Ancient History of the Deccan c3.s5.15

c3.s5.15

It is certain that Chashtana was for a time the contemporary of Puḷumâvi. In fact, Ptolemy says in his geography (Ind. Ant., Vol XIII., page 366) that Siro Polemaios reigned at Baithana, and Tiastanes at Ozênê. Ozênê is unquestionably Ujjain which was the capital of all the kings of the dynasty of Châshtana, and Baithana is Paiṭana or Paiṭhana, the capital of Puḷumâvi. Unfortunately the evidence of Ptolemy does not enable us to know exactly in what epoch Chashtana and Puḷumâvi lived. We do not know for certain in what year Ptolemy wrote his geography and we know little about the life of this scholar. Olympiodorus says that when Ptolemy was at Canopa in 147, he had already been making astronomical observations for 40 years, which will place Ptolemy's works between 104 and 147 A. D. Ptolemy was not a navigator; he was an astronomer of Alexandria who wrote his geography chiefly with the object of drawing a map of the world with latitudes and longitudes: and has he not the pretension to give his own views about the countries he speaks about. He confines himself to reconstructing the configuration of the countries, relying upon the descriptions given by the travellers in the works which can be had in his days. He himself admits that he follows Marin of Tyr, navigator who made his voyage about 100 A. D. From which book has Ptolemy taken his information about Puḷumâvi and Chashtana? It may not be impossible that it was from the work of Marin of Tyr which unfortunately has not come down to us. But it is certain that this information was obtained from relatively recent sources and as Ptolemy wrote his geography in the first half of the IInd century, we may admit that the information he gives about Chashtana and Puḷumâvi belongs to the beginning of the IInd century.