Political History Of Ancient India

SR No.: 032292
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hemchandra Raychaudhari
Publisher: University of Calcutta
Publication Year: 1950
Total Pages: 714
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

Page 35

6
POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA
latest compiler of the Mahabhārata who flourished before A.D. 500. Some of the Purāṇic chronicles are mentioned by Bīņa (A.D. 600) and earlier writers. But the extant texts which contain lists of kings of the Kali Age-eannot be placed earlier than the third or fourth century. A.D., because they refer to the so-called Andhra kings and even to the post-Andhras.
It is clear from what has been stated above that the Epics and the Purānas, in their present shape, are late works which are no better suited to serve as the foundation of the history of the pre-Bimbisārian age than are the tales of the Mahāvamsa and the Asokāvadāna adapted to form the bases of chronicles of the doings of the great Maurya. At the same time we shall not be justified in rejecting their evidence wholesale because much of it is undoubtedly old and valuable. The warning to handle critically, which Dr. Smith considered necessary with regard to the Pali chronicles of Ceylon, is also applicable to the Sanskrit Epics and Purānas.
In a recent work Dr. Keith shows scepticism about the historical value of these texts, and wonders at the "naïve credulity" of those who believe in the historicity of any event not explicitly mentioned in the Vedas, e.g., "a great Bhāratan war." It cannot be denied that the Epics and the Purānas, in their present shape, contain a good deal of what is untrustworthy ; but it has been rightly said that “it is absurd to suppose that fiction completely ousted the truth.” The epigraphic or numismatic records of the Sātavāhanas, Abhiras, Vākāțakas, Nāgas, Guptas and many other dynasties fully bear out the
believed by him to have been composed long before the ninth century A. D. The existence of some of the texts in the sixth century A.D. is hinted at by the Nerūr Inscription of Mangaleśa (IA, VII. 161-Mänava-Purāna-Rāmāyana-Bhāratetihāsa-kuśalah... Vallabhah i.e. Pulikesi 1). The reference in the Matsya Purana, which is regarded as one of the earliest among the Purāņic works, to week days (70.46 ; 56; 72, 27 etc.) is of value in determining the upper limit.