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Never- theless, there was a portion in the chronicle of each renowned monk which had its value for the pur- poses of history. As the writer came nearer to his time, he generally wrote an authentic account of his country, its kings and its monasteries. And as if to complete the parallel, we find something at the very close of the Pauranik annals, which is not altogether valueless for our historical purpose. The existing Puranas, as we have said before, were compiled or recast in the Pauranik Period, t. imme- diately on the close of the Buddhist Period. And as throughout the Rationalistic and Buddhist Periods the empire of Magadha was the centre of civilization and power in India, the Puranas furnish us with something that is tangible and valuable about this one kingdom, — Magadha, According to our custom, we will quote the lists from the Vishnu Purina which relates to this kingdom. M I will now relate to you the descendants of Bri- hadratha who will be (the kings) of Magadha. There have been several powerful princes of this dynasty, of whom the most celebrated was Jarasandha. His son was Sahadeva ; his son is Somipi ; * his son will be Srutavat ; his son will be Ayutayus ; his son will be * The writer is supposed to be living at the time of Somapi, i. e, f shortly after the Kuru Panchala war, and therefore speaks in the future tease of prophecy of the succeeding princes. Digitized by Google 40 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK TV. Niramitra ; his son will be Sukshatra ; his son will be Brihatkarman ; his son will be Senajit ; his son will be Srutanjaya ; his son will be Vipra : his son will be Suchi ; his son will be Kshemya ; his son will be Suvrata ; his son will be Dharma ; his son will be Susrama ; his son will be Dridhasena ; his son will be Sumati ; his son will be Subala ; his son will be Sunita ; his son will be Satyajit ; his son will be Visvajit ; his son will be Ripunjaya. These are the Barhadrathas who will reign for a thousand years." Although the V£yu Pur&na, the Bh^gavata Purina, and the Matsya Purina agree with the Vishnu Pur&na in giving the Bdrhadrathas a thousand years, yet we will venture to correct these venerable authorities, and will scarcely give 500 years to the 22 princes. Indeed the Vishnu Purana corrects itself as we shall find further on. "The last of the Brihadratha dynasty Ripunjaya will have a minister named Sunika, who having killed his sovereign will place his own son Pradyotana upon the throne. His son will be Pdlaka ; his son will be Vis£kha- yfipa ; his son will be Janaka ; and his son will be Nandivardhana. These five kings of the house of Pra- dyota will reign over the earth for a hundred and thirty- eight years. " The next prince will be Sisun&ga ; his son will be Kakavarna ; his son will be Kshemadharman ; his son will be Kshatraujas ; his son will be Vidmisara ; his son Digitized by Google 1 CHAP. III.] THE KINGS OF MAGADHA. 4* will be Ajatasatru ; his son will be Darbhaka ; his son will be Udayasva ; his son will also be Nandivardhana ; and his son will be Mah£nandin. These ten Saisunagas will be kings of the earth for three hundred and sixty-two years." Here we will pause, for we find in the list one or two names with which we are already familiar. Vidmisara is called Bimbisara in the Vayu Purina and is the same king of Rdjagriha in whose reign Gautama Buddha was born in Kapilavastu. And his son Ajltasatru is the powerful king in the eighth year of whose reign Gautama died. We have accepted 477 B. C. as the year of Buddha's death, and allowing a hundred years for the remaining portion of Ajatasatru's reign and the reigns of his four successors, we get about 370 R. C. as the date when Mahanandin died, and the dynasty of the Sisun&gas was at an end. If now we accept the periods which have been given for the different dynasties in the Vishnu Purina, we get 1000 years for the Brihadratha dynasty ; 138 years for the Pradyota dynasty ; and 362 years for the Sisunaga dynasty ; or in other words exactly 1500 years from theKuru Panchala war to the end of the Sisun&ga dynasty. Or in other words, if the Sisunaga dynasty ended about 370 B. C, the Kuru Panchala war took place about 1870 B. C. But the Vishnu Purina's chronology is wrong, and the Vishnu Pur&na's astronomy corrects its chronology. Digitized by Google 42 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. For towards the close of the very chapter from which we have made the above extracts (Book IV, Chapter XXIV) the Vishnu Purina says " From the birth of Parikshit to the coronation of Nanda, it is to be known that 1015 years have elapsed. 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. At the birth of Parikshit, they were on Magh& ;• when the Seven Rishis are in Ptirvds&dha then Nanda will begin to reign." From Magh& to Ptirvdsddha both inclusive there are ten asterisms, and hence it is calcu- lated, a thousand years elapsed between Parikshit and Nanda. And if Nanda began his reign (i e., the Sisu- n&ga dynasty ended) about 370 B.C., Parikshit was born early in the fourteenth century, and the Kuru Panch&la war was fought about 1400 B. C. Our readers will see that this is within a century and a half of the date which we have assumed as the date of the Kuru Panchdla war in an earlier portion of this work. If, on the other hand, we leave aside the astronomi- cal reasons and assign an average period of 20 years * to the 37 kings of the Brihadratha, Pradyota and * This is a high average. But we must make allowance for weak kings with short reigns whose names have been forgotten in later times, and have therefore not been included in the Pauranik lists. Digitized by Google CHAP. III.] THE KINGS OF MAGADHA. 43 Sisundga dynasties, then we shall have for the Kuru Panchila war a date 740 years before Nanda, or in other words 1 1 10 B. C. And this date is also within a century and a half of the year which we have fixed for that war. From the above facts we will try to make out some- thing like a probable list of dates for the Magadha kings. We know that Ajdtasatru began his reign in 485 B. C, and that his father Bimbis£ra commenced to reign in 537 B. C. If we allow a hundred years to the four predecessors of Bimbisdra, we arrive at the fact that the Sisun&ga dynasty began at 637 B.C. The Pradyota dynasty of five kings reigned before the Sisuniga dynasty, and these five reigns covered, we are told, a period of exactly 138 years. This gives a high average of over 27 years for each reign ; but allow- ing for one or two unimportant reigns which may have been omitted in the list, we may accept this period of 138 years for the Pradyota dynasty. The Brihadratha dynasty with its 22 kings are said to have reigned 1000 years. The figure is of course simply a round number, and has no value ; — 500 years would be nearer the mark, or rather let us say 484 years, to make it divisible by 22, the number of kings. Even this would give a high average of 22 years for each reign ; but we may accept the average on the supposition that some unimportant reigns have been omitted. Digitized by 44 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. On these calculations we make out the following lists; but each reader must decide for himself how much reliance he will place on the lists of kings pro- ceeding the historic dynasty of Bimbisara and Ajata- satru, called the Sisunaga dynasty, which commenced in the 7th century B. C. Brihadratha Dynasty. b. c. ••• Jarasandha Sahadeva (contemporary of the Kuru Panchala war) Somapi Srutavat Ayutayus Niramitra Sukshatra Brihatkarman Senajit ... Srutanjaya Vipra ... Suchi ... Kshemya Suvrata Dharma Susrama Dridhasena Sumati ... Subala ... Suntta ... Satyajit... Visvajit... Ripunjaya ... 1280 1259 1237 1215 "93 1171 1 149 1 127 1 105 1083 1061 1039 1017 ... 995 ... 973 ... 9Si ... 929 ... 907 ... 885 ... 863 ... 841 819 797 to 775 I Pradyota Dynasty. ... Pradyotana Palaka Visakhayupa Janaka ... Nandivardhana .. B. C. ... 775 ... 747 ... 719 ... 691 664 to 637 Sisunaga Dynasty. Sisundga KSkavarna Kshemadharman ... Kshatraujas ... Bimbisara Ajatasatru Darbhaka Udaydsva Nandivardhana ... Mahanandin ... ... ... ... 637 ... 612 ... 587 5°2 .. 537 ... 485 ... 453 ... 432 ... 411 390 to 370 Digitized by Google CHAP. III.] THE KINGS OF MAGADHA. 45 We will now proceed with our extracts. "The son of Mah&nandin will be born of a woman of the Sudra class : his name will be Nanda (called) MahApadma ; for he will be exceedingly avari- cious. Like another Parasurdma he will be the annihilator of the Kshatriya 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 and others who will reign after Mah^padma, and he and his sons will govern for a hundred years. The Brdhman Kautilya will root out the nine Nandas." We find in the above extract mention of low-caste kings ascending the throne of Kshatriyas, and of the grow- ing power and supremacy of these kings of Magadha among the kingdoms of Northern India.