Essay name: Purana Bulletin
Author:
Affiliation: University of Kerala / Faculty of Oriental Studies
The "Purana Bulletin" is an academic journal published in India. The journal focuses on the study of Puranas, which are a genre of ancient Indian literature encompassing mythological stories, traditions, and philosophical teachings. They represent Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit and cover a wide range of subjects.
Purana, Volume 8, Part 1 (1966)
24 (of 340)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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16
啶啶班ぞ啶｀ぎ啷� - [pur膩峁嘺m - ] 笔鲍搁膧狈础
[Vol. VIII., No. 1
to Alexander and these years and months are brought into relation
with the number of kings. About both the time-period and the
king-series we get the clear term "intermediate". The number
of kings applies to those who reigned between the days of
Dionysus and the days of Alexander: the total of their reigns-
6451 years and 3 months-applies also to the period between the
reigns of Dionysus and Alexander. After Dionysus ceased reign-
ing and before Alexander started doing so we have the inter-
mediate period. Similarly, the kings who are counted are the
ones succeeding Dionysus and preceding Alexander. Indeed,
Dionysus, who "was the first of all who triumphed over the
vanquished Indians", must be couted as the first king over the
Indians. But he is not a part of the 153 or 154 kings. Neither
is Sandrocottus. If we count both of them, the king-number will
be 155 or 156.
The final point to glance at is: "Which of the two king-
numbers is to be accepted ?" Since two authors out of three give
153 and since Arrian who correctly refers the king-series to
Sandrocottus is one of them, 153 would appear to have more
weight. But, when the difference of 154 from it is exceedingly
small, perhaps the two serial numbers are there because of a
disagreement among computers whether a certain name was to be
included or not in the full tally.
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In view of all our observations our job is to link Sandrocot-
tus with an ietervening chain of 153 or 154 kings to the ancient
monarch of India whom the Greeks named Dionysus. By doing
it we should be able to decide between Chandragupta Maurya
and Chandragupta I for Sandrocottus and between the rise of the
Mauryas and the rise of the Imperial Guptas for 325 or 324 B. C.
The whole of ancient Indian chronology hinges on our decision
apropos of the clue from Megasthenes.
Dionysus in India
Obviously, to come to a decision we must consult the Indian
sources on which Megasthenes based himself. Where time-
periods or king-lists are concerned, the informants of Megasthenes
