Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c13.24

c13.24

some other way. Besides the tradition about 456 years, there is a statement in the Vâyu Purâna, in a verse below, to the effect that the "Andhras will have possession of the earth for three hundred years,"¹² which seems to point to another. That such a tradition existed is indicated by the mistake in the Bhâgavata by which the Kâṇvas are assigned three hundred and forty-five years. The original account, which the author of this Purâṇa must have seen, probably assigned forty-five years to the Kâṇvas and three hundred to the next or Andhrabhṛitya dynasty. But since that dynasty was also assigned another duration, *viz.* 456 years, he connected the "the three hundred" with the preceding, and gave 345 years to the Kâṇvâyana family. Now, the manner in which the two traditions are to be reconciled is by supposing that the longer period is made up by putting together the reigns of all the princes belonging to the several branches of the Andhrabhṛitya dynasty. That the younger princes often reigned at Paiṭhaṇ and the elderly ones at Dhanakaṭaka appears clear when we compare the inscriptions with the statement in Ptolemy. When the throne at the principal seat became vacant, the Paiṭhaṇ princes succeeded. But some probably died before their elders, and never became kings of Dhanakaṭaka. From an inscription found at Banavâsî by Dr. Burgess it would appear that another branch of that dynasty ruled over Kânaṛâ. The period of three hundred years and the seventeen names given in the Vâyu Purâna refer probably to the main branch. The Mâtsya seems to me to put together the princes of all the branches, and thus makes them out to be thirty. The total of the years assigned to the several reigns in the Vâyu is 272½, and if we should suppose one or two reigns lasting for about twenty-eight years to have dropped out by the corruption of the text, it would become 300½ Thus then the Vâyu and the Mâtsya Purânas each give a correct account, but of different things The Vishnu, which gives twenty-four princes, is not entitled to so much credit as the Vâyu It is a later work and the author's purpose being sectarian, he probably did not care so much for the accuracy of his details, and hence omitted even the duration of each reign The Bhâgavata is still more careless, as has already been shown