Indian Epigraphy c6.s3.7

c6.s3.7

It is clear from the reference to numerous earlier chronicles in the *Rājatarangiṇī* (12th century) that works dealing with the activities of the ancient kings of Kashmir began to be written at a very early date, long before the secluded vale came into close contact with history-minded foreigners like the Musalmans. That chronicles at least of the *Vaṃśāvali* type were prepared and preserved at the courts of various royal families ruling over other parts of India is also suggested by several factors. In the 11th century, Al Bīrūnī referred to the ‘pedigree’ of the Śāhīs of Afghanistan and North-Western Bhāratavarṣa, written on silk, which is stated to have been preserved at the fortress of Nagarkot in the Punjab. What he says about the Śāhīs seems to indicate that this was a dynastic account of the Śāhī kings from the foundation of Kuṣāṇa power about the beginning of the Christian era down to the fall of the Brāhmaṇa Śāhīs in the 11th century. From about the 6th and 7th centuries A.D., official charters of most of the imperial families ruling over various parts of India began to incorporate historical accounts from their foundation to the date of the records. In many cases, such an account covers several centuries and it is impossible to believe that it could have been prepared without the help of earlier written records. It has to be noticed, for instance, that the reference to the 18 years' duration of Kubja-Viṣṇuvardhana's rule is found only in the Eastern Cālukya charters of the time of his distant descendants who ruled three centuries later.¹ That the practice of preparing dynastic annals was popular from very old times is suggested by the inclusion of many such accounts of ancient ruling families in the Purāṇas. It is well known that the Puranic *Vaṃśavalis* quote the names of the rulers of a family in a chronological order often with the duration of the rule of each king and his relation with his predecessor. Achievements of particular monarchs (e. g. the foundation of the city of Puṣpapura or Pāṭaliputra by Udayin of Magadha during the fourth year of his reign)² are mentioned only occasionally. Kālidāsa's *Raghuvamśa*, which is essentially a chronicle of the traditional rulers of the Ikṣvāku house, based on legends and dynastic accounts as those contained in the Purāṇas, would, however, suggest that the composition of bigger chronicles on the achievements of imperial families was not quite unknown or unpopular in ancient India.