SiflSXT1 aCCUrate P 1 feel briefly summarise them, leavi1n go atmheo t bdeofo hgomtmte?r
names and much controverted dates for the dry-as-dust?
Who have the W e and memory to dig into tuoh
bewildering matter. s n
faacettse iise tthSatl i5of tttlh!:e'e Hw0i(nidJaub ?kUintg sW. hiT0hh etstee rhea v™e le fot eervtaeiralW
P an d re th an
g memorials m the glorious temples described in
pu owvAer ofr' ,t; his race oWf kiknggsi,T ea n“d itdheea foafc tth teh «aot aslotmh ea nodf
their irrigation canals exist to this day proves that they
took an interest m the condition of their people There
was also at that time a regular system of village
administration and a complicated system of bigar
(forced labour). It is the written record of this
period that we have in the Rajatarangini of
Kalhana, a chronicle in Sanskrit verse, the like
of which exists for no other part of India.
Much of the early part relates events and circumstances
of an entirely legendary character; but from the seventh
century to the time a . d . 1148, when the author lived in
the reign of King Jayasimha, he may be generally relied
on. H. H. Wilson states that for a period long antecedent
to that chronicled in the Rajatarangini, Kashmir
was certainly an organised kingdom bearing the name
of Caspapyrus or Abisarius in the time of Herodotus
and Alexander, and it is probable that for centuries
prior to the time of Greek supremacy the country was
governed by princes of the powerful Pandava clan, who,
spreading over all north-western India, have left their
name more especially to their descendants in the Jhelum
Valley.
Whether the fact of Chinese Tartar influence, often
referred to by people and writers, rests on any real
foundation is difficult now to determine, but it is certain
that Buddhism was at a very early date a great power,
though it did not- retain long its position, for in the
seventh century it was already quite subordinate to the
Brahminical teaching. As the peaceful influence
of this happy vale in those days exercised as soothing
an influence as the present time, when Hindus and
Mahomedans live peacefully together, the Brahmins
and Buddhists agreed to differ without conflict or overheated
contention.
Asoka, who lived soon after the beginning of the