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We also find mention of Kautilya, the renowned Ch&nakya who vowed vengeance against the house of the Nandas (see the drama called Mudrd R&kshasa) and placed the adventurer and exile Chandragupta on the throne of Magadha, The period of one hundred years assigned to Nanda and his eight sons is apparently a guess ; and the Vayu and the Matsya Pur&nas support this statement by the more absurd one that the first Nanda alone reigned 88 years. We allow ample time to Nanda and his eight sons if we give them 50 years ; and this brings us to B. C. 320 as the date of Chandra- gupta's accession to the throne of Magadha. Digitized by Google 46 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. 44 Upon the cessation of the race of Nanda, the Mau- ryas* will possess the earth ; for Kautilya will place Chandragupta on the throne. His son will be Bindu- sara ; his son will be Asoka Vardhana ; his son will be Suyasas ; his son will be Dasaratha ; his son will be Sangata ; his son will be Salisuka ; his son will be Somasraman ; and his successor will be Brihadratha. These are the ten Mauryas who will reign over the earth for a hundred and thirty-seven years." The writer of the Vishnu Purana here tells us of Asokavardhana, but does not vouchsafe to make any mention of the religious revolution which took place in his reign, — the greatest which the world has ever seen. To the Brahman narrator, the deeds of the scheming Chanakya who helped Chandragupta to the throne, is more worthy of mention than those of the im- perial Asoka, who spread the name and religion of India from Antioch and Macedon to Cape Comorin and Ceylon ! But to return to our story. Accepting the period of 137 years given for the Maurya dynasty, that dynasty came to an end in 183 B. C. " The dynasty of the Sungas will next become pos- sessed of the sovereignty ; for Pushpa Mitra the general (of the last Maurya prince) will put his master to death and ascend the throne. His son will be Agnimitra ; his son will be Sujyeshtha ; his • The commentator says that Chandragupta was the son of Nanda by a wife named Mur&, whence the race was called Maurya. Digitized by Google CHAP. III.] THE KINGS OF MAGADHA. 47 son will be Vasumitra ; his son will be Ardraka ; his son will be Pulindaka ; his son will be Ghosha- rasu ; his son will be Vajramitra ; his son will be Bhdgavata ; his son will be Devabhtiti. These are the ten Sungas, who will govern the kingdom for a hundred and twelve years." The genius of Kdliddsa has immortalized the name of the second prince of this line in the celebrated play M&lavikd-Agtiitnitra. But Agnimitra is there named the king of Vidisa not of Magadha. And his father Pushpamitra the general, is represented as fighting with the Yavanas (Bactrian Greeks), on the Indus. This statement has probably some foundation in fact, for after the time of Alexander the Great, the western frontier of India was the scene of continuous warfare between the Bactrians and the Hindus, and Magadha had to take its share of the wars of the other Hindu kingdoms. Accepting the period of 112 given to the Sunga dy- nasty that dynasty came to its end in 71 B. C. M Devabhuti the (last) Sunga prince being addicted to immoral indulgences, his minister, the K4nva, named Visudeva, will murder him and usurp the kingdom. His son will be Bh&mimitra ; his son will be Nar&y- ana ; his son will be Susarman. These four K&nv^ya- nas will be kings of the earth for forty-five years." We will now assign dates to the kings of these dynas- ties according to the periods fixed for the dynasties in the Vishnu Purina. Digitized 4 8 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. Nanda Dynasty. b. c. Nanda and his eight sons 370 to 320 Maurya Dynasty. Chandra Gupta Bindusara Asoka Suyasas ... Dasaratha Sangata . Saiisuka ... Somasraman Brihadratha ... ... 320 ... 291 ... 260 .. 222 ... 215 ... 208 ... 201 ... 194 187 to 183 Pushpamitra Agnimitra Sujyeshtha Vasumitra Ardraka Pulindaka Ghoshavasu Vajramitra Bhagavata Devabhuti ••• Sung a Dynasty. b. c. ... 183 ... 170 ... 159 ... 148 ... 137 126 ... 115 ... 104 93 82 to 71 Kanva Dynasty. Vasudeva KSnva... ... 71 Bhumimitra ... ... 59 Nar&yana ... ... 48 Susarman ... 37 to 26 The short reigns of the most of these kings, the frequent change in dynasties, and the displacement of royal houses by generals or ministers, shew that the glory of Magadha had passed, and a period of weakness and senile decay had set in. The empire which had laid down the law for all India in the days of Chandragupta and Asoka wis in the last stage of feebleness, and was ready to welcome any strong invader or line of invaders who might choose to rule its destinies. Such invaders came from the south. The Andhra kingdom had already risen to power and distinction in the Deccan in the Rational- Digitized by Google CHAP. III.] THE KINGS OF MAGADHA. 49 istic Period ; and an Andhra chief (described as a " powerful servant M ) now conquered Magadha, and his dynasty ruled for four centuries and a half. Our last extract from the lists of the Vishnu Pur&na will give the names of these Andhra kings. " Susarman the Kanva will be killed by a powerful servant named Sipraka of the Andhra tribe, who will become king (and found the Andhra-bhritya dynasty). He will be succeeded by his brother Krishna ; his son will be Sri Satakarni ; his son will be Purnotsanga ; his son will be Satakarni ; his son will be Lambodara ; his son will be Ivilaka ;his son will be Meghasvati ; his son will be Patumat ; his son will be Arishtakarman ; his son will be Hala ; his son will be Puttalaka ; his son will be Pravilasena ; his son will be Sundara Satakar- ni ; his son will be Chakora Satakarmi ; his son will be Sivasvati ; his son will Gomatiputra ; his son will be Pulimat ; his son will be Sivasri Satakarni ; his son will be Sivaskandha ; his son will be Yajnasri ; his son will be Vijaya ; his son will be Chandrasri ; his son will be Pulomarchis. These thirty Andhra- bhritya kings will reign four-hundred and fifty-six years." Only 24 names, however, are given in the above list, but along with the Vayu and the Bhagavata Puranas, the Vishnu Purina says there were thirty kings of this line. And if the line began about 26 B. C, the period given above brings us down to 430 A. D. R. C. D., A. I.— III. 4 Digitized by Google 50 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. If we divide this period of 456 years among the 24 princes named above, we get an average of exactly 19 years for each reign as shewn below. Andhra Dynasty, b. c. Sipraka ... Krishna ■ • ■ ••• Satakarni I Pftrnotsanga Satakarni II Lambodara Ivilaka Meghasvati Patumat Arishtakarman Hal a Puttalaka ... 26 7 A D. 12 31 50 69 88 107 126 145 164 183 A. D. Pravilasena ... ... 202 Satakarni III ... ... 221 Satakarni IV 24O Sivasvati • • • ... 259 Gomatiputra .. . ... 278 Pulimat ... ... 297 Satakarni V . • . ... 3>6 Sivaskandha ... ••• 335 Yajnasr! ... ... 354 Vijaya ... 373 Chandrasri ... ... 392 Pulomarchis ... 41 1 to 430 Throughout this period of four centuries and a half the Andhras were the supreme power in India, and held distant kingdoms under obedience if not under subjec- tion. The power of the kingdom varied, however, with the strength of individual kings, and we will see in the next chapter that the distant country of Saurash- tra was lost in the first century after Christ, but was reconquered by Gomatiputra subsequently. The dynasty declined in the 5th century, and the empire of M agadha was then at an end ; for, after the Andhras, various foreign tribes overran the country and brought ruin and disorder. The Vishnu Purana says that, after Digitized by Google ' CHAP. Ill J THE KINGS OF MAGADHA. SI the Andhras," various races will reign as seven Abhiras, ten Gardhabhilas ; sixteen Sakas ; eight Yavanas ; fourteen Tusharas ; thirteen Mundas ; eleven Maunas, who will be sovereigns of the earth." This is about all that the Puranas have to tell us of the authentic history of India. Digitized by Google CHAPTER IV. KASHMIR AND GUJRAT. We have in the last chapter confined our remarks to the main story of the central political power in India. We have seen that from the time of Sisunaga in the 7th century B. C. the supreme power in India was held by the kings of Magadha. We have seen that after the destruction of several dynasties, the supreme power passed away to the hands of the Andhras who held it from the 1st century B. C. to the 5th cen- tury A. D. While the Andhras were wielding supreme power in the centre of India, the western provinces suffered from a series of foreign invasions, of which some account should be given. After the retreat of Alexander the Great, Chandra* gupta expelled the Greeks out of India, defeating Selucus, the Greek ruler of the Indus provinces. The Greeks, however, had an independent kingdom in Bactria, and there was frequent intercourse, sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile, between the Hindus and the Bactrian Greeks. The Bactrian Greeks were great coiners, and it is from their coins that complete lists of their kings down to 130 B. C have been compiled. Digitized by Goo< CHAP. IV.] KASHMIR AND GUJRAT. 53 Occasionally these kings extended their supremacy beyond the Indus * and it is certain that their civiliza- tion had considerable influence over the civilization and the arts of the Buddhist Hindus. Greek sculptures are found among Buddhist ruins, and Greek inscriptions stamped on Hindu coins. About 126 B. C.