Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c20.s1.12

c20.s1.12

It would have taken Mahāpadma some time to conquer all those kingdoms, the nearer earlier and the more distant later; and it will not be far out if we strike a mean, say, of 20 years after his accession for their destruction,⁵ and so fix the year (402-20) 382 B. C. for their mean termination. That list of contemporary kings can be tested as regards its period and the number of kings. The dynastic account gives the Paurava, Aikṣvāku and Bārhadratha kings from the time of the battle, but the prophetic portion of it starts from the point of time when the Paurava king Adhisīmakṛṣṇa, the Aikṣvāku Divākara and the Bārhadratha Senājit were reigning contemporaneously, for it is clearly stated in the Paurava list that the future kings were 25, Adhisīmakṛṣṇa and his 24 successors, and in the Bārhadratha list that they were 16, Senājit and his 15 successors; the predecessors in both cases not being so reckoned. Hence in these three dynasties that point of time is the real initial point throughout and the extermination by Mahāpadma is the final point.