rical point of view, and illustrate the history of India, and
of Indian religions, in the age to which they belong*
* The following table, which is a brief abstract of those giveirby Sir W. Jones,
will afford some idea of t]
Suryavansas, or Princes
o f th e Solar~Idne.
•'1W, Ikshwaka.- -
£4 Successors of Iksh-
waku.
56. Rama.
Wars of the Ramayana.
Cusha,
35 Successors of Cusha,
26. Takshaka, eontempo-
— rary~with Fandu.
27, Vishadbala, killed in
-th e Great War.
ii| m ethod of computation
Somavansas, or Princes
o f the Lunar Line.
1. Budha
The 44th from Budha
was Pandu.
Pandu, father of the Pan -
davas.
Yiidhisht’hira
Sovereigns o f Magadha.
Sahadeva, one of the He-
roes of the Mahabharata.
ERA OF THE MAHABHARATA.
Vrihadrana.
SO Reigns,' to the extinc-
« lion of the Suryavansas.
Parikshit, successor of
Y ud hi sht’hira.
(Parikshit, in the Astonp-!
mical System, is made
’ " ’COeval with thé bëgiit-
ning of th é Kali Ÿüg).
30 Reigns to the extinction
of the Somavansas.
The twentieth prince
from "Sahadeva, was
Pradyota.'
The-.-fifteenth from', P ra dyota
was^Jfanda,. the
last king of the Xatriya
dynasty of Magadha,
succeeded by the Mau-
rya dynasty,- the first
of whom was'Chandra-
gupta.*
Yarisara.
Asoka-verdhana, called
also Asokat and Dham-
masoka and Piyudasi.
In all, TenMauryakings;
Ten' Sunga kings •, Four
Canwa kings j Twenty-
one Andhra kings,
to the end of the kingdom
of Magadha.
* Proved to be the Sandracottus of Arrian; the
Sandracoptus of Athenaeas: the Xandramas of Diodorus,
contemporary with Seleucus.
fAsoka, contemporary with Antiochus, called, in
Indian inscriptions, Antiaho Yoza.
Paragraph 2 .— A ttem p ts m a d e to d e te rm in e th e e a rly d a te s
o f In d ia n H is to ry .—W a r o f th e M a h a b h a ra ta .
M o d e rn w rite rs h av e a ttem p te d to a sc e rta in , o r a t le a s t
to a p p ro x im a te to th e ’ easily d a te s o f In d ia n h is to ry , b y
m e th o d s very sim ila r to th o s e b y w h ich th e te c h n ic a l c h ro n o -
lo g e rs o f G re e c e e n d e a v o u re d to com p u te th e p e rio d o f th e
T ro ja n w a r a n d o f o th e r.eY e n ts rem o te from th e ir tim e s.
T h e -e a rlie s t periods, in G re c ia n h is to ry th a t a re k n ow n from
n e a rly c o n tem p o ra ry ev id en c e, w e re th e re ig n s o f th e P is is -
' tra tid se . .. F rom -th e n c e , E ra to s th e n e s a n d A p o llo d o ru s calc
u la te d b a c kw a rd s , b y m e an s o f lis ts o f k in g s , a n d chiefly
th o s e o f S p a rta , a n d b y re c k o n in g One c e n tu ry fo r ev e ry
th r e e re ig n s , e n d e a v o u re d to determines-the ep o ch o f th e
fa ll o f T ro y , an d o th e r ev en ts c o n n e c ted w ith it. I n a
sim ila r m a n n e r, m o d e rn w rite r^ w h o h a v e d ev o ted th e ir
a tte n tio n ^ I n d i a n h is to ry , c om p u te u pw a rd s, b y m e an s o f
se v e ra l-s e rie s o f k in g s , a n d p a rtic u la rly b y th a t o f th e
so v ereig n s o f M a g a d h a , from th e a sc e rta in e d d a te o f C h an -
d r a g u p ta td th e e ra , o f th e M a h a b h a ra ta , w h en th e p rin c e s
o f y a rio u sv s ta to s lg f In d ia a re b ro u g h t to g e th e r in a com m
o n enterprise.,,. / T h is w a r, w h ich was a s c e le b ra te d a n d as
im p o rta n t in In d ia n h is to ry as th e siege o f T ro y m th a t o f
G re e c e , was fo u g h t in th e G a n g e tic c o u n trie s, b etw een th e
lin es o f P a n d u a n d K u ru , two b ra n c h e s o f th e L u n a r ra c e
o f In d ia n so v ereig n s. T h e p r i n e f c f six k in g d om s o n th e
G an g e s axe m e n tio n e d as en g ag ed in th e co n flict, n am e ly ,
th o s e o f H a s tin a p u ra , M a ttra , P a n c h a la , B e n a re s, M a g
a d h a , a n d B e n g a l, as w ell as K ris h n a , wh o re ig n e d in
G u z e ra t. T h e m e th o d o f c a lc u la tin g tim e b y th e n um b e r
o f re ig n s, on a m o re a c c u ra te c om p u ta tio n th a n th a t o f
E ra to s th e n e s , b rin g s b a c k th e e ra o f th is w a r to th e fo u rte
e n th c e n tu ry b e fo re th e C h ris tia n e ra , a b o u t tw o c e n tu rie s
b e fo re th e o rd in a ry d a te o f th e fa ll o f T ro y . ' B o th In d ia n
a n d G re e k ch ro n o lo g e rs a ttem p t to d e riv e assistan ce a n d
c o rre c tio n from a stro n om ic a l re c o rd s c o n n e c ted w ith th e
ev en ts o f th e ir re sp e c tiv e h is to rie s, a n d h e re , as th e In d ia n s
a re a p p a re n tly in fe rio r to th e G re e k s in re g a rd to th e