The Personality of India: Pre- and Proto-historic Foundation of India and Pakistan c16.s1.29

c16.s1.29

Pargiter's great work was followed by a number of attempts at tackling this problem of Puranic genealogies. But the very sincere efforts of Dr. Pusalkar must be mentioned specially.⁴ As far as the king lists are concerned, he made very few changes from Pargiter's. But his new attempt, as far as chronology is concerned, is his *Manu-flood-Kali synchronism*. He went a step further and divided this period from 3110-1400 B.C. into four periods and even suggested that they corresponded to the four yugas of Indian tradition. In spite of this attempt, it must be said to the credit of Pusalkar, that he was aware that these traditional accounts ignored the geographic background. In a counsel of despair, he remarked : "it is impossible to rely on the traditional account as recorded in the epics and Puranas, at least in respect of those particulars which are so flatly contradicted by the evidence of the earlier texts—an evidence which is all the more valuable as it is based upon incidental notices not likely to be fabricated in order to serve any pre-conceived notion. Whatever we might think, therefore, of the kings and dynasties mentioned in the traditional accounts, we can hardly accept without demur, the location of their principalities as described in the Epics and Puranas".¹