Page:Ancient Indian Historical Tradition.djvu/194
182 DATE OF BHĀRATA BATTLE
and western countries; the longest average just exceeded 24 years
in one case, the shortest was about 12, and the average of all was
19; but the average was higher in western countries and lower in
eastern countries. Hence as a medium average for these contem-
porary eastern dynasties we must take something less than 19, and
18 years will be a fair and even liberal estimate. The duration of
these ten contemporary kingdoms then would be 26 × 18, that is,
468 years, and their period would be from 850 to 382 B. C. when
Mahāpadma exterminated them.
In this calculation the Magadha kings have not been included, since they are omitted from the contemporary list, and the date 850 B. c. may now be tested with reference to them. From Senājit (850) till Mahāpadma overthrew the Siśunāgas (402) reigned 16 Bārhadrathas, 5 Pradyotas and 10 Śiśunāgas; that is, 448 years are allowed for 31 reigns-an average of 14½ years. This lower average is quite probable because of the violence that overthrew those dynasties, and it is about the average I have found in eastern dynasties. The above estimate therefore of 18 years for a medium peaceful reign appears just, and the date 850 B. c. is highly probable. This year 850 would be the approximate mean date of the beginnings of the reigns of Adhisīmakṛṣṇa, Divākara and Senājit; and therefore the standpoint during their reigns, dividing the 'past' from the 'future' in the prophetic account,' would be a few years later, say, about 840 B.C.
To get the time of the Bhārata battle, we must add the kings who preceded those three kings, namely, 5 Pauravas (for Yudhisthira's reign must be included), 4 Aikṣvākus and 6 Bārhadrathas, that is, a mean of 5, and here for so short a period the medium reign probably was longer, say 20 years.2 Hence we must add (5 × 20) 100 years, and the date of the battle may be fixed approximately as (850+100) 950 B. C.³ This reckoning has avoided special figures
1 See Vā 1, 12-15; 99, 258–9, 282, 300; Mat 1, 4-5; 50, 66–7; 271, 5, 23 and p. 52.
2 The 60 years assigned to Parikṣit II cannot be relied on (p. 53).
3 Mr. Jayaswal fixes the battle in 1424 B. C., and other Indian writers favour similar early dates, all working on the above chronological state- ments in the Puranas (which are discrepant) without checking their figures by comparison with reliable data from dynasties elsewhere. Such a comparison shows that their calculations produce results contrary to general experience: thus his date makes the medium average of 31 reigns from the battle to Mahāpadma about 33 years, an incredible length.