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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JULY, 1927
at Hebron, when later on in the neighbourhood of Baalbek I came upon him again, and this time he was interred in a tomb forty yards long by two or three feet wide.... Noah must have been
person of exceptional stature, even in a part of the world where the Sons of Anak, 'which come of the Giants,' and compared with whom all other men
were as grasshoppers,' would appear to have abound ed. But even in his day the standard of human height must have been rapidly deteriorating. For the
grave of Eve, near Jeddah in the Hedjaz, which corresponds accurately to the measurement of her body is no less than of 173 yards long by 12 yards wide : 80 that in comparison with the Mother of Mankind the builder of the Ark was only a pigmy. At Jeddah, however, the guardians of the tomb have a ready and indeed a plausible explanation of the decline, for they say that when Eve fell, with her fell the stature of the race she originated."
R. C. TEMPLE
BOOK-NOTICE.
POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDLA FROM THE recently published fourth edition of Smith's work,
ACCESSION OF PARIKSHIT TO THE EXTINCTION he would have found his own opinion duly recorded OF THE GUPTA DYNASTY, by HEMCHANDRA in a footnote qualifying Smith's original opinion. RAYCHAUDHURI, M.A., PH.D. University of He does not accept the view that Pushyamitra, Calcutta, 1923.
who slew the last Mauryan ruler, was the head of a In the issue of this Journal for January, 1924, I Brahman reaction against the Mauryan empire, reviewed Professor Raychaudhuri's Political History and attributes the fall of the Mauryan power to of Ancient India from the necession of Parikshit (a) the oppression of the state officials, which was to the coronation of Bimbisára. That work forms rampant long before 185 B.C., (b) the feebleness of the first part of the present volume, which continues Asoka's successors, and (c) the decay of the State's the story of India's past history to the end of the military power owing to the spread of the Asokan Gupta age. As the author states in a foreword to
doctrine of Dhammavijaya. Pushyamitra, accordthe second part, he claims no originality for his
ing to this view, merely gave the coup-de-gráce to treatment of the period from Bimbieâra to Adoka, a moribund power. This may be so : but at the but he has added fresh material from epic and game time it does not preclude the possibility of Jain sources and occasionally arrives at conclusions Pushyamitra having been the protagonist in A differing from those adopted by previous workers conservative Brahman reaction against A system in this field. As an indication of the suggestive and which had obviously rendered the empire powerless interesting character of his succinct resumé of the to cope with foreign invasion. political features of this obscure period, a few of his The author's arguments as to the identity of the views and conclusions may be here recorded. He Indo-Greek invader of India during Pushyamitra's accepts the Ceylonese tradition that sisunega reign are well martialled and deserve study, as also was later in date than Bimbisara : he rejects Mr. do his views on the Saka Satraps of Northern K. P. Jayaswal's suggestion that the headless Patna India. He proposes a new chronology for the statue is that of Nandivardhana, and that the early Satavahanas or Andhrabhrityas, placing Nandarâja of the Hathigumpha inscription is also
Simuka in the 1st century B.C., and the end of his Nandivardhana. He considers it more likely that dynasty in the 3rd century A.D., while the Kuntala Mahapadma Nanda is referred to by Khåravels. or collateral Kanarese line of Satakarnis continued He accepts the date of Buddha's death as 483 B.C., to rule till the 4th or 5th century A.D. He suggests and believes that the earlier date, 543 B.C., must
that the Satakarni of the Nanâghât inscription is have gained currency by being confounded with the identical with the Satakarni who defied Khåra vela, era which commenced with Bim birara's accession. with the Satakarni of the Sanchi inscription, and He suggests that Chandragupta belonged to the with the elder Saraganus mentioned in the Periplus. Morivas (Mauryas), the ruling Kshatriya clan of He has much of interest to say about the Saka and Pipphalivana in ancient times, and correcte Vincent ! Pahlava rulers of the Panjab, the Kushåns, and tho Smith's view of the character of the Mauryan Western Kshatrnpas. I have perhaps said enough Uttaradhyakahas. The epithet Rashtriya, applied to show that Professor Raychaudhuri's book forma ts Pushyagupta in the time of Chandragupta, he & solid contribution to the discussion of the various regards As equivalent to imperial high commissioner, problems implieit in the early history of Iridia. and suggests that the Rashtriyas, who are not The book is succinetly written, partak mentioned either in the Arthastra or in Aboka's of the nature of an outline than a literary essay in Edicts, were probably identical with the Rashtra- history : but it furnishes the evidence upon which DAlas, who drew the same salary as Kumâras or the author relies for his views and contains a good
the author relies for his views and en princely viceroys of the blood royal.
bibliographical as well as a general index. It is Tush Ashpha, the Yavanaraja, he considers to have well worth a place on the bookshelf of the student been a Greek, not a Persian, as originally stated by 1 of Indian history. Vincent Smith. But had the author consulted the
S. M. EDWARD ES.
