Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c13.s1.29

c13.s1.29

After Ahīnagu most of the Puranas give a list of some twenty kings Pāripātra (or Sudhanvan) to Bṛhadbala who was killed by Abhimanyu in the Bhārata battle,² agreeing generally in their names, though some of the lists are incomplete towards the end. Thus the Brahma stops at Nala (= Śaṅkhaṇa); the Harivaṃśa at Maru except that it mentions the last king Bṛhadbala; and the Garuḍa at Prasuśruta, where by the loss of some verses closing this dynasty and introducing the Videha line it runs the two together making Prasuśruta father of Udāvasu of that line. But six Puranas, the Matsya, Padma, Liṅga, Kūrma, Śiva and Agni, differ completely, and all except the Śiva name, instead of those twenty, six other kings, Sahasrāśva, Candrāvaloka, Tārāpīḍa, Candragiri, Bhānuścandra (with variations) and Śrutāyus. The Śiva names only the first. The Liṅga identifies Śrutāyus with Bṛhadbala, the last in the former list. The former list is certainly preferable for several reasons. The table of royal genealogies (chapter XII) shows that there must have been many more kings than six and quite as many as twenty. The Raghuvaṃśa corroborates it as far as Agnivarṇa. Some of the kings in the long list are named elsewhere, and even in the Matsya which gives the short list; thus, it mentions Hiraṇyanābhin Kausalya as teacher of king Kṛta of Dvimīḍha’s line,³ and Maru as one who with Devāpi the Paurava will restore the kṣatriyas at the end of this Kali age.⁴ Further Pāripātra and his successors appear from a comparison of their names to be meant by the Mahābhārata story of Parikṣit and his sons.¹ On the other hand there is nothing, as far as I know, to support the short list. The longer list of twenty kings must therefore be accepted.