CHAP. III. CHRONOLOGY. III. THE greater periods employed in the computation CHAP. of time by the Hindús need scarcely be discussed. Though founded on astronomical data, they are purely mythological, and do not deserve the atten- periods. tion they have attracted from European scholars. A complete revolution of the nodes and apsides, which they suppose to be performed in 4,320,000,000 years, forms a calpa or day of Brahmá. In this are included fourteen manwantaras, or periods, during each of which the world is under the control of one Menu. Each manwantara is composed of seventy-one mahá yugas, or great ages, and each mahá yuga contains four yugas, or ages, of unequal length. These last bear some resemblance to the golden, silver, brazen, and iron ages of the Greeks.* This last division alone has any reference to the affairs of mankind. The first, or satya yuga, extends through 1,728,000 years. The second, or treta yuga, through 1,296,000 years. The third, called dwapar yuga, through 864,000 years; and the last, or cáli yuga, through 432,000 years. Of the last or cáli yuga of the present manwantara * Mr. Davis, Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. pp. 228-231. logical III. BOOK 4941 years have elapsed; and within that period most historical events are acknowledged to have occurred. Some, however, are placed at earlier epochs; and would be beyond the reach of chronology, if they could not be brought within more credible limits.* Impossibility of fixing early dates. We must, therefore, discard the yugas, along with the calpas and man wantaras, and must endeavour to draw the chronology of the Hindús from such other sources as they have themselves presented to us. It has been shown that the Védas were probably collected about fourteen centuries before Christ; but no historical events can with any certainty be connected with that date. The astronomer Parasara may perhaps have lived in the fourteenth century before the commencement of our æra; and with him, as with his son Vyása, the compiler of the Védas, many historical or mythological persons are connected; but, in both cases, some of those who are made contemporary with the authors in question appear in periods remote from each * In fixing the date of the Institutes of Menu, (which appear, in fact, to have been written less than 900 years before Christ,) the Hindú chronologists overflow even the limits of the four ages, and go back nearly seven manwantaras, a period exceeding 4,320,000, multiplied by six times seventy-one. (Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p. 116.) The "Surya Sidhanta" (written in the fifth century of our æra) assumes a more modern date; and, being revealed in the first, or satya yuga, only claims an antiquity of from 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 years. Ráma, who seems to be a real historical person, is fixed at the end of the second age, near 1,000,000 years ago. other; and the extravagant duration assigned to the lives of all holy persons, prevents the participation of any of them from contributing to settle the date of a transaction. СНАР. III. lunar races. The next ground on which we might hope to Solar and establish the Hindú chronology is furnished by lists given in the Puránas of two parallel lines of kings (the races of the sun and moon), which are supposed to have reigned in Ayodha, and in the tract between the Jamna and Ganges, respectively; and from one or other of which all the royal families of ancient India were descended. These lists, according to the computation of Sir W. Jones, would carry us back to 3500 years before Christ. But the lists themselves are so contradictory as to prevent all confidence in either. The heads of the two are contemporaries, being brother and sister; yet the lunar race has but forty-eight names in the same period, in which the solar has ninety-five; and Crishna, whom the Puránas themselves make long posterior to Ráma, is fiftieth in the lunar race, while Ráma is sixty-third in the solar.* The various attempts made to reconcile the lists For the most improved copies of the lists, see Prinsep's Useful Tables, p. 94, &c. For the previous discussions, see Sir W. Jones, Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p. 128.; Colonel Wilford, Asiatic Researches, vol. v. table opposite p. 241., and p. 287.; Mr. Ward, vol. i. p. 14.; Dr. Hamilton Buchanan's Hindoo Genealogies (a separate work); consult likewise Professor Wilson's Preface to the Vishnu Purána, p. lxiv., &c., and the Purána itself, Book IV. chaps. i. and ii. p. 347. III. Kings of have only served to increase the discrepancy. The narrative by which they are accompanied in the Puránas discredits them still further by absurdities and puerilities; and, although many of the kings named may have reigned, and some of the tales related may be allusions to real history, yet no part of either, down to the time of Crishna and the war of the "Mahá Bhárat," affords the least basis on which to found a system of chronology. From the time of the "Mahá Bhárat" we have numerous lists of kings in different parts of India, which present individually an appearance of probability, and are in several instances confirmed by extraneous testimony. More frequently they are authenticated or illustrated by religious inscriptions and grants of land. These last, in particular, are sculptured on stone or engraved on copper plates; the latter very common and generally in good preservation. They not only record the date with great care and minuteness, but almost always contain the names of some of the predecessors of the prince who confers the grant. If sufficient numbers should be found, they may fix the dates of whole series of kings; but, at present, they are unconnected fragments, which are of use in local histories, but give little help to general chronology. The line of Magada alone, besides receiving striking confirmations from various quarters, presents a connected chain of kings from the war of the "Mahá Bhárat," to the fifth century after Christ, and thus admits of an approximation to the CHAP. principal epochs within that period. Sahadéva was king of Magada at the end of the war of the "Mahá Bhárat." The thirty-fifth king in succession from him was Ajata Satru, in whose reign Sakya or Gótama, the founder of the Budha religion, flourished. There can be little doubt that Sakya died about 550 before Christ.* We have, therefore, the testimonies of the Burmese, Ceylonese, Siamese, and some other Báudha chronicles, written out of India, by which to settle the æra of Ajata Satru. The sixth in succession from Ajata Satru, inclusive, was Nanda, on whose date many others depend. The ninth from Nanda was Chandra Gupta; and the third from him was Asóca, a prince celebrated among the Báudhas of all countries, as one of the most zealous disciples and promoters of their religion. It is by means of the two last princes that we gain a link to connect the chronology of India with that of Europe; and are enabled (though still very loosely) to mark the limits of the period embraced by Hindú history. From some motive, probably connected with the desire to magnify Crishna, the Hindú authors have made the end of the war of the "Mahá Bhárat” and the death of that hero contemporary with the commencement of the cáli yúg, or evil age; and * See p. 210, 211. III. |