English
wan (7E Bhimimitra Ses we $9 Nardyana or we 48 Susarman ‘ae 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 was 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- CHAP. UL] THE KINGS OF MAGADHA. 49 istic Period; and an Andhra chief (described as a “ powerful servant”) now conquered . Magadha, and his dynasty ruled for four centuries anda half. Our last extract from the lists of the Vishnu Purana 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 Pdrnotsanga ; 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 S&takarmi; his son ‘will be Sivasvati; his son will Gomattputra ; 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 Andbra- 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 Purana 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. LIL 4 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. : A. D. Sipraica oe wee, es. 26 | Pravilasena 6 wes 202° Krishna ... ise ow. 9} Satakarni TIT... we 221 a pv, | Sétakamilv .. 240 Satakarni 1 one we 52 Sivasvati ass es 259 Pirnotsangs os re} Gomatiputra ... we 278 Sitakamill we §0 | Polimat is we 297, Lambodara ove a 69 | SatakarniV os 316 Ivilaka sas .. | Sivaskandha vee 335 Meghasvati sa see 107 paleent oe oe 354 Patumat wes. we 086 | VO¥® we oe 373° Arishtakarman ... we 145 Chandrasri fee ss 392 Hala . 164 Pulomarchis .. 411 to 430 Puttalaka eos ws 183 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 Magadha was then at an end ; for, after the Andhras, various foreign tribes oversan the country and brought ruin and disorder. -The Vishnu Purana says that, after CHAP. 111.] THE KINGS OF MAGADHA. SI the Andhras,“ various races will reign as seven Abhiras, ten Gardhabhilas ; sixteen Sakas; eight Yavanas; fourteen Tushdras ; 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. ‘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 Sisundga 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 Ist 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 I 30 B. C. have been compiled. 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. the. little civilized qaigaues of Bactria came to an untimely end through the invasions of the Yue-Chi and other cognate Turanian tribes, who swept through Central Asia, and subsequently conquered Kabul and occupied the country as far as the Indus. Havishka, a king of this race, ruled in Cabul, and seems to have been driven out thence, and conquered Kashmir, where his successors, Hushka and the great Kanishka ruled after him, in the 1st century after Christ. Kanishka was a great conqueror, and his empire _extended from Cabul and Yarkand as far as Agra and Gujrat. Nothing like this had been witnessed in India since the time of Asoka the Great. Houen Tsang tells us that tributary’ princes from China sent h stages to him, and the town where these hostages lived was called Chinapati. Kanishka was also a staunch Buddhist ; he * Our readers will remember, for instance, that Menander, the Bactrian king, conquered Western India as far as the Ganges, and had a contro- versy with the renowned Buddhist philosopher, Nagarjuna. + Our readers will remember that this troublesome tribe had pene- trated into India 350 years before through the Himalayas, and was beaten back by Ajatasatru about the time of Gautama Buddha’s death.. 7 ’ ‘BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK Iv. held the Great Council of the Northern Buddhists, and ~ emissaries were sent to introduce Buddhism in the neighbouring kingdoms. We have already said before that the era known as the Sak4bda was established from Kanishka’s reign. Dr: Oldenberg maintains that the Saka Era is reckoned from the date of Kanishka’s coronation, and not from his death, and this conclusion seems to’ be well founded. On Kanishka’s death his vast empire fell to pieces, and Kashmir sank into the insignificance from which it had risen. This kingdom has a history of its own,- called the Raja Tatangini* by Kalhana Pandita, who lived in the 12th century after Christ, and we shall pause here to notice a few facts from this history. Little of any importance is noted before the time of Kanishka. We are told that 52 kings reigned for a period of 1266 years from the time of the Kuru Panchéla war to Abhimanyu, the successor of Kanishka. And this would place the Kuru Panchala war in the 12th century before Christ. We are also told that Asoka the third king beforé Kanishka was a Buddhist and “a truthful and spotless king, and built many Stdpas on the banks of the Bitasta.”.. His successor Jaloka was an orthodox Hindu king, and drove back the Mlechchas, wao were pouring in from the west. This * An English translation of this work has been completed by my esteemed brother, Mr. Jogest: Chunder Dutt. Two volumes, Stanhope Press, 249, Bowbazar Street, Calcutta, 1879 and 1887, CHAP. 1v.] KASHMIR AND GUJRAT. 55 horde must have been the Turanians ‘who conquered Kashmir so soon after. Jaloka was succeeded by — Damodara II, and then came the foreign conquerors, and “during their. long reign. Buddhist hermits were all powerful in the country and Buddhist religion prevailed without opposition.” We subjoin a list of the thirty-one kings from Kanishka, and up to the time of MAatrigupta, the contemporary of Vikramaditya of Ujjayini. If we accept 78 A.D. as the date of Kanishka’s coronation, and 550 A. D. as the date of Vikramaditya and Matrigupta,, then we get the intervening 472 years for 31 reigns, giving a not improbable average of over 15 years for each reign. A. D. _ A.D. Kanishka... .. 78 | Aksha we wee 340 Abhimanyu ... . Yoo | Gopéditya es oe 39 Gonanda we . 1g | Gokarna és ee 370 Bibhisana I ... . 190 1 NarendrAditya 2. 9 a. 385. Indrajit see core 7.4 Yudhisthira’ vee! ws. 409 Ravana wa .. ¥60 | Prat@pdditya ... oe 415) Bibhisana IL ... - se 475.{[ Jalauka oes vee 430 Nara I ass ws '190 Tunjina soe on 445 | Siddha eae we 208 Vijaya roe: ww. 460 Utpalaksha ... .. 220 | Jayendra ose oe 475 Hiranyaksha ... wee 235 Sandhimati aoe eo 490 Mokula oe eee 250 Meghavaéhana_... ate §05 Mihirakula... we 265 Shreshta Sena... ees 520 Vaka sae os 280 Hiranya, ee = 535 to 550 Kshitinanda ... 1. 295 | And Hiranya was succeeded by Vasunanda... wee 310 Matrigupta. Nara IT ow aes 325 : 56 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK Iv. A few of the kings deserve a passing notice. Nara I is said to have been a violent persecutor of Buddhists, and burnt numerous monasteries, and gave the villages which supported them to Brahmans.