro. The theriparampara, or succession of preceptresses is there given, taken from the Atthakatha on the Wineyo in the following words:

"She who was renowned under the appellation of Pajapati, and was of the Gotamo family, endowed with six abinna and with supernatural gifts, the younger sister, born of the same mother, of Mahamaya (the mother of Buddho): and who, with the same affection as Maya herself nourished Bhagawa at her breast, was established in the highest office (among priestesses).

"The following are the priestesses who (in succession) acquired a perfect knowledge of the wineyo, viz.: Khema Uppalawanna, two of each name, and Patachari, Dhammadinna, Sobhita, Isidasika, Wisakha, Asoka, Sapala, Sanghadasi, gifted with wisdom, Nanda and Dhammapala, celebrated for her knowledge of Wineyo.

"The theri Sanghamitta, Uttara, who was gifted with wisdom, Hemapasa, Dassala, Aggamitta, Dasika, Pheggupabbata, Matta, Salala, Dhammadasiya—these juvenile priestesses came hither from Jambudipo, and propounded the Winayapitako in the capital designated Anuradhapura—they propounded not only the five divisions of the wineyo, but also the seven Pakaranani.

"The females who were ordained upasampada by them in this island were Soma, devoted to Dhammo, Goridipi, Dhammadasiyi, Dhammapala versed in the wineyo, Mahila conversant in the dhutawada, Sobhana, Dhammata, Passanagamissa, also versed in the wineyo, and Satakali profound in the theri controversy, and Uttara.

"Under the instructions of Abhayo [Abhayo, the brother of Dewananpiyatisso.] celebrated for his illustrious descent, the aforesaid priestesses as well as Sumana [Vide Index of the Mahawanso for this name.] renowned for the doctrinal knowledge among her sisterhood, a maintainer of the Dhutanga, a vanquisher of the passions, of great purity of mind, devoted to dhammo and wineyo, and Uttara endowed with wisdom, together with their thirty thousand priestesses, were the first priestesses who propounded at Anuradhapura, the wineyo, the five Nikaye (of the Suttapitako) and the Suttapakarane of the Abhidhammo.

"Mahala equally illustrious for her knowledge of the dhammo and for her piety, was the daughter of the monarch Kakawanno Girikali, profoundly versed by rote, was the daughter of his Poorohito (the almoner of Kakawanno); Kaladasi and Sabbapapika were the daughters of Gutto. These priestesses, who always maintained the orthodox texts, and of perfect purity of mind, were versed in the dhammo and wineyo, and having returned from the Rohana division maintained by the illustrious ruler of men Abhayo [Vide Index for Gamini Abhayo, the name of Dutthagamini before he recovered the kingdom.], propounded the Wineyo, at Anuradhapura."


The remainder of this passage is so confused as not to admit of a continuous translation.

In the twentieth Bhanawaro is specified the reducing the scriptures to record, in precisely the same two verses as in the Mahawanso; and in the twenty-second it is mentioned that Wasabho the raja of Ceylon between A.D. 66 and 110, brought water into the town of Anuradhapura through a tunnel "ummaggo" and with this Bhanawaro, the Dipawanso terminates at the close of the reign of Mahaseno.

-- An Analysis of the Dipawanso; An examination of the Pali Buddhistical Annals, No. 4, by the Honorable George Turnour, Esq., Ceylon Civil Service, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, November, 1838 (p. 930).


* [Burnouf, citing a high Buddhist authority, a Sanskrit work, gives the following genealogy: Bimbisara (king of Rajagriha), Ajatasatru, Udayibhadra, Munda, Kakavarnin, Sahalin, Tulakuchi, Mahamandala, Prasenajit, Nanda, Bindusara (king of Pataliputra), Susima. Introduction a l' Histoire du Buddhisme Indien, Vol. I., pp. 358, 359. A Mongol authority interposes a king between Nanda and Chandragupta. See the Foe Koue Ki, p. 230.] The Brahman Kautilya will root out the nine Nandas.1 [For the particulars of the story here alluded to, see the Mudra Rakshasa, Hindu Theatre, Vol. II. Kautilya is also called, according to the commentator on our text, Vatsyayana, Vishriugupta, and Chanakya. According to the Matsya Purana, Kautilya retained the regal authority for a century; but there is some inaccuracy in the copies. (There is something to the same effect in the Vayu-purana and in the Brahmanda-purana.)]

Upon the cessation of the race of Nanda, the Mauryas will possess the earth; for Kautilya will place Chandragupta2 [This is the most important name in all the lists; as it can scarcely be doubted that he is the Sandrocottus, or, — as Athenaeus writes, more correctly, — the Sandrocoptus, of the Greeks, as I have endeavoured to prove in the Introduction to the Mudra Rakshasa. (The identification of Chandragupta with Sandrocyptus is the property of Sir William Jones. See the Asiatic Researches, Vol, IV., p. 11.) The relative positions of Chandragupta, Vidmisara (or Bimbisara), and Ajatasatru serve to confirm the identification. Sakya was contemporary with both the latter, dying in the eighth year of Ajatasatru's reign. The Mahawamso says he reigned twenty-four years afterwards; but the Vayu makes his whole reign but twenty-five years, § (I find twenty-four years, and so in the Brahmanda-purana.)which would place the close of it B.C. 526. The rest of the Saisunaga dynasty, according to the Vayu and Matsya, reigned 143 or 140 years; bringing their close to B.C. 383. Another century being deducted for the duration of the Nandas would place the accession of Chandragupta B.C. 283. Chandragupta was the contemporary of Seleucus Nicator, who began his reign B.C. 310, and concluded a treaty with him B.C. 305. Although, therefore, his date may not be made out quite correctly from the Pauranik premises, yet the error cannot be more than twenty or thirty years. The result is much nearer the truth than that furnished by Buddhist authorities. According to the Mahawamso, a hundred years had elapsed from the death of Buddha to the tenth year of the reign of Kalasoko (p. 15). He reigned other ten years, and his sons, forty-four, making a total of 154 years between the death of Sakya and the accession of Chandragupta, which is, consequently, placed B.C. 389, or above seventy years too early. According to the Buddhist authorities, Chan-ta-kut-ta (or Chandragupta) commenced his reign 396 B.C. Burmese Table; Prinsep's Useful Tables. Mr. Turnour, in his Introduction, giving to Kalasoko eighteen years subsequent to the century after Buddha, places Chandragupta's accession B.C. 381, which, he observes, is sixty years too soon; dating, however, the accession of Chandragupta from 323 B.C., or immediately upon Alexander's death, — a period too early by eight or ten years, at least. The discrepancy of dates, Mr. Turnour is disposed to think, "proceeds from some intentional perversion of the Buddhistical chronology. " Introduction, p. L. The commentator on our text says that Chandragupta was the son of Nanda, by a wife named Mura, whence he and his descendants were called Mauryas: [x]. Colonel Tod considers Maurya a corruption of Mori, the name of a Rajput tribe. The Tika on the Mahawamso builds a story on the fancied resemblance of the word to Mayura (Sanskrit), Mori (Prakrit), 'a peacock.' There being abundance of pea-fowl in the place where the Sakya tribe built a town, they called it Mori; and their princes were, thence, called Mauryas. Turnour, Introduction to the Mahawamso. p. XXXIX. Chandragupta reigned, according to the Vayu Purana, 24 years; according to the Mahawamso, 34; to the Dipawarmso, 24. ] on the throne. His son will be Bindusara;1 [So the Mahawamso, Bindusaro. Burmese Table, Bin-tu-sa-ra. The Vayu has Bhadrasara, 25 years: (Nandasara, and 25 years: Brahmanda-purana.) the Bhagavata, Varisara.

The Matsya names but four princes of this race, although it concurs with the others, in stating the series to consist of ten. The names are, also, differently arranged; and one is peculiar. (See note __ in p. 190, infra.) They are Satadhanwan, Brihadratha, § (The Matsya-purana gives him a reign of 70 years.) Suka, (Asoka is the reading of all my MSS.) and Dasaratha. (These are the first four of the series.)] his son will be Asokavardhana;1 [Asoka, 36 years, Vayu;** (And so the Brahmanda-purana.) Suka, (See note __, above.) 26, (I find 36.) Matsya; Asokavardhana, Bhagavata; Asoko and Dhammasoko, Mahawarmso. This king is the most celebrated of any in the annals of the Buddhists.§§ (The best account, in our language, of Asoka, is by Sir Erskine Perry, in the Journal of the Bombay Asiatic Society, Vol. III., Part II., pp. 149—178.) In the commencement of his reign, he followed the Brahmanical faith, but became a convert to that of Buddha, and a zealous en- courager of it. He is said to have maintained, in his palace, 64,000 Buddhist priests, and to have erected 84,000 columns (or topes) throughout India. A great convocation of Buddhist priests was held in the eighteenth year of his reign, which was followed by missions to Ceylon and other places. According to Buddhist chronology, he ascended the throne 218 years after the death of Buddha, B.C. 325. As the grandson of Chandragupta, however, he must have been some time subsequent to this, or, — agreeably to the joint duration of the reigns of Chandragupta and Bindusara, supposing the former to have commenced his reign about B.C. 315, — forty-nine years later, or B.C. 266. The duration of his reign is said to have been thirty-six years, bringing it down to B.C. 230; but, if we deduct these periods from the date assignable to Chandragupta, of B.C. 283, we shall place Asoka's reign from B.C. 234 to 198. Now, it is certain that a number of very curious inscriptions, on columns and rocks, by a Buddhist prince, in an ancient form of letter, and the Pali language, exist in India; and that some of them refer to Greek princes, who can be no other than members of the Seleucidan and Ptolemaean dynasties, and are, probably, Antiochus the Great* (For some strictures on this position, see General Cunningham's Bhilsa Topes, p. 112.) and Ptolemy Euergetes, kings of Syria and Egypt in the latter part of the third century before Christ. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, February and March, 1838. The Indian king appears always under the appellation Piyadasi (or Priyadarsin), 'the beautiful;' and is entitled Devanam piya, 'the beloved of the gods.' According to Buddhist authorities, the Rasawahini and Dipawamso, quoted by Mr. Turnour (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, December 1837, p. 1056, and November, 1838, p. 930), Piyadasi or Piyadassano is identified, both by name and circumstances, with Asoka; and to him, therefore, the inscriptions must be attributed. Their purport agrees well enough with his character; and their wide diffusion, with the traditionary report of the number of his monuments. His date is not exactly that of Antiochus the Great; but it is not very far different; and the corrections required to make it correspond are no more than the inexact manner in which both Brahmanical and Buddhist chronology is preserved may well be expected to render necessary.] his son will be Suyasas;* [Suparswa, in two MSS.] his son will be Dasaratha;1 [The name of Dasaratha, in a similar ancient character as that of Piyadasi's inscriptions, has been found at Gaya, amongst Buddhist remains, and, like them, deciphered by Mr. Prinsep: Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, August. 1837, p. 677. A different series of names occurs in the Vayu; (Immediately after Asoka.) or: Kusala, 8 years; Bandhupalita, Indrapalita, (I find: Bandhupalita, 8 years; Indrapalita, 10 years.) Dasavarman,§ (My MSS. yield Devavarman.) 7 years; Satadhara, 8 years; and Brihadaswa, (So read all my MSS.; and yet, a little further on, they agree in naming Brihadratha as the king put to death by Pushpamitra.) 7 years. (The Brahmanda-purana has, after Asoka; Kulala, 8 years; Bandhupalita, 8 years; something unintelligible, and denoting a hiatus; Harsha, 8 years; Sammati, 9 years: Salisuka, 13 years; Devadharman, 7 years; Satadhanus, 8 years; Brihadratha, 87 years.) The Bhagavata agrees in most of the names; and its omission of Dasaratha is corrected by the commentator.] his son will be Sangata; his son will be Salisuka; his son will be Somasarman; his son will be Satadhanwan; 1 [Satadhanwan, Bhagavata.] *[Corrected from ''Sasadharman", for which I find no warrant, Professor Wilson's Hindu-made translation excepted.] and his successor will be Brihadratha. These are the ten Mauryas, who will reign over the earth for a hundred and thirty-seven years.2 [The Vayu says nine Sumurtyas (I find only the reading Mauryas; nor is there room for a longer name: [x].) reigned 137 years. (Nine Mauryas, and 137 years: Brahmanda-purana. Its details, in my MS., require correction, therefore.) The Matsya and Bhagavata have ten Mauryas, and 137 years. The detailed numbers of the Vayu and Matsya differ from their totals;§ (The Matsya-purana does not seem to profess to specify the period of each king's reign.) but the copies are, manifestly, corrupt.]

The dynasty of the Sungas will, next, become possessed of the sovereignty; for Pushpamitra,3 [The Bhagavata omits this name, but states that there were ten Sungas; although, without Pushpamitra, only nine are named. The Vayu and Matsya have the same account of the circumstances of his accession to the throne: the former gives him a reign of sixty, the latter, of thirty-six, (And so gives the Brahmanda-purana.) years. In a play attributed to Kalidasa, the Malavikagnimitra, of which Agnimitra is the hero, his father is alluded to as the Senani or general, as if he had deposed his master in favour, not of himself, but of his son. Agnimitra is termed king of Vidisa, not of Magadha. Pushpamitra is represented as engaged in a conflict with the Yavanas on the Indus; thus continuing the political relations with the Greeks or Scythians of Bactria and Ariana. See Hindu Theatre, Vol. I., p. 347.] the general (of the last Maurya prince), will put his master to death, and ascend the throne. His son will be Agnimitra;1 [8 years, Vayu; (The following stanza — corrupt, probably, — occurs there, not naming Agnimitra: [x]. From this it appears that Pushpamitra had sons who ruled for eight years. And then came Sujyeshtha, whose relationship to his predecessors is not stated. The first half of this stanza may have been, originally, something like the following loose verse from the Brakmanda-purana, which makes Agnimitra son of Pushpamitra, and assigns him a reign of 8 years: [x]) omitted, Matsya.] * [In one MS., Animitri; in another, Amitra: readings of no value. General Cunningham informs me that he possesses two coins of an Agnimitra, containing characters similar to those of Asoka's inscriptions.] his son will be Sujyeshtha;2 [7 years, Vayu and Matsya. (The Brahmanda-purana has the same.) But the latter places him after Vasumitra;§ (In the Matsya-purana I find, after Pushpamitra, Vasujyeshtha  (Vasusreshtha, in two MSS.), and then Vasumitra. According to the Harshacharita, Agnimitra had a son Sumitra, killed by Muladeva. See my Vasavadatta, Preface, p. 53.) and, in the drama, the son of Agnimitra is called Vasumitra.] his son will be Vasumitra;3 [8 years, Vayu; 10 years, Matsya. (And so has the Brahmanda-purana. )] his son will be Ardraka;4 [Andraka, Vayu; Antaka, Matsya: they agree in his reign. 2 years. (My copies of the Vayu-purana give a reign of 10 years. The Brahmanda-purana has Bhadra, and 2 years.) Bhadraka, Bhagavata.] his son will be Pulindaka;1 [3 years, Vayu (So has the Brahmanda-purana, also.) and Matsya. (In my MSS., Marunandana, and 3 years.)] * [Pulinda, a shorter form, in a single copy. The same is the reading of the Bhagavata-purana.] his son will be Ghoshavasu;2 [3 years, Vayu; (And so has the Brahmanda-purana.) omitted, Matsya; (I find a name that looks like Megha: but all my MSS. are very doubtful here. The specification of three years is added.) Ghosha, Bhagavata.] his son will be Vajramitra;3 [9 years, Matsya. ( The Vayu-purana has a name which looks, in my MSS., like Vikramitra: only this is most unlikely, as being meaningless. The reign is of 14 years, according to one MS.; 9, possibly, according to the rest. The Brahmanda-purana has Vajramitra, and 14 years. The Vayu-purana, in all probability, really has the same.] his son will be Bhagavata;4 [Bhaga, Matsya; 32 years. Vayu and Matsya. (Bhagavata, and 32 years: Brahmanda-purana.)] his son will be Devabhuti.5 [Kshemabhumi, Vayu; Devabhumi, Matsya: 10 years, both.§§ (The Brahmanda-purana has Devabhumi, and 10 years. What total the Matsya-purana has is not to be made out from my MSS.: the detailed reigns occupy, however, 112 years. Though its text declares the Sungas to be ten, it names but nine.)] * [One MS. has Devabhuri.] These are the ten Sungas, who will govern the kingdom for a hundred and twelve years.6 [The Bhagavata says 'more than a hundred,' [x]. The commentator explains it 112. [x]. The Vayu and Matsya (What total the Matsya-purana has is not to be made out from my MSS.: the detailed reigns occupy, however, 112 years. Though its text declares the Sungas to be ten, it names but nine.) have the same period. (The Brahmanda-purana has, also, 112 years: [x].)]

Devabhuti, the (last) Sunga prince, being addicted to immoral indulgences, his minister, the Kanwa [Corrected, here and at the beginning of the next paragraph, from "Kanwa", which I find nowhere. The Brahmanda-purana first applies to Vasudeva the term Kanwa; afterwards, that of Kanwayana.)] named Vasudeva, will murder him, and usurp the kingdom. His son will be Bhumimitra;* [Bhumitra: Bhagavata-purana.] his son will be Narayana; his son will be Susarman. [Sudharman: Brahmanda-purana.] These four Kanwayanas [Corrected, here and further on, from "Kanwas", for which I find no authority. And see the original as quoted in the Translator's note in this page.] will be kings of the earth for forty-five§ (One MS. yields "forty". ) years.1 [The names of the four princes agree in all the authorities. (The Bhagavata-purana omits, in his place, Susarman, whose name is supplied by the commentator Sridhara. See, further, note __, above. The Vayu-purana has, in my MSS., Bhutimitra, not Bhumimitra; and its account of the Kanwayanas, if decipherable, would, perhaps, prove different from that of our Purana.) The Matsya transfers the character of Vyasanin to the minister, with the further addition of his being a Brahman, — Dwija. In the lists given by Sir William Jones and Colonel Wilford, the four Kanwas are said to have reigned 346 years; but, in seven copies of the Vishnu Purana, from different parts of India, the number is, as given in the text, forty-five: [x]. There is, however, authority for the larger number, both in the text of the Bhagavata and the comment. The former (XII., I., 19.) has: [x]. And the latter: [x]. There is no doubt, therefore, of the purport of the text; and it is only surprising that such a chronology should have been inserted in the Bhagavata, not only in opposition to all probability, but to other authority. The Vayu and Matsya not only confirm the lower number, by stating it as a total, but by giving it in detail; thus: Vasudeva will reign 9 years; Bhumimitra will reign 14 years; Narayana will reign 12 years; Susarman will reign 10 years. Total : 45 years. And six copies of the Matsya concur in this statement. (And so do the four to which I have access. The Brahmanda-purana gives the same total of years for the dynasty of the Kanwas, whom it describes as Brahmans.)]
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Re: The Vishnu Purana, Vol. IV, by H.H. Wilson

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Part 2 of 3

Susarman, the Kanwa,* [One MS. has Kanwayana.] will be killed by a powerful [I find [x], 'by violence'.] servant, named Sipraka, [Two MSS. give Kshipraka.] of the Andhra§ [Corrected, here and elsewhere, from "Andhra". Similarly, I have amended "Andhrabhritya". These words I have enclosed in parentheses, as being additional to the Sanskrit.] tribe, who will become king, (and found the Andhrabhritya dynasty1 [The expressions Andhrajatiyas and Andhrabhrityas have much perplexed Colonel Wilford, who makes three races out of one, — Andhras, Andhrajatiyas, and Andhrabhrityas: Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX., p. 101. There is no warrant for three races, in the Puranas, although the Matsya, and, perhaps, the Vayu, distinguishes two, as we shall hereafter see. Our text has but one, to which all the terms may be applied. The first of the dynasty was an Andhra by birth or caste (jatiya), and a servant (bhritya) of the last of the Kanwa race. So the Vayu: [x]. The Matsya: [x]. And the Bhagavata:** (XII., I., 20.) [x]. The terms 'an Andhra by caste' and 'a Bhritya' or servant, with the addition, in the last passage, of Vrishala, 'a Sudra', all apply to one person and one dynasty. Wilford has made wild work with his triad. The name of the first of this race is variously read: Sindhuka, Vayu; Sisuka, Matsya; Balin, (Colonel Wilford strangely gives "Balihika, or, rather, Balihita." Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX., p. 107. ) Bhagavata;§ (See the stanza cited just above. ) and, according to Wilford, Chhesmaka (In the Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX., p. 116, Colonel Wilford has Chhismaka, and rightly, if my MS. is trustworthy.) in the Brahmanda Parana, and Sudraka or Suraka in the Kumarika Khanda of the Skanda Purana: Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX., p. 107. He reigned 23 years: Vayu and Matsya. (And so states the Brahmanda-purana. The names of the Andhrabhritya kings, with the duration of their reigns, I give, from that Purana, in a group. Vide infra, p. 201, note __.) If the latter form of his name be correct, he may be the king who is spoken of in the prologue to the Mrichchhakatika.] He will be succeeded by his brother, Krishna;1 [10 years,** (Both the name and the period are uncertain in my MSS. Colonel Wilford has Krishna, and 18 years.) Vayu; 18 years, Matsya.] his son will be Srisatakarni;2 [56 years, Vayu; 18 years, Matsya; 10 years, Brahmanda, Wilford; (Vide infra, p. 201, note __, near the end.) Simalakarni, Matsya; (Vide infra, p. 200, note __.) Santakarna,§§ (The reading there is Srisantakarna.) Bhagavata. ( In Colonel Wilford's manuscript extracts, I find Purnotsanga, and 18 years. Also see the Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX., p. 116.)) * [In one MS, Srisantakarni. Also vide infra, p. 198, note __.] his son will be Purnotsanga;3 [Omitted, Vayu; 18 years, Matsya; Paurnamasa, Bhagavata.] his son will be Satakarni;4 Omitted, Vayu (Satakarni, and 56 years, in the collection just spoken of. Colonel Wilford, in the Asiatic Researches where referred to in my last note, has the same. It is noticeable, that, at the same time, he does not state the length of Srisatakarni's reign, — 56 years, — but leaves a blank.) and Bhagavata; 56 years, Matsya: but the latter has, before him, a Srivaswani, (This strange word must, certainly, be a mistake. Vide infra, p. 200, note __.) 18 years.] [The correct form, Satakarni, is of frequent occurrence, in various MSS. of several Puranas accessible to me, both where this name stands by itself and where it appears as a family-designation. Also vide infra, p. 198, note __. ) his son will be Lambodara;1 [8 years, Matsya. (In Colonel Wilford's excerpts, the Vayu-purana here, again, agrees with the Matsya-purana. But I suspect interpolation. Also see the Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX., p. 116.)] his son will be Ivilaka;2 [Apilaka, 12 years, Vayu and Matsya;§ (My MSS. of the Matsya-purana have Apitaka; and so has the Radcliffe copy, according to Professor Wilson. Vide infra, p, 199, note 4.) Chivilika or Vivilika, (The name intended seems to be Vikala. At all events, it is a trisyllable; as is evident from the verse where it occurs for the second time: [x]. Colonel Wilford has Vivilaka, which may have suggested Professor Wilson's "Vivilika".) Bhagavata.] * [Two MSS. exhibit Divilaka. Colonel Wilford professes to have found Vivilaka.] his son will be Meghaswati;3 [Omitted, Vayu and Matsya. (It agrees, here, according to my MSS., and according to the Radcliffe MS. as represented by Professor Wilson, with our Purana. Vide infra, p. 200, note __.)] his son will be Patumat;4 [Patumavi,** (This name looks rather doubtful. Colonel Wilford's MS. of extracts has Paduravi. The Colonel prints "Patumabi". The person here intended may be the same as Pudumayi, or whatever his name is, mentioned in the Nasik cave-inscriptions. See the Journal of the Bombay Asiatic Society, Vol. VII., p. 52.) 24 years, Vayu; Atamana, (Corrected from "Drirhamana ", which is quite indefensible, and must have been misread for something else. The "rh" is meant for 'dh". See the verse quoted in note __, above. Colonel Wilford has the name I have given, of which I find no variant.) Bhagavata.] his son will be Arishtakarman;1 [Nemikrishna, 25 years, Vayu; Arishtakarni, 25 years, Matsya. (Anishtakarman: Bhagavata-purana.)] * [Arishtakarna is the name given by Colonel Wilford.] his son will be Hala;2 [Hala, 1 year, Vayu; 5 years, Matsya; Haleya, Bhagavata.] his son will be Pattalaka;3 [Mandalaka, (Corrected from "Mandalaka".) 5 years, Matsya;** (The Vayu-purana here assigns a reign of 5 years to some king whose name is utterly corrupted in my MSS. Colonel Wilford has Pulaka, and 5 years: Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX., p. 116.) omitted, Bhagavata. (Not so: it has Talaka, which Colonel Wilford found, and which is in all my MSS., &c.)] [Corrected from "Talaka", which I find in no MS. of our Purana. Professor Wilson's Hindu-made version has Uttalaka. Colonel Wilford gives the name correctly. See, further, note __, below.] his son will be Pravilasena;4 [Purishasena, (I find Purikashena; and so found Colonel Wilford.) 21 years, Vayu; Purindrasena, 5 years, Matsya; Purishataru,§§ (I find Purishabhiru. Colonel Wilford's "Purishbhoru" is impossible.) Bhagavata.] [Three MSS. have, like Colonel Wilford, Pravillasena; one, Pulindasena.] his son will be Sundara (named) Satakarnin;5 [Satakarni only, Vayu and Matsya: the first gives him three years; (In the Vayu-purana, according to my copies, Satakarni is made to reign but one year: [x]. And so says Colonel Wilford.) the second, but one. (Vide infra, p. 201, note __.) Sunanda,*** (Sunandana is the name; and Colonel Wilford so has it.) Bhagavata.] § [Corrected from "Satakarni". In like manner, I have amended, just below, "Chakora Satakarni" and "Sivasri Satakarni". Colonel Wilford has Sundara Satakarna and Chakora Satakarni.] his son will be Chakora Satakarnin;6 [Chakora, (The Vayu-purana has Chakorasatakarni. Also vide infra, p. 201, note __. Chakora is the name in the Bhagavata-purana.) 6 months, Vayu; Vikarni, 6 months, Matsya.] his son will be Sivaswati;1 [28 years, Vayu (According to Colonel Wilford, the Vayu-purana has Sivaswamin. I find Sivaswati.) and Matsya. (Colonel Wilford represents the Bhagavata-purana as naming Vataka and Sivaswati between Chakora and Gomatiputra. The name Vataka is in no MS. that I have examined; and there is no room for it in the line where it was supposed to occur.)] his son will be Gomatiputra;2 [Gotamiputra, ** [Gautamiputra is in both Puranas, in my copies; and Colonel Wilford has this name. But see note §, above, ad finem; also, note § in p. 201, infra.] 21 years, Vayu and Matsya.] * [A single MS. has Gotamiputra, which may be a restoration of the original reading of the Vishnu-purana. See note §, below. The Bhagavata-purana has Gomatiputra.] his son will be Pulimat;3 [Pulomat, (The Vayu-purana has no name here.) 28 years, Matsya; Purimat, Bhagavata.] his son will be Sivasri Satakarnin;4 [Omitted, Vayu; 7 years, Matsya; Medasiras, (Corrected from "Medhasiras".) Bhagavata.] [Colonel Wiiford bisects him into Satakarni and Sivasri.] his son will be Sivaskandha;5 [Omitted, Vayu; 7 years, Matsya.§§ (Vide infra, p. 201, note __. )] [One MS. gives Sivaskanda, the reading of Colonel Wilford, of the Translator's Bengal version, and that of the Bhagavata-purana.] his son wall be Yajnasri;6 [29 years, Vayu; (Yajnasri Satakarnin, and 19 years, in all my copies of the Vayupurana but one, which gives, like Colonel Wilford, 29 years.) 9 years, Matsya.] § [Satakarni, and called king of the south, — as Professor Wilson presently states, — is referred to in an inscription at Junagur. See the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, for 1838, pp. 339 and 341; and the Journal of the Bombay Asiatic Society, Vol. VII., pp. 120 and 126. This inscription, which is in Sanskrit, shows that the name of the king in question begins with a dental sibilant. Further, in the Nasik cave-inscriptions, names are found which are supposed to correspond to Srisatakarni, Gotamiputra Srisatakarni, and Yajnasri Satakarni. Journal of the Bombay Asiatic Society, Vol. V., pp. 43, 47, 56. We have, it is evident, excellent authority for accepting Gotamiputra, as against Gautamipntra and Gomatiputra. ] his son will be Vijaya;1 [6 years, Vayu* (Colonel Wilford has Satakarni, and 60 years. I suspect an error.) and Matsya.] his son will be Chandrasri;2 [Dandasri, (The full name, in the Vayu-purana, is Dandasri Satakarni.) 3 years, Vayu; Chandrasri, (Vide infra, p. 201, note ** . My MSS. here harmonize neither with the Radcliffe as quoted by Professor Wilson, nor with the MS. which he used for his short notes hereabouts.) 10 years, Matsya; Chandravijna,§ (Corrected from "Chandravijaya", the name that Colonel Wilford, also, has. The original runs: [x].) Bhagavata.] his son will be Pulomarchis.3 [Pulovapi, (Colonel Wilford seems to have found Puloman.) 7 years, Vayu; Pulomat, 7 years, Matsya; Salomadhi, (Corrected, here and below, from "Sulomadhi." Colonel Wilford's "Lomadhi" is a mere blunder, and easily enough to be accounted for. See the verse quoted in note § , above. )  Bhagavata.] These 4 [The Vayu and Bhagavata state, also, 30 kings, and 456 years;** (The aggregate which I find is 411 years: [x].) the Matsya has 29 (My MSS. of the Matsya-purana agree in saying 19; and herein, to begin with, they must, all, be corrupt.) kings, and 460 years. The actual enumeration of the text gives but 24 names; that of the Bhagavata, but 23; that of the Vayu, but 17. The Matsya has the whole 29 names, adding several to the list of our text; and the aggregate of the reigns amounts to 435 years and 6 months. (This aggregate cannot be received with confidence, as must be clear from the details given in my numerous annotations on the list that follows.) The difference between this and the total specified arises, probably, from some inaccuracy in the MSS. As this list appears to be fuller than any other, it may be advisable to insert it as it occurs in the Radcliffe copy of the Matsya Purana: §§ (It must have been some other copy, and one abounding with omissions, that Professor Wilson followed for his last twenty-four notes preceding that under annotation; else, why the numerous discrepancies that present themselves, when we look into details? My four MSS. of the Matsya-purana, while, differing considerably among themselves, differ quite as much from the Radcliffe copy as here cited. Whatever the importance of the matter before us, it being hopeless, with my materials, to make out, with certainty, the twenty-nine desired kings, and the duration of the reign of each, I shall not enter into many particulars, in dealing with the Translator's regal catalogue.)] thirty Andhrabhritya kings will reign four hundred and fifty-six years.

1. Sisuka / 23 years.
2. Krishna / 18 years.
3. Simalakarni* (To be corrected to Srimallakarni. Compare note 2 in p. 195, supra. And I find 10 years assigned to him, in all my MSS.) / 18 years.
4. Purnotsanga / 18 years.
5. Srivaswani (Skandhastambhi is the reading in my copies.) / 18 years.
6. Satakarni / 56 years.
7. Lambodara / 18 years.
8. Apitaka (Vide supra, p. 196, notes 2 and §. ) / 12 years.
9. Sangha§ (My MSS. have Meghaswati.) / 18 years.
10. Satakarni (Swati is the reading which I find.) / 18 years.
11. Skandhaswati / 7 years.
12. Mrigendra ( Mrigendraswatikarna, in my MSS.) / 3 years.
13. Kuntalaswati** (All my copies give Kuntalaswatikarna.) / 8 years.
14. Swatikarna / 1 years.
15. Pulomavit (Pulomavi is the name in my MSS.; and then follows Meghaswati, with 38 years.) / 36 years.
16. Gorakshaswasri (My MSS. have Gaurakrishna, Naurikrishna, and Vikrishna. Compare note 1 in p. 197, supra.) / 25 years.
17. Hala / 5 years.
18. Mantalaka* (This is the name in one of my MSS.; the rest having Mandalaka. Vide supra, p. 197, notes 3 and __.) / 5 years.
19. Purindrasena (My copies give, after this name, Sundaraswatikarna, and 1 year. Vide supra, p. 197, note 5, and the annotations thereon.) / 5 years.
20. Rajadaswati (Chakoraswatikarna, in my MSS.) / 6 months.
21. Sivaswati / 28 years.
22. Gautamiputra§ (This corrects the name in note 2 in p. 198, supra, which see, and the annotation thereon.) / 21 years.
23. Pulomat / 28 years.
24. Sivasri / 7 years.
25. Skandhaswati (I find Sivaskandasatakarni, and 9 years.) / 7 years.
26. Yajnasri (Yajnasrisatakarnika, and 20 years, according to my MSS.) / 9 years.
27. Vijaya / 6 years.
28. Vadasri** (In my copies, Chandasrisatakarni. See notes 2 and __ in p. 199, supra.) / 10 years.
29. Pulomat/ 7 years.
Total: 435 years, 6 months.


Several of the names vary, in this list, from those in my copy. The adjuncts Swati and Satikarna (I find Swatikarna; also, Satakarnin, Satakarni, and Satakarnika.) appear to be conjoined, or not, with the other appellations, according to the convenience of the metre, and seem to be the family designations or titles.  
 
Below are the details of the Andhrabhrityas, according to the chapter of the Brahmanda-purana copied in Colonel Wilford's volume of Pauranik extracts:

Chhismaka / 23 years.
Krishna / 18 years.
Srisatakarni / 18 years.
Purnotsanga / 18 years.
Satakarni / 56 years.
Lambodara / 18 years.
Apilaka / 12 years.
Saudasa / 18 years.
Avi(??) / 12 years.
Skandaswati / 7 years.
Bhavaka / 5 years.
Pravillasena / 12 years.
Sundara Satakarni / 1 years.
Chakora Satakarni / 6 years.
Mahendra Satakarni / 3 years.
Kuntala Satakarni / 8 years.
Swatishena / 1 years.
Yantramati(??) / 34 years.
Satakarni / 29 years.
Avi(??) / 4 years.
Sivaskanda Satakarni / 8 years.
Yajnasri Satakarni / 19 years.
Daudasri Satakarni / 3 years.
Puloman (sic) / 7 years.


The reign of Chakora is here given as of six years, — not months, as in the Matsya-purana.

The Brahmanda-purana asserts that these kings will be thirty in number. The duration of the dynasty is given, but is expressed rather enigmatically. Apparently, it is 418 years.

Colonel Wilford, in preparing his table of the Andhrabhrityas, in the Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX., p. 116, could not have followed, exclusively, for the Brahmanda-purana, the extract of his which I have been obliged to use without means of controlling it. Thus, his text must have differed from mine; or he would not have given the reign of Srisatakarni as of ten years. And again, he assigns 28 years to Skandaswati; his extract assigning only 7, and most distinctly, too. Like myself, he seems to have had no other than the strange-looking readings Avi and Yuntramati.

The dynasty is of considerable chronological interest, as it admits of some plausible verifications. That a powerful race of Andhra princes ruled in India in the beginning of the Christian era, we learn from Pliny, who describes them as possessed of thirty fortified cities, with an army of 100,000 men and 2000 elephants. The Andrae (Pliny speaks of gens Andarae: VI., XIX.) of this writer are, probably, the people of the upper part of the Peninsula; Andhra being the proper designation of Telingana. The Peutingerian tables, however, place the Andre-Indi on the banks of the Ganges; and the southern princes may have extended, or shifted, the site of their power. Towards the close of the dynasty, we find names that appear to agree with those of princes of middle India, of whom mention is made by the Chinese; as, Yue-gnai (Yajnasri), king of Kiapili, A.D. 408 (Des Guignes, I., 45), and Ho-lo-mien (Puloman (The nominative case of Pulomat.)), king of Magadha in 621 (ibid., I., 56). The Pauranik lists place these two princes more nearly together; but we cannot rely implicitly upon their accuracy. Calculating from Chandragupta downwards, the Indian date of Yajna and the Chinese Yue-gnai corresponds; for we have:

10 Mauryas / 137 years.
10 Sungas / 112 years.
4 Kabwayanas / 45 years.
27 Andhras / 437 years.§ (This total is exceedingly doubtful. Whence it is taken, too?)
Total: 731
Deduct, for Chandragupta's date, 312 B.C.
Total: 419 A.C.,

 
a date remarkably near that derivable from the Chinese annals. If the Indian Puloman be the same with the Chinese Ho-lo-mien, there must be some considerable omission in the Pauranik dynasty. There is a further identification in the case of Ho-lo- mien, which makes it certain that a prince of Magadha is intended; as the place of his residence is called, by the Chinese, Kia-so-mo-pu-lo-ching and Po-to-li-tse-ching, or, in Sanskrit, Kusumapura and Pataliputra.* (The full representation of the Chinese is "Kusumapura City" and "Pataliputra City".) The equivalent of the latter name consists not only in the identity of the sounds Patali and Po-to- li, but in the translation of 'putra' by 'tse'; each word meaning, in their respective languages, 'son.' No doubt can be entertained, therefore, that the city intended is the metropolis of Magadha, —Pataliputra, or Palibothra. Wilford identifies Pulomat or Puloman (See note __ in the preceding page.) with the Po-lo-mu-en of the Chinese; but Des Guignes interprets Po-lo-mu-en-kue, (Equivalent to Brahmana-rashtra.) royaume des Brahmanes.' Buchanan (Hamilton), following the Bhagavata, as to the name of the last king, Salomadhi, would place him about A.D. 846; but his premises are far from accurate, and his deduction, in this instance at least, is of no weight: Genealogies of the Hindus, Introduction, p. 16. He supposes the Andhra kings of Magadha to have retained their power on the Ganges until the Mohammedan invasion (or the twelfth century), when they retired to the south, and reigned at Warankal, in Telingana. Inscriptions and coins, however, confirm the statement of the Puranas, that a different dynasty succeeded to the Andhras some centuries before the Mohammedan conquests; and the Chinese, also, record, that, upon the death of the king of Magadha, Ho-lo-mien (Pulonian?), some time before A.D. 648, great troubles in India took place. Des Guignes. Some very curious and authentic testimony to the actual existence of these Andhra kings has been lately afforded by the discovery of an ancient inscription in Gujerat, in which Rudra Daman, the Kshatrapa (or Satrap) of Surashtra, is recorded to have repeatedly overcome Satakarni, (Corrected from "Satakarni". Vide supra, p. 198, note §.) king of the southern country (Dakshinapatha). The inscription is without date; but it is in an old character, and makes mention of the two Maurya princes, Chandragupta and Asoka, as if not very long prior to its composition. Mr. J. Prinsep, to whom we are indebted for the deciphering and translating of this important document, has been, also, successful in deciphering the legends on a series of coins belonging to the princes of Surashtra, amongst whom the name of Rudra Daman occurs; and he is inclined, although with hesitation, to place these princes about a century after Asoka, — or Rudra Daman, about 153 B.C.: Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, May, 1837, and April, 1838. According to the computation hazarded above, from our text, the race of Andhra kings should not commence till about 20 years B.C., which would agree with Pliny's notice of them; but it is possible that they existed earlier in the south of India, although they established their authority in Magadha only in the first centuries of the Christian era.

After these, various races will reign; as, seven Abbiras, ten Gardabhilas,* [Corrected from "Garddhabas", an inadvertence for "Gardabhas", which I find nowhere. Professor Wilson's Hindu-made version has Gardabhiras. But I suspect that Gardabhila is only a Bengal corruption of Gardabhin; and that it had its origin, in part, in the liability, in the local characters, of confusion between [x] and [x]. Compare Vol. II., p. 100, note __. Colonel Wilford writes "Gardabhinas", though regard for grammar would have led him to write Gardabhins. Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX., pp. 155 and 219.] sixteen Sakas, eight Yavanas, fourteen Tusharas,* [One MS. has Tushkaras. For the Tusharas or Tukharas, see Vol. II., p. 176, note **; and p. 186, note 5, with the annotations thereon.] thirteen Mundas, eleven Maunas, — (altogether, seventy-nine princes),1

[These parallel dynasties are thus particularized in our other authorities: Abhiras, 7, Matsya; 10, Vayu; kings of Avabhriti, 7, Bhagavata. (It calls these Abhiras by the name of Avabhrityas. The commentator on the Bhagavata-purana says they were so denominated, as being kings of the city of Avabhriti.) Gardabhins, 10,§ ( 7, in both the Puranas, in all my copies of them.) Matsya. (Gardabhilas is the name in all my MSS. of the Matsya-purana, which recognizes only seven of them. But vide supra, p. 202, note __, on the probability that Gardabhila is a mere corruption.) Vayu, Bhagavata.

Sakas, 18. (10, in the Vayu-purana, according to my MSS.) Matsya, Vayu; Kankas, 16, Bhagavata.
Yavanas, 8, Matsya, Vayu, Bhagavata.
Tusharas, 14, Matsya, Vayu; Tushkaras, (I find Pushkasas.) 14, Bhagavata.
Marundas,§ (One MS. yields Murundas, the better reading, almost certainly.) 13, Vayu; Purundas, (My oldest MS. yields Purandas; two, Purundas; the remaining, Purunjas.) 13, Matsya; Surundas, (Gurundas, according to my MSS., &c.) 10, Bhagavata.
Maunas, 18,** (This is to be exchanged for 11. The MSS. have 18, it is true; but, further on, they correct themselves. Vide infra, p. 210, note __.) Vayu; Hunas, 19, Matsya; (The Matsya-purana has, besides, several particulars which I cannot decipher.) Maulas, (This is, probably, a Bengal corruption of Maunas, the name which my MSS. &c yield. On the liability of confusion between [x] and [x], vide supra, p. 202, note __. The Bhagavata-purana says that the Maunas will reign for a period of 300 years.) 11, Bhagavata.§§ (The Brahmanda-purana, in my one MS , agrees with the Vayupurana, as known to me, a few particulars excepted. Thus: it assigns the Sakas 300 years; it has Swarandas, not Murundas; and it makes the Mauna kings eleven only.)
Total: (These totals are supplied by the Translator.) 85 kings, Vayu; 89, Matsya; 76, and 1399 years, Bhagavata.


The other two authorities give the years of each dynasty severally. The numbers are, apparently, intended to be the same; but those of the Matsya are palpable blunders, although almost all the MSS. agree in the reading. The chronology of the Vayu is: Abhiras, 67 years; Gardabhins, 72; Sakas, 380; Yavanas, 82; Tusharas, 500 (all the copies of the Matsya have 7000); Marundas, 200;* (This interpretation may be doubtful. The original, as alone I find it, runs: [x].) and MIechchhas (Vide infra, p. 210, note __.) (intending, perhaps, Maunas), 300 years. Total, (This is the Translator's total.) 1601 years; or less than 19 years to a reign. They are not, however, continuous, but nearly contemporary, dynasties; and, if they comprise, as they probably do, the Greek and Scythian princes of the west of India, the periods may not be very wide of the truth. The Matsya begins the list with one more dynasty, — another Andhra (vide supra, p. 194, note 1), of whom there were seven:

[x].

"When the dominion of the Andhras has ceased, there shall be seven other Andhras, kings of the race of their servants; and, then, nine§ (Only one of my MSS. has a reading that yields a number; and that number is ten.) Abhiras." The passage of the Vayu, although somewhat similar in terms, has a different purport:

[x] (The lection which I find is [x].) [x].
 
"Of these, the Andhras having passed away, there shall be seven contemporary races; as, ten Abhiras," &c. The passage is differently read in different copies; but this is the only intelligible reading. At the same time, it subsequently specifies a period for the duration of the Andhra dynasty, different from that before given, or three hundred years, as if a different race was referred to:

[x] (So have, to be sure, all my MSS. of the Vayu-purana; and the grammar and metre are correct Still, the verse looks unnatural. I should not be surprised if it were a corruption of the same words that we find in the Brahmanda-purana:

[x]
The period here recognized is of two hundred and fifty years.)

"The Andhras shall possess the earth two hundred years and one hundred." The Matsya has twice five hundred:

[x]

"The Sriparvatiya Andhras, twice five hundred years." One MS. has, more consistently, fifty-two years: [x]. But there is, evidently, something faulty in all the MSS. The expression of the Matsya, 'Sriparvatiya Andhras,' is remarkable; Sriparvata being in Telingana. There is, probably, some confusion of the two races, the Magadha and Tailinga kings, in these passages of the Puranas. The Bhagavata has a dynasty of seven Andhra kings, but of a different period (vide supra, p. 194, note 1). Colonel Wilford has attempted a verification of these dynasties; in some instances, perhaps, with success, though, certainly, not in all. The Abhiras he calls the shepherd-kings of the north of India. They were, more probably, Greeks, or Scythians, or Parthians, along the lower Indus. Traces of the name occur, as formerly observed,* (Vol. II., p. 185, note 2. Also see the same volume, p. 133, text, and note *. Dr. Bhau Daji announces that he has discovered an inscription of the Abhiras near Nasik. One of their kings, he says, was Iswarasena, son of Sivadatta. Journal of the Bombay Asiatic Society, Vol. VIII., p. 243.) in the Abiria of Ptolemy; and the Ahirs, (For the tribe of Ahirs, see Sir H. M. Elliot's Supplemental Glossary, pp. 6-9.) as a distinct race, still exist in Gujerat. Araish-i- Mahfil. The Sakas are the Sacae; and the duration of their power is not unlikely to be near the truth. The eight Yavana kings may be, as he supposes, Greek princes of Bactria, or, rather, of Western India. The Tusharas he makes the Parthians. If the Bhagavata has the preferable reading, Tushkaras, (It does not seem that it has. Vide supra, p. 206, note __) they were the Tochari, a Scythian race. The Murundas, or, as he has it, Maurundas, he considers to be a tribe of Huns,— the Morundae of Ptolemy. According to the Matsya, they were of Mlechchha origin (Mlechchha-sambhava). The Vayu calls them Arya-mlechchhas; quere, barbarians of Ariana. Wilford regards the Maunas as, also, a tribe of Huns; and the word is, in all the MSS. of the Matsya, Hunas; (See Vol. II., p. 134, note __.) traces of whom may be still found in the west and south of India: (This position is open to much doubt.) Inscription at Merritch, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. III, p. 103. The Gardabhins Wilford conjectures to be descendants of Bahram Gor, king of Persia; but this is very questionable. That they were a tribe in the west of India may be conjectured; as some strange tales prevail, there, of a Gandharva, changed to an ass, marrying the daughter of the king of Dhara: (Asiatic Researches, Vol. VI., p. 35, and Vol. IX., p. 147; also, 'Cutch,' by Mrs. Postans, p. 18); fables suggested, no doubt, by the name Gardabha, signifying 'an ass'. There is, also, evidently, some affinity between these Gardabhins and the old Gadhiya Paisa, or 'ass-money', as vulgarly termed, found in various parts of Western India, and which is, unquestionably, of ancient date: Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, December, 1835, p. 688. It may be the coinage of the Gardabha princes; Gardabha being the original of Gadha, meaning, also, an 'ass'. I have elsewhere conjectured the possibility of their being current about a century and a half before our era: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. III., p. 385. Colonel Tod. quoting a parallel passage in Hindi, reads, instead of Gardabhin,§ (Corrected from "Garddhabhin". ) Gor-ind, which he explains "the Indras (or lords) of Gor"; but the reading is, undoubtedly, erroneous. ]

* [I have parenthesized this summation, as being added from the commentary.] who will be sovereigns of the earth for one thousand three hundred and ninety-nine* [Corrected, on the authority of all my MSS., from "ninety". And the commentary has [x].] years; and, then, eleven Pauras will be kings for three hundred years.1

[The copies agree in reading Pauras; but the commentator remarks that it is, sometimes, Maunas: (Three of my MSS. actually have Maunas.) but they have already been specified; unless the term be repeated in order to separate the duration of this dynasty from that of the rest. Such seems to be the purport of the similar passage of the Bhagavata:§ (XII., I., 29, 30.) "These kings (Andhras, &c.,) will possess the earth 1099 years, and, the eleven Maulas, 300:"

[x] (I find [x]: Vide supra, p. 206, note __.) [x].

No such name as Pauras occurs in the other authorities. The analogy of duration identifies them with the Mlechchhas of the Vayu: "Eleven Mlechchhas will possess the earth for three centuries:"

[x]

And the Vayu may refer to the Maunas; as no other period is assigned for them. The periods of the Bhagavata — 1099 and 300, — come much to the same as that of our text, 1390;** (Our text affords an aggregate of 1399, like the Bhagavata-purana. Vide supra, p. 206, note __.) the one including the three centuries of the Maunas, the other stating it separately. The Vayu, apparently, adds it to the rest; thus making the total 1601, (The Translator, not the Vayu-purana, supplies this total.) instead of 1390. (I find [x]: Vide supra, p. 206, note __.) (One of my MSS. reads [x]. Also vide supra, p. 206, note __.) It is evident that the same scheme is intended by the several authorities; although some inaccuracy affects either the original statement or the existing manuscripts.]
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Re: The Vishnu Purana, Vol. IV, by H.H. Wilson

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Part 3 of 3

When they are destroyed, the Kailakila* [Almost as common as this reading is Kailikila; and I find Kilakila and Kaichchhikila, also. See, further, p. 211, infra, notes I and __.] Yavanas will be kings, the chief of whom will be Vindhyasakti: his son will be Puranjaya;* [Paraparanjaya, in one MS. Vide infra, p. 212, notes § and ||.] his son will be Ramachandra; his son will be Dharma, [Corrected from "Adharma", for which I find no authority. The original runs: [x]. Even Professor Wilson's Bengal translation has Dharma.] from whom will be Varanga,* [Four MSS. have Vangara; one, Vyangala.] Kritanandana, Sushinandi, [Substituted for the "Sudbinandi" of the former edition, which I have met with nowhere. Sushinandi, the ordinary lection, is the word in Professor Wilson's Hindu-made version. One MS. has Sukhinandi; one, Sushirnandi; one, Sishyanandi.] Nandiyasas, Sisuka, and Pravira: these will rule for a hundred and six years.1 [Kilakila, Kolakila, Kolikila, Kilinakila, as it is variously read. (Four MSS. of the Vayu-purana have Kolikilas; one, Kilakilas. Two copies of the Matsya-purana give Kilikilas; one, Kilakilas; the fourth, Kilakalas. The reading of the Brahmanda-purana is Kailakilas. The Bhagavata-purana speaks of Kilikila, which the commentator Sridhara says is the name of a city. The commentator on the Vishiu-purana calls the city Kelikila.) Sir William Jones's Pandit  stated that he understood it to be a city in the Maratha country (Asiatic Researches, Vol XI., p. 142); and there has been found a confirmation of his belief, in an inscription where Kilagila,§ (It seems to be a mountain, giving name to a stronghold thereon.) as it is there termed, is called the capital of Marasimha Deva, king of the Konkan: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. IV., p. 282. This inscription dates A.D. 1058. The Puranas refer, probably, to a long antecedent date, when the Greek princes, or their Indo-Scythic successors, following the course of the Indus, spread to the upper part of the western coast of the Peninsula. The text calls them Yavanas; and the Vayu and Matsya say they were Yavanas in institutions, manners, and policy: [x]. (These words I find in the Matsya-purana, but not in the Vayu-purana.) The Bhagavata (XII., I., 30, 31.) names five of their princes, — Bhutananda, Vangiri, Sisunandi, Yasonandi,** (Called brother of Sisunandi.) and Praviraka, — who will reign 106 years; and they are, therefore, imperfect representatives of the series in our text. The Matsya has no further specific enumeration of any dynasty. The Vayu makes Pravira the son of Vindhyasakti;* (Dr. Bhau Daji has published an inscription from Ajunta, in which, he says, there is mention of a king Vindhyasakti and his son Pravarasena. The same names of sire and son are found, he alleges, in the Vayu-purana. His MSS. must differ, then, from mine. See the Journal of the Bombay Asiatic Society, Vol. VII., p. 65.) the latter reigning 96 years, and the former, 60. (In the Brahmanda-purana, it seems to be stated that Dauhitra and others — see below, — will reign for sixty years; and then follows something quite unintelligible in my MS.) The latter is king of Kanchanapuri, (In the Vayu-purana, the city is called Kanchanaka.)  'the golden city,' and is followed by four sons, whose names are not mentioned. Between Vindhyasakti and Pravira, however, a dynasty of kings is introduced, some of the names of which resemble those of the Kilakila princes of the text.§ (The Vayu-purana is anything but clear, hereabouts, in my MSS. It speaks — see the next note, — of Parapuranjaya (or Swarapuranjaya, according to three copies out of five); and he is said to be son of Sesha, king of the Nagas. Vide supra, p. 210, note _.) They are: Bhogin (the son of Seshanaga (I find, in the Vayu-purana: [x]. The Brahmanda-purana has the same verse.)), Sadachandra, Nakhavat, Dhanadhamita, (Three MSS. of the Vayu-purana have Dhanadharman; the remaining two, Dhanadharma.) Vimsaja, Bhutinanda, — at a period before the end of the Sungas? (the copies have [x]** (One MS. has [x]; and so reads the Brahmanda-purana. The resulting sense is "after the Sungas".) [x]). Madhunandi, his younger brother, Nandiyasas; (The Brahmanda-purana, at least as known to me, has, instead of these names: Ramachandra, Nakhavat(?), Varadharmin, Vangava (?), Bhuminanda, Sisunandi, Nandiyasas.) and, in his race, there will be three other Rajas, — Dauhitra,* (Variants: Dauhitrya and Daihitra.) Sisuka, and Ripukayan. (I find nothing like this name, but, in most of my MSS., Purikaya. The rest seem to speak of a city, Purikaya. The Brahmanda-purana gives Purikaya.) These are called princes of Vidisa or Videsa, (All my MSS. have Vaidesa, with Vaidisaka as its adjective. One or other must be wrong.) — the latter meaning, perhaps, 'foreign,' — and constitute the Naga dynasty. Our text calls Vindhyasakti a Murdhabhishikta,§ (The commentator explains this term, and rightly, by mukhya. He adds that there is a variant, [x], which he explains by [x].)— a warrior of a mixed race, sprung from a Brahman father and Kshattriya mother. (This is the definition of what is more ordinarily written murdhavasikta.)] From them will proceed thirteen sons; then, three Bahlikas; and Pushpamitra, and Patumitra, and others, to the number of thirteen, will rule over Mekala.1 [The text of this passage runs thus: [x] (Not one of my MSS. has anything but [x]. The Translator's reading seems to be corrupted from a fragment of the comment: [x]. ) [x].** (See note __ in p. 215, infra.) 'Their sons,' [x], the commentator explains by [x], "thirteen sons of Vindhyasakti and the rest." The Bhagavata has a different statement, identifying the sons of the Vindhya race with the Bahlikas, and making them thirteen: [x]. "The Bahlikas will be their thirteen sons." As the commentator: [x]. "There will be, severally, thirteen sons, called Bahlikas, of Bhutananda and the rest." The following verse is: [x]. "Pushpamitra, a king, and, then, Durmitra." Who or what they were does not appear. The commentator says: "Pushpamitra was another king; and Durmitra was his son:" [x]. Here is, evidently, careless and inaccurate compilation. The Vayu, though not quite satisfactory, accords better with our text. "Pravira," it says, "will have four sons. When the Vindhya race is extinct, there will be three Bahlika kings, — Supratika, Nabhira, who will reign thirty years, and Sakyamanabhava* (See note ||, below.) (quere this name), king of the Mahishas. (The Sanskrit cited requires 'Mahishins'.) The Pushpamitras will then be, and the Patumitras, also, who will be seven kings of Mekala. Such is the generation:" [x] (One MS. has [x], which gives Bhara, instead of Nabhira.) [x] (One of my MSS. gives [x], the reading of the Brahmanda- purana.) [x] (In one of my MSS., [x]; and the Brahmanda-purana, in my one copy, has [x].) [x] (This is the only reading of my MSS.; and the Brahmanda-purana has the same.) [x]** (The Brahmanda-purana has the same verses, but, in my single MS., in a very corrupt form.) The plural verb, with only two Bahlika names, indicates some omission; unless we correct it to [x] 'they two will reign:' but the following name and title, "Sakyamanabhava, king of the Mahishas," seems to have little connexion with the Bahlikas. If, in a subsequent part of the citation, the reading 'trayodasa' be correct, it must, then, be thirteen Patumitras; but it will be difficult to know what to do with 'sapta', 'seven.' (The seven kings of Mekala are unnamed, as in our Purana. As to the Pushpamitras and the Patumitras, the import is, probably, that there were thirteen of the latter, while the number of the former is not mentioned. See the next note, near the end.) If, for 'santatih,' we might read 'saptatih', 'seventy', the sense might be, "these thirteen kings ruled for seventy-seven years. (Such, owing to the word iti, could not be the sense, even if the reading were as it is suggested to alter it.) However this may be, it seems most correct to separate the thirteen sons or families of the Vindhya princes from the three Bahlikas, and them from the Pushpamitras and Patumitras, who governed Mekala, a country on the Narmada (see Vol. II., p. 160, note 4 (The only Mekala named there is a designation of the river Narmada. In the extract from the Vayu-purana in the note under annotation, there is mention, however, of a Mekala,— a city, in all likelihood, and the capital of the Mekala kings of our text.). What the Bahlikas (or princes of Balkh,) had to do in this part of India is doubtful. The Durmitra of the Bhagavata has been conjectured, by Colonel Tod (Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. I., p. 325), to be intended for the Bactrian prince Demetrius: but it is not clear that even the Bhagavata considers this prince as one of the Bahlikas; and the name occurs nowhere else.] There will be nine kings in the seven Kosalas; and there will be as many Naishadha princes.1 [For the situation of Kosala, see Vol, II., p. 172, note 2. The three copies of the Vayu read Komala, and call the kings the Meghas, ''more strong than sapient:"§ (From the correction made in note __, below, it comes out that the Meghas were 'both strong and sapient.') [x] (The proper and more ancient form is Kosala, — with the dental sibilant; and, as [x] and [x] are frequently interchanged by careless scribes, there is no doubt that [x] is the right word here. The Brahmanda-purana has [x], yielding Kosala.) [x] (The correct reading, unquestionably, is that which I find, [x]. The kings of Kosala are, thus, said to be nine in number.) The Bhagavata agrees with our text.** (Its words— XII., I., 33,— are: [x]. Here the kings of the Kusalas are distinctly declared to be seven.) The Vayu says, of the Naishadhas, or kings of Nishadha, that they were, all, of the race of Nala: [x]. The Bhagavata adds two other races, seven Andhras (vide supra, p. 199, note 4), and kings of Vaidura; with the remark, that these were, all, contemporaries; being, as the commentator observes, petty or provincial rulers, — [x].] * [On referring to the beginning of note 1 in p. 213, supra, it will be seen that the Translator has transcribed a part of the original of this passage. I repeat a few words there given, and continue the quotation: [x] "Then the Pushpamitras and the Patumitras, thirteen, will reign; and the Mekalas will be seven; and there will be nine kings in Kosala; and there will be just as many Naishadha kings." The comment is as follows: [x]. Thus, it is not said where the Pushpamitras and the Patumitras — dynasties, probably, named from their founders, Pushpamitra and Patumitra,  — will reign; there is no mention, as there is in the Vayu-purana of Mekala; we are told nothing, here, of the Kosalas, but of the city of Kosala; and the "seven" defines the number of the Mekala kings. If we suppose that our text — which, here, is in prose, and, therefore, comparatively liable to vitiation, should read [x], it will harmonize with the Vayu-purana, in not defining the number of the Pushpamitras, and in recognizing the Patumitras as thirteen. Vide supra, p. 214, note __. One of my MSS. yields Mekalakas, for Mekalas.]

In Magadha,* [Corrected from "Magadha", the Sanskrit being [x]. A  city seems to be intended.] a sovereign [The original does not designate him as such.] named Viswasphatika will establish other tribes: he will extirpate the Kshattriya (or martial) race, and elevate fishermen, [Kaivarta. The word is, probably, here used in the sense of the offspring of Nishada men and Ayogavi women. See the Laws of the Manavas, X., 34.] barbarians,* [The original says Yadus and Pulindas.] and Brahmans, (and other castes) to power.1 [The Vayu has Viswasphani§ (This is the name that I find in the Vayu-purana. The Brahmanda-purana has Viswaspharni and Viswasphati.) and Viswasphini; the Bhaga- vata, Viswasphiirti, or, in some MSS., Viswaphurji. (This is no reading. The more ordinary that I find is Viswasphurji.) The castes he establishes, or places in authority, to the exclusion of the Kshattriyas, are called, in all the copies of our text, Kaivartas, Patus, (In only one MS. have I met with this reading. See note __, above.) Pulindas, and Brahmans. The Vayu (three MSS.) has Kaivartas, Panchakas, Pulindas, and Brahmans: [x]. The Bhagavata** (XII., I., 34.) has Pulindas, Yadus, and Madrakas. The Vayu describes Viswasphani as a great warrior, and, apparently, as a eunuch: [x] (I find two better readings than this; namely, [x] and [x]. The latter is the lection of the Brahmanda- purana, also.) [x]. He worshipped the gods and manes, and, dying on the banks of the Ganges, went to the heaven of Indra: [x] (The Brahmanda-purana has four lines, instead of these three, and says that the king committed suicide by throwing himself into the Ganges.)] The nine Nagas [Nagasena, called one of the Nagas, is mentioned in the Harshacharita, and is said to have been slain at Padmavati. See my Vasavadatta, Preface, p. 53. A Nagasena is named in the second inscription on the Allahabad pillar. See the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1837, p. 979; also, the Journal of the Bombay Asiatic Society, Vol. VIII., p. 247.] will reign in Padmavati, Kantipuri, [Variants: Kantipuri and Kantapuri. One of the best of my MSS. names the first only of the three cities in the text.] and Mathura; and the Guptas of Magadha,* [See note __, below.] along the Ganges, to Prayaga.1 [Such appears to be the purport of our text: [x] (The natural sense of these last words is: "The Magadhas and the Guptas will rule over Prayaga on the Ganges." Any place at the confluence of sacred rivers may be called Prayaga.) The nine Nagas might be thought to mean the same as the descendants of Sesha Naga; but the Vayu has another series here, analogous to that of the text: "The nine Naka kings will possess the city Champavati;§ (In Colonel Wilford's MS. excerpts, the text yields Padmavati, with which the Brahmanda-purana agrees.) and the seven Nagas (?)|| (Mannas, according to Colonel Wilford's extracts. And here, again, the Brahmanda-purana has the same reading.), the pleasant city Mathura. Princes of the Gupta race will possess all these countries, the banks of the Ganges to Prayaga, and Saketa, and Magadha:" (According to the Sanskrit, "the Magadhas".) [x] ([x], in three copies of the Vayu-purana.) [x]. This account is the most explicit, and, probably, most accurate, of all. The Nakas were Rajas of Bhagulpoor; the Nagas, (For the situation of the kingdom of the Nagas, see the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1865, Part I., pp. 116, 117.) of Mathura; and the intermediate countries, along the Ganges, (See note __, above.) were governed by the Guptas (or Rajas of the Vaisya caste). The Bhagavata* (XII., I., 35.) seems to have taken great liberties with the account; as it makes Viswasphurti king over Anuganga, — the course of the Ganges from Hurdwar (The commentator has Gangadwara.) (according to the commentator,) to Prayaga, — residing at Padmavati: (The same as Padmavati. This the Translator had; but I have corrected it as above.) [x] (For a previous translation of this stanza and its preceding context, with remarks thereon, by the Reverend Dr. Mill, see the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1837, pp. 16, 17.) omitting the Nagas altogether, and converting 'gupta' into an epithet of 'medini', — "the preserved (or protected) earth." Wilford (Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX., pp. 114, 115.) considers the Nagas, Nakas, and Guptas to be, all, the same. He says: "Then came a dynasty of nine kings, called the nine Nagas, or Nakas. These were an obscure tribe, called, for that reason, Guptavamsas. There were nine families of them, who ruled, independent of each other, over various districts in Anuganga, such as Padmavati," &c. &c. That city he calls Patna; but, in the Malati and Madhava, (See Professor Wilson's Select Specimens of the Theatre of the Hindus, Vol. II., p. 95, note __.) Padmavati lies amongst the Vindhya hills. Kantipuri he makes Cotwal, near Gwalior. The reading of the Vayu, Champavati, however, obviates the necessity of all vague conjecture. According to Wilford, there is a powerful tribe, still called Nakas, between the Jumna and the Betwa.** (Colonel Wilford's words are: "on the banks of the Jumna and the Betwa-nadi.") Of the existence and power of the Guptas, however, we have recently had ample proofs, from inscriptions and coins, as in the Chandragupta and Samudragupta of the Allahabad column (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. March and June, 1834), and Kumaragupta, Chandragupta, Samudragupta, Sasigupta, &c., on the Archer coins, found at Kanauj and elsewhere (Asiatic Researches, Vol. XVII., pl. 1., fig. 5, 7, 13, 19; and Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, November 1835, pl. 38 and 39; and in other numbers of the same Journal), in all which, the character in which the legends are written is of a period prior to the use of the modern Devanagari, and was current, in all probability, about the fifth century of our era, as conjectured by Mr. Prinsep. See his table of the modifications of the Sanskrit alphabet from 543 B.C. to 1200 A.D.: Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, March, 1838.] [For a peculiar reading of this passage, on the warrant of two MSS. consulted by the Reverend Dr. Mill, making the Magadhas and the Guptas rulers over the Magadhas, see the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1837, p, 10.] A prince named Devarakshita will reign, in a city on the sea-shore, over the Kosalas, Odras,* [The compound in which these names are combined allows of our reading either Odras or Audras. One MS. yields Udras.] Pundrakas, [Some MSS. omit this people. One copy yields Paundrakas.] and Tamraliptas.1 [The Vayu also mentions the descendants of Devarakshita, (or Daivarakshitas), as kings of the Kosalas, Tamralipta, and the sea-coast;** (The Vayu-purana has more, in all my copies. Its reading seems to be: [x]. We are to add, then, the Andhras and the Pauudras. For the Andhras, see Vol. II., p. 170, note __, and p. 184, note __; also, p. 199, note 4, and p. 205, note 1, supra: for the Paundras, Vol. II., p. 177, note __, and p. 184, note __. Pundra, whence the Paundras are supposed to have originated, is mentioned in p. 122, supra. It is most probable that the people spoken of along with the Paundras or Paundrakas, in the Laws of the Manavas and in the Mahabharata, are the Andhras, not the Audras.) so far conforming with our text, as to include the western parts of Bengal, Tumlook, Medinipoor, and Orissa. One copy reads Andhra, perhaps for Odra, Orissa; and one has Champa,|| (So read three of my MSS.; the rest having something very different, but illegible.) for the capital, which is, probably, an error, although the two other MSS., being still more faulty, do not offer the means of correction.] [Most of my MSS. have [x], which implies "a city on the sea-shore", in addition to the Kosalas, &c. But some copies give, instead of [x], 'city," [x], which extends the dominion of Devarakshita as far as the sea-coast.] The Guhas§ [The only grammatical reading that I find — and it occurs in only one MSS. — is as follows: [x]; which makes the rulers Guhas of Bhauma (?). This is, however, extremely doubtful. My copies of the Vayu-purana have Guha, in the singular; as if a person were intended. In the Mahabharata, Santi-parvan, sl. 7559, we read of the Guhas, a nation in the south of India, who, possibly,  took their name from Guha, prince of the Nlshadas, a friend of Rama. I have nowhere found a lection answering to Professor Wilson's "mountains of Mahendra". The Vayu-purana has [x].] will possess Kalinga, [Corrected from "Kalinga". ] Mahishaka, [Corrected from "Mahihaka". Mahishmas, according to one MS. The Vayu-purana has the short form, Mahishas.] and the mountains of Mahendra.1 [The Vayu has the same. The countries are parts of Orissa and Berar.] * [Corrected from "Mahendra".] The race of Manidhana [Corrected from " Manidhanu". One MS. has Manidhanyaka; one, Manidhava; several, Manidhara, the name in Professor Wilson's Hindu- made translation. The Brahmanda-purana has Maladhanya.] will occupy the countries of the Naishadas, [Corrected from "Nishadas".] Naimishikas, and Kalatoyas.2 [The Vayu has sons of Manidhanya for the ruling dynasty, but names the countries those of the Naishadhas, Yudakas, (Padukas or Pudakas, according to my MSS. The Brahmanda-purana, in Colonel Wilford's manuscript extract from it, has Padumas. ) Saisikas,** (Agreeably to different MSS., these people are called Saisikas, Saisinas, Saisitas, and Sausitas. See Vol. II., p. 177, text and note __.) and Kalatoyakas. (After the passage, in the Brahmanda-purana, corresponding to this, there is, evidently, a considerable hiatus in Colonel Wilford's MS. extract.) The first name applies to a tract of country near the Vindhya mountains, but the last, to a country in the north. ( See Vol. II., p. 168, note 5.) The west or southwest, however, is, probably, intended, in this place.] The people called Kanakas§ [Kanas, according to one MS.] will possess the Amazon country* [Stri-rajya. But one of my copies has Trairajya.] and that called Mushika1 [The Stri Rajya is, usually, placed§ (By whom?) in Bhote. It may, perhaps, here designate Malabar, where polyandry equally prevails. Mushika, or the country of thieves, was the pirate-coast of the Konkan. The Vayu reads Bhokshyaka (or Bhokhyaka) for Mu- shika: [x] (This verse, as thus given, is of extremely doubtful correctness, in its second half. The words in my MSS. were, apparently, corrupted from something different. The Vayu-purana here concludes its specification of peoples and tribes.) The Bhagavata omits all these specifications subsequent to the notice of Viswasphurti.] [According to one MS., the people here spoken of are the Bhushikas; and so read some copies of the Mahabharata, where Professor Wilson found Mushikas. See Vol. II., p. 178.] Men of the three tribes, but degraded, and Abhiras and Sudras, will occupy Saurashtra, Avanti, Sura, Arbuda, and Marubhumi; [I find nothing to justify this rendering. The ordinary reading, as known to me, is as follows: [x]. "Outcastes, uuregenerate tribes, Abhiras, Sudras, and such others will govern the Saurashtras, the Avantis, and the Sudras, and the regions of Arbuda and Marubhumi." Several of my best MSS. yield, instead of Sudras, as the name of a nation, Suras. Both the Sudras and the Suras are found mentioned in association with the Abhiras. See Vol. II., p. 133, note __; p. 184, note 1; and p. 185, notes 2 and __; also, p. 224, infra, note __. After the Sudras — the nation so called, — a single copy introduces the Abhiras: and another copy has 'mountaineers', adrija, in lieu of 'unregenerate tribes', adwija. Abhira, equally with Sudra, denotes a caste, as well as a people. Saurashtra — for which the Translator's "Saurashtra" must be exchanged, in order to obtain a recognized word, — cannot be substituted for Surashtra, whence Surat. ] and Sudras, outcastes, and barbarians will be masters of the banks of the Indus, Darvika, the Chandrabhaga, and Kasmira.1 [From this we might infer that the Vishnu Purana was compiled when the Mohammedans were making their first encroachments on the west. They seem to have invaded, and to have settled, in Sindh early in the eighth century, although Indian princes continued on the Indus for a subsequent period: Scriptor. Arab, de Rebus Indicis, Gildemeister, p. 6. They were engaged in hostilities, in 698 or 700, with the prince of Kabul, in whose name, however disguised by its Mohammedan representations of Ratil, Ratbal, or Ratibal, (Dr. Gildemeister does not appear to have found the last two variants here given.) it is not difficult to recognize the genuine Hindu appellation of Ratanpal or Ratnapala. Their progress in this direction has not been traced; but, at the period of their invasion of Sindh, they advanced to Multan, and, probably, established themselves there, and at Lahore, within a century. Cashmere they did not occupy till a much later date; and the Raja Tarangini takes no notice of any attacks upon it. But the Chinese have recorded an application from the king of Cashmere, Chin-tho-lo-pi-li, — evidently the Chandrapida of the Sanskrit, — for aid against the Arabs, about A.D. 713: Gildemeister, p. 13. Although, therefore, not actually settled at the Punjab so early as the beginning, they had commenced their incursions, and had, no doubt, made good their footing, by the end, of the eighth, or commencement of the ninth, century. This age of the Purana is compatible with reference to the contemporary race of Gupta kings, from the fourth or fifth to the seventh or eighth century:* (This position is not yet established.) or, if we are disposed to go further back, we may apply the passage to the Greek and Indo-Scythian princes. It seems more likely to be the former period; but, in all such passages, in this or other Puranas, there is the risk that verses inspired by the presence of Mohammedan rulers may have been interpolated into the original text. Had the Mohammedans of Hindusthan, however, been intended by the latter, the indications would have been more distinct, and the localities assigned to them more central. Even the Bhagavata, the date of which we have good reason for conjecturing to be the middle of the twelfth century, and which influenced the form assumed, about that time, by the worship of Vishnu, cannot be thought to refer to the Mohammedan conquerors of Upper India. It is there stated that "rulers fallen from their castes, or Sudras, will be the princes of Saurashtra, Avanti, Abhira, Sura, Arbuda, and Malava; (Peoples, not countries, are intended in the original. For "Saurashtra", vide supra, p. 222, note __, ad finem.) and barbarians, Sudras, and other outcastes, not enlightened by the Vedas, will possess Kasmira, Kaunti, and the banks of the Chandrabhaga and Indus:" [x]. (I find, now, that [x] is the more ordinary reading. See Vol. II., p. 133, note __.) [x]. Now, it was not until the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that the Mohammedans established themselves in Gujerat and Malwa; and the Bhagavata was, unquestionably, well known, in various parts of India, long before that time. (Account of Hindu Sects, Asiatic Researches, Vol. XVI. (Or Professor Wilson's collected Works, Vol. I.)) It cannot, therefore, allude to Mohammedans. By specifying the princes as seceders from the Vedas, there is no doubt that the barbarians and outcastes intended are so only in a religious sense; and we know, from indisputable authorities, that the western countries, Gujerat, Abu, Malava, were the chief seats, first of the Buddhists, and, then, of the Jainas, from a period commencing, perhaps, before the Christian era, and scarcely terminating with the Mohammedan conquest. Inscriptions from Abu; Asiatic Researches, Vol. XVI.] * [The ordinary reading is: [x]. "Unregenerate tribes, barbarians, and other Sudras will rule over the banks of the Indus, and the regions of the Darvika, of the Chandrabhaga, and of Kasmira." One of my MSS. has, instead of [x], [x]. On this reading, we must translate: "the regions of the Chandrabhaga and of Kasmira, as far as the banks of the Indus." My best copies of the commentary have the following: [x]. The Darvika river is, thus, identified with the Devika. For the Devika, see Vol. II., p. 144, text, and note 4; and p. 147, notes 2 and __. The Translator's "Darvika", so far as I know, is nothing.]

These will, all, be contemporary monarchs, reigning over the earth; — kings of churlish spirit, violent temper, and ever addicted to falsehood and wickedness. They will inflict death on women, children, and cows; they will seize upon the property of their subjects;* ([x]. There is a variant, [x], "intent on the wives of others.") they will be of limited power, and will, for the most part, rapidly rise and fall: their lives will be short, their desires insatiable; and they will display but little piety. The people of the various countries intermingling with them will follow their example; and, the barbarians being powerful in the patronage of the princes, whilst purer tribes are neglected, the people will perish.1 [ The commentator, having, no doubt, the existing state of things in view, interprets the passage somewhat differently. The original is: [x] (Two of my MSS., unaccompanied by the commentary, have [x],  and, at the end of the passage extracted, [x].) [x]. The comment explains [x]: 'strong' ([x]), and adds: 'the Mlechchhas will be in the centre, and the Aryas, at the end:' [x]; meaning, if any thing, that the unbelievers are in the heart of the country, and the Hindus, on the borders; — a description, however, never correct, except as applicable to the governments, and, in that case, inconsistent with the text, which had, previously, represented the bordering countries in the hands of outcastes and heretics. All that the text intends is, to represent infidels and foreigners high in power, and the Brahmans depressed. It is not unlikely that the reading is erroneous, — notwithstanding the copies concur, — and that the passage should be, here, the same as that of the Vayu: [x] (The Matsya-purana has: [x]. Herewith, as to the words [x] — or [x], as most MSS. of the Matsya-purana read, — agrees the Brahmanda-purana, as known to me. One of my copies of the Vayu-purana, too, has [x].) "Intermixed with them, the nations, adopting, everywhere, barbaric institutions, exist in a state of disorder; and the subjects shall be destroyed;" the expression Mlechchhacharas cha (And such appears to have been the reading of our Purana, before its text was tampered with by the commentator. See note __ in the preceding page.) being used instead of MIechchhas charyas cha. A passage similar to that of the text — noticing the intermixture of Hindus and barbarians, — occurs in a different place (see Vol. II., p. 130, note 1 § (With reference to the verse there quoted, see note __, above, at the end.)), and designates the condition of India in all ages. At no period has the whole of the population followed Brahmanical Hinduism.] Wealth and piety will decrease day by day, until the world will be wholly depraved.* [[x].] Then property alone wiII confer rank; wealth will be the only source of devotion; passion will be the sole bond of union between the sexes; falsehood will be the only means of success in litigation; and women will be objects merely of sensual gratification. Earth will be venerated but for its mineral treasures;1 [That is, there will be no Tirthas, — places held sacred, and objects of pilgrimage; no particular spot of earth will have any especial sanctity.] * [[x]. The Translator's explanation of these words is taken from the commentary.] the Brahmanical thread will constitute a Brahman; external types (as the staff and red garb, [This explanation is supplied by the Translator.]) will be the only distinctions of the several orders of life; [[x].] dishonesty§ [Anyaya.] will be the (universal) means of subsistence; weakness will be the cause of dependence; (Avriti, 'protection,' 'security.') menace and presumption will be substituted for learning; [[x].] liberality will be devotion;** [The original adds [x], implying, that a man, if rich, will be reputed pure.] simple ablution will be purification;2 [Gifts will be made from the impulse of ordinary feeling, not in connexion with religious rites, and as an act of devotion; and ablution will be performed for pleasure or comfort, not religiously, with prescribed ceremonies and prayers.] [[x]. This seems to mean, that mere bathing will pass for a complete toilette.] mutual assent will be marriage; fine clothes will be dignity;1 [The expression Sad-vesa-dharin ([x]) is explained to mean either one who wears fine clothes, or who assumes the exterior garb of sanctity. § (The commentator confines himself to explaining the term by dambhika, 'a hypocrite.') Either interpretation is equally allowable.] and water afar off will be esteemed a holy spring.* ["Holy spring" is to render tirtha.] Amidst all castes, he who is the strongest will reign over a principality [Bhu-mandala, 'the earth.'] thus vitiated by many faults. The people, unable to bear the heavy burthens [The original has kara-bhara, 'load of taxes."] imposed upon them by their avaricious sovereigns, will take refuge amongst the valleys of the mountains, and will be glad to feed upon (wild) honey, herbs, roots, fruits, leaves, and flowers: their only covering will be the bark of trees; and they will be exposed to the cold, and wind, and sun, and rain. No man's life will exceed three and twenty years. Thus, in the Kali age, shall decay constantly proceed, until the human race approaches its annihilation.

When the practices taught by the Vedas and the institutes of law shall nearly have ceased, and the close of the Kali age shall be nigh, a portion of that divine being who exists, of his own spiritual nature, in the character of Brahma, and who is the beginning and the end, and who comprehends all things, shall descend upon earth: he will be born in the family of Vishnuyasas,— an eminent Brahman of Sambhala* [Called Sambhala, in the Bhagavata-purana, XII., II., 18. Neither the family of Vishnuyasas nor the village of Kalki is specified in the Vayu-purana, the Matsya-purana, and the Brahmanda-purana.] village,— as Kalki, endowed with the eight superhuman faculties. By his irresistible might he will destroy all the Mlechchhas and thieves, and all whose minds are devoted to iniquity. He will, then, reestablish righteousness upon earth; and the minds of those who live at the end of the Kali age shall be awakened, and shall be as pellucid as crystal. The men who are, thus, changed by virtue of that peculiar time shall be as the seeds of human beings, and shall give birth to a race who shall follow the laws of the Krita age (or age of purity). As it is said: "When the sun and moon, and (the lunar asterism) Tishya, [More commonly denominated Pushya.] and the planet Jupiter are in one mansion, the Krita are shall return."1 [The Bhagavata agrees§ (It corresponds almost literally: XII., II., 24. A similar stanza is found in the Vayu-purana and in the Brahmanda-purana.) with the text, in these particulars. The chief star of Tishya is d in the constellation Cancer.|| (See Colebrooke's Miscellaneous Essays, Vol. II., table opposite p. 322.) ] [The whole of this paragraph is condensed, or loosely rendered; and the same remark holds good as to the rest of the chapter.]

Thus, most excellent Muni, the kings who are past, who are present, and who are to be, have been enumerated. From the birth of Parikshit to the coronation of Nanda it is to be known that 1015 years have elapsed.1

[All the copies concur in this reading: [x] Three copies of the Vayu assign to the same interval 1050 years, [x]; and of the Matsya five copies have the same, [x], or 1050 years, whilst one copy has 1500 years, [x].* (In Colonel Wilford's manuscript extract from the Brahmanda-purana, the reading is [x], thus making the period one of 1015 years.) The Bhagavata (See note * in the preceding page.) has 1115 years: [x] which the commentator explains, "a thousand years and a hundred with fifteen over'': [x]. He notices, nevertheless, — although he does not attempt to account for the discrepancy, — that the total period from Parikshit to Nanda was, actually, according to the duration of the different intermediate dynasties, as enumerated by all the authorities, fifteen centuries; viz.:

Magadha kings / 1000 years.
Pradyota, &c / 138 years.
Sisunaga, &c / 362 years.
Total: 1500 years.


The shorter period is best proportioned to the number of kings; for, reckoning from Sahadeva, (who was contemporary with Parikshit), and taking the number of the Barhadrathas from the Matsya, (Vide supra, p, 177, note 1.) we have thirty-two of them, five of the Pradyota race,§ (Vide supra, p. 179.) and ten Saisunagas; (Vide supra, p. 182.) or, in all, forty-seven, which, as the divisor of 1050, gives rather more than twenty-two years to a reign. The Vayu and the Matsya further specify the interval from Nanda to Pulomat (the last of the Andhra kings), as being 836 (The Matsya-purana and the Brahmanda-purana seem to say so; but, in all my five copies of the Vayu-purana, there is the word [x], where Professor Wilson finds mention of Pulomat.) years; a total that does not agree exactly with the items previously specified:

9 Nandas / 100 years.
10 Mauryas / 137 years.
10 Sungas / 112 years.
4 Kanwas / 45 years.
29 Andhras / 460 years.
62 / 854 years.


In either case, the average duration of reign is not improbable; as the highest number gives less than fourteen years to each prince. It is important to remember that the reign of Parikshit is, according to Hindu chronology, coeval with the commencement of the Kali age; and, even, therefore, taking the longest Pauranik interval, we have but sixteen centuries between Chandragupta, — or, considering him as the same with Sandrocoptos, nineteen centuries B.C., — for the beginning of the Kali age. According to the chronology of our text, however, it would be but B.C. 1415; to that of the Vayu and Matsya, B.C. 1450; and to that of the Bhagavata, 1515. According to Colonel Wilford's computations (Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX., Chronological Table, p. 116), the conclusion of the Great War took place B.C. 1370. Buchanan conjectures it to have occurred in the thirteenth century B.C. Vyasa was the putative father of Pandu and Dhritarashtra, * (Vide supra, p. 158.) and, consequently, was contemporary with the heroes of the Great War. Mr. Colebrooke (Miscellaneous Essays, Vol. 1., pp. 109, 110, and pp. 200—202. Also see an extract from a searching and critical article by Professor Whitney, quoted in the present work, Vol. II., pp. 273—275.) infers, from astronomical data, that the arrangement of the Vedas, attributed to Vyasa, took place in the fourteenth century B.C. Mr. Bentley brings the date of Yudhishthira, the chief of the Pandavas, to 575 B.C. (Historical View of the Hindu Astronomy, p. 67); but the weight of authority is in favour of the thirteenth or fourteenth century B.C., for the war of the Mahabharata, and the reputed commencement of the Kali age.]

* [We read, in the Bhagavata-purana, XII., II., 26 — 32: [x]. "From your birth [Parikshit is addressed by Suka,] to the inauguration of Nanda, 1115 years will elapse. "Of the seven Rishis two are first perceived rising in the sky; and the asterism which is observed to be, at night, even with the middle of those two stars is that with which the Rishis are united; and they remain so during a hundred years of men In your time, and at this moment, they are situated in Magha. "When the splendour of Vishnu, named Krishna, departed for heaven, then did the Kali age, during which men delight in sin, invade the world. So long as he continued to touch the earth with his holy feet, so long the Kali age was unable to subdue the world. "When the seven Rishis were in Magha, the Kali age, comprising 1200 [divine] years [432,000 common years], began; and, when, from Magha, they shall reach Purvashadha, then will this Kali age attain its growth, under Nanda and his successors." This rendering is by Colebrooke, and will be found in his Miscellaneous Essays, Vol., pp. 356, 357; or Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX., p. 359.] When the two first stars of the seven Rishis (the great Bear) rise in the heavens, and some lunar asterism is seen at night at an equal distance between them, then the seven Rishis continue stationary, in that conjunction, for a hundred years of men.1 [A similar explanation is given in the Bhagavata,* (Vide supra, p. 230, note*. ) Vayu, and Matsya Puranas; and like accounts, from astronomical writers, are cited by Mr. Colebrooke (Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX., p. 358). (Or Miscellaneous Essays, Vol. II., p. 355.) The commentator on the Bhagavata thus explains the notion: "The two stars (Pulaha and Kratu,) must rise or be visible before the rest; and whichever asterism is in a line south from the middle of those stars is that with which the seven stars are united; and so they continue for one hundred years." (These are, mostly, Colebrooke's own words, a little altered. The Sanskrit is very much fuller. See the Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX., p. 360; or Miscellaneous Essays, Vol. II., p. 357.) Colonel Wilford has, also, given a like explanation of the revolution of the Rishis (Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX., p. 83). According to Bentley, the notion originated in a contrivance of the astronomers to show the quantity of the precession of the equinoxes: "This was by assuming an imaginary line, or great circle, passing through the poles of the ecliptic and the beginning of the fixed Magha, which circle was supposed to cut some of the stars in the Great Bear. * * * * . The seven stars in the Great Bear being called the Rishis, the circle so assumed was called the line of the Rishis; and, being invariably fixed to the beginning of the lunar asterism Magha, the precession would be noted by stating the degree &c. of any moveable lunar mansion cut by that fixed line or circle, as an index." Historical View of the Hindu Astronomy, p. 65.] At the birth of Parikshit, they were in Magha; and the Kali age then commenced, which consists of 1200 (divine) years. When the portion of Vishnu (that had been born from Vasudeva) returned to heaven, then the Kali age commenced. As long as the earth was touched by his sacred feet, the Kali age could not affect it. As soon as the incarnation* [Amsa.] of the eternal Vishnu had departed, the son of Dharma,— Yudhishthira, [Vide supra, pp. 102 and 159.] — with his brethren, [Read "younger brethren", the original being [x].] abdicated the sovereignty. Observing unpropitious portents, consequent upon Krishna's disappearance, he placed Parikshit upon the throne. When the seven Rishis are in Purvashadha, then Nanda will begin to reign;1

[The Bhagavata has the same; and this agrees with the period assigned for the interval between Parikshit and Nanda, of 1050 years; as, including Magha, we have ten asterisms to Purvashadha, or 1000 years. The Vayu and Matsya are so very inaccurate, in all the copies consulted, that it is not safe to affirm what they mean to describe.|| (The interesting passages thus referred to, consisting of some ten stanzas in each Purana, and of about as many in the Brahmanda-purana, are so extremely corrupt, in all my MSS., that I am unable to cite them. Specimens of what I find in my copies will be seen in notes in the two following pages.) Apparently, they state, that, at the end of the Andhra dynasty, the Rishis will be in Kfittika, which furnishes other ten asterisms; the whole being nearly in accordance with the chronology of the text; as the total interval from Parikshit to the last of the Andhras is 1050 + 836 = 1886; and the entire century of each asterism, at the beginning aud end of the series, need not be taken into account. The copies of the Matsya read: [x] (Corrected, on the authority of all my MSS., from [x], which breaks the metre.) [x]. "The seven Rishis are on a line with the brilliant Agni;'' that is, with Krittika, of which Agni is the presiding deity. (Whence Krittika has Agneya as a synonym. See Vol. II., p. 277, ad calcem.) The Vayu intends, in all probability, the same phrase; but the three copies have [x], (The text of the Vayu-purana is, evidently, somewhat corrupt, hereabouts: but, in the context of the passage from which these words are taken, the computations are retrograde. Thus, we read: [x]. All my MSS. have, to be sure, at the beginning of this stanza, [x]. But the Matsya-purana and the Brahmanda-purana furnish the restoration of what is, without question, the true lection.) very unintelligible clause. Again, it seems as if they intended to designate the end of the Andhra race as the period of a complete revolution, or '2700 years; for the Vayu has: [x] (This line is immetrical and ungrammatical, and says nothing of "the end of the Andhras". My best MSS. have: [x]. The corresponding verse of the Brahmanda-purana is, in my sole copy, crowded with mistakes of transcription.) "The races at the end of the Andhras will be after 2700 years." The Matsya has: [x] (?) [x] (I can but partially amend this incorrect verse by the aid of my MSS. One of them ends it with [x]. The Brahmanda-purana gives, at its close: [x]. Compare the reading in the note immediately preceding.).] and thenceforward the influence of the Kali will augment.§ [[x].

And, at the close of the passage, after specifying, as usual, that "the seven Rishis were in Magha, in the time of Parikshit":

[x]* (All my MSS. have [x]; and [x] ends the verse, in one of them. So, perhaps, the Matsya-purana is intended to read; and so the Vayu-purana and the Brahmanda-purana actually do read, according to my copies.)
the Vayu adds:

[x] ([x] is, probably, the correct reading of the end of this verse. My best MSS. give, at its beginning, [x].)

a passage which, though repeated in the MSS., is, obviously, most inaccurate; although it might, perhaps, be understood to intimate that the Rishis will be in the twenty-fourth asterism after the Andhra race: but that would give only 1400 years from Parikshit to Pulomat; whilst, if the twenty-fourth from Magha was intended, it would give 2400 years; both periods being incompatible with previous specifications. The Matsya has a different reading of the second line, but one not much more satisfactory:

[x]

''A hundred years of Brahma will be in the twenty-fourth (asterism?)." In neither of these authorities, however, is it proposed, by the last-cited passages, to illustrate the chronology of princes or dynasties. The specification of the period, whatever it may be, is that of the era at which the evil influence of the Kali age is to become most active and irresistible.]

The day that Krishna shall have departed from the earth will be the first of the Kali age, the duration of which you shall hear: it will continue for 360,000 years of mortals. After twelve hundred divine years shall have elapsed, the Krita age shall be renewed.

Thus, age after age, Brahmans, Kshattriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras, excellent Brahman, men of great souls, have passed away by thousands, whose names, and tribes, and families I have not enumerated to you, from their great number, and the repetition of appellations it would involve.* [[x]. ] Two persons,— Devapi, of the race of Puru, [So yield all my MSS.; but we should here read Kuru. Vide supra, pp. 148 and 152.] and Maru, [See Vol. III., p. 325.] of the family of Ikshwaku,— through the force of devotion,§ [Yoga.] continue alive throughout the whole four ages, residing at the village of Kalapa. (See Vol. III., p. 197, text and note §.) They will return hither, in the beginning [There is no word, in the Sanskrit, corresponding to this.] of the Krita age, and, becoming members of the family of the Manu, give origin to the Kshattriya dynasties.1 [The Bhagavata has the same; Devapi, as the commentator observes, being the restorer of the Lunar, and Maru, of the Solar, race.] In this manner, the earth is possessed, through every series of the three first ages,— the Krita, Treta, and Dwapara,— by the sons of the Manu; and some remain in the Kali age, to serve as the rudiments of renewed generations, in the same way as Devapi and Maru are still in existence.** [See Original Sanskrit Texts, Part I., p. 149 (pp. 277, 278, in the 2nd ed.).]

I have now given you a summary account of the sovereigns of the earth: to recapitulate the whole would be impossible even in a hundred lives. These and other kings, who, with perishable frames, have possessed this ever-during world, and who, blinded with deceptive notions of individual occupation, have indulged the feeling that suggests "This earth is mine —it is my son's— it belongs to my dynasty," have, all, passed away. So, many who reigned before them, many who succeeded them, and many who are yet to come, have ceased, or will cease, to be. Earth laughs, as if smiling with autumnal flowers, to behold her kings unable to effect the subjugation of themselves.* [[x]. Read "harassed with the enterprise of self-conquest".] I will repeat to you, Maitreya, the stanzas that were chanted by Earth, and which the Muni Asita [It is not clear who he was. The best known Asita was son of Bharata: Ramayana, Bala-kanda, LXX., 27; Ayodhya-kanda, CX., 15; &c. See Vol. III., p. 297, note __.] communicated to Janaka, whose banner was virtue: "How great is the folly of princes, who are endowed with the faculty of reason, to cherish the confidence of ambition, when they themselves are but foam upon the wave! Before they have subdued themselves, they seek to reduce their ministers, their servants, their subjects, under their authority; they then endeavour to overcome their foes. [[x]. "They wish, after subduing themselves, to reduce," &c.] 'Thus', say they, 'will we conquer the ocean-circled earth', and, intent upon their project, behold not death, which is not far off. But what mighty matter is the subjugation of the sea- girt earth to one who can subdue himself? Emancipation from existence is the fruit of self-control. It is through infatuation* [Vimudhatwa.] that kings desire to possess me, whom their predecessors have been forced to leave, whom their fathers have not retained. Beguiled by the selfish love of sway, fathers contend with sons, and brothers with brothers, for my possession. [[x].] Foolishness has been the character of every king who has boasted 'All this earth is mine — everything is mine —it will be in my house for ever'; for he is dead. How is it possible that such vain desires should survive in the hearts of his descendants, who have seen their progenitor, absorbed by the thirst of dominion, compelled to relinquish me, whom he called his own, and tread the path of dissolution? ([x].) When I hear a king sending word to another, by his ambassador, 'This earth is mine; immediately resign (your pretensions to) it,' I am moved to violent laughter, (at first); but it soon subsides, in pity for the infatuated fool."

These were the verses, Maitreya, which Earth recited, and by listening to which, ambition§ [Mamatwa.] fades away, like snow before the sun. I have now related to you the whole (account of the) descendants of the Manu, amongst whom have flourished kings endowed with a portion* [The original has amsamsa, "a portion of a portion."] of Vishnu, engaged in the preservation of the earth. Whoever shall listen (reverently and) with faith, to this narrative, proceeding from the posterity of Manu, shall be purified entirely from all his sins, and, with the perfect possession of his faculties, shall live in unequalled affluence, plenty, and prosperity. He who has heard of the races of the Sun and Moon, of Ikshwaku, Jahnu, Mandhatri, [Corrected, here and below, from "Mandhatri".] Sagara, and Raghu, who have, all, perished; [Read "Sagara, Avikshita, and the Raghus". The Translator was mistaken in thinking that he found anything answering to "who have, all perished". The original runs: [x]. Avikshita, or the son of Avikshit, was Marutta. See Vol. III., p. 243, and p. 244, note §.] of Yayati, Nahusha, and their posterity, who are no more; of kings of great might, resistless valour, and unbounded wealth, who have been overcome by still more powerful time, and are, now, only a tale; he will learn wisdom, and forbear to call either children, or wife, or house, or lands, or wealth, his own. The arduous penances that have been performed by heroic men obstructing fate for countless years, religious rites and sacrifices of great efficacy and virtue, have been made, by time, the subject only of narration.§ [[x].] The valiant Prithu traversed the universe, everywhere triumphant over his foes; yet he was blown away, like the light down of the Simal|| (Satmali, in the original. Semal is the Hindi for it.) tree, before the blast of time. He who was Kartavirya subdued innumerable enemies, and conquered the seven zones of the earth; but now he is only the topic of a theme, a subject for affirmation and contradiction.1 [To be the cause of Sankalpa, 'conviction,' 'belief,' and Vikalpa, 'doubt,' 'disbelief.' The Bhagavata indulges in a similar strain, and, often, in the same words. The whole recalls the words of the Roman satirist: I, demens, et saevas curre per Alpes, Ut pueris placeas, et declamatio fias. (Run through the Alps, mad and savage That you may be pleasing to children, and become chanting.) (Juvenal., X., 166, 167.) ] Fie upon the empire of the sons of Raghu, who triumphed over Dasanana,* [Here, again, — see the preceding page, note __, — the Translator has strangely misapprehended the original, which speaks of the empire "of Dasanana, Avikshita, and Raghava": [x]. All my MSS. have this reading, yielding Avikshita, though Avikshita would equally well suit the metre.] and extended their sway to the ends of the earth! For was it not consumed, in an instant, by the frown of the destroyer? [The original has Antaka, who is one with Yama. See Vol. I., p. 188, note 1; and Vol. II., p. 112, note.] Mandhatri, the emperor of the universe, is embodied only in a legend; and what pious man who hears it will ever be so unwise as to cherish the desire of possession ["Desire of possession" is to render mamatwa.] in his soul? Bhagiratha, Sagara, Kakutstha, Dasanana, Rama,§ [The Sanskrit has Raghava. [x].] Lakshmana, Yudhishthira, and others have been. Is it so? Have they ever really existed? Where are they now? We know not. The powerful kings who now are, or who will be, as I have related them to you, or any others who are unspecified,* [Abidheyah.] are, all, subject to the same fate; [[x].] (and the present and the future will perish and be forgotten, like their predecessors). [There is nothing, in the Sanskrit, answering to the words which I have here marked off with parentheses.] Aware of this truth, a wise man will never be influenced by the principle of individual appropriation: and, regarding them as only transient and temporal possessions, he will not consider children and posterity, lands and property, or whatever else is personal, to be his own.§ [[x].]  
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