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268
AN EARLY HISTORY OF ORISSA
nearabout as the date of Simuka, the first Andhra ruler. We may, hence, fix (235—23—18 =) approximately 190 B.C. to 172 B. C. as the date of Sātakarņi I.
But it has been argued against this date that, firstly, the Purāņas are not unanimous about the number of kings and the total duration of their reign. The Matsya Purāņa mentions 19 kings but gives 30 names ; whereas in other manuscripts the number differs from 28 to 21. The Vāyu Purāņa, on the other hand, gives the total number of rulers as 30. but quotes only 17 to 19 names. Same is the case about the duration of their reign period. It differs widely as 460, 412, 272] and so on. In the opinion of Sir R. G. Bhandarkar, the longer list includes the names of princes also who never came to the throne or might have held provinces only. It has been suggested by Dr. Raychaudhari that if the main line of Sāta vāhana kings consisted only of 19 kings and if the duration of their rule be approximately 300 years, there is no difficulty in according the Puranic statement that Simuka flourished in the time of the later Kāņvas, viz., in the first Century B. C. and the dynasty ceased to rule in the third Century A. D.
Secondly, talking in the same tone, depending upon the Puranic chronology, we find that 10 rulers of the Sunga dynasty, which came to power 137 years after Chandragupta Maurya's accession in 324 B. C., reigned for a period of 112 years. The last Śunga ruler, Devabhūti, was overthrown by his a nātyr Vasudeva, the founder of the Kāņva dynasty, which lasted for 45 years after four successive reigns. The last of them, Susarinana, was ousted by Simuka, the first of the Sātavāhana house. Accord
1. Qtd. Raychaudhari, PHAI, p. 407. 2. PHAI, pp. 403 f.
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