History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c8.19

v1.c8.19

In India Proper, however, we have no such guides as even these, but for written history are almost wholly dependent on the Purânas. They furnish us with a list of kings’ names, with the length of their reigns, so apparently truthful that they may, within certain limits, be of use. They are only, however, of one range of dynasties—probably also sometimes contemporary—and extend only from the accession of Chandragupta—the Sandrokottos of the Greeks—about B.C. 320, to the decline of the Andhra dynasty, about the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. It seems possible we may yet find sufficient confirmation of these lists as far back as the 6th century B.C., so as to include the period marked by the life and labours of Sâkyamuni—the last Buddha—in our chronology, with tolerable certainty. All chronology before that period is as yet merely conjectural. From the period of the Gupta dynasty in the 4th century onwards, when the Purânas began to be put into their present form, in consequence of the revival of the Brahmanical religion, instead of recording contemporary events, they purposely confused them so as to maintain their pretended prophetic character, and prevent the detection of the falsehood of their claim to an antiquity equal to that of the Vedas.