Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c29.320

c29.320

The calculations made in pages 179–82 yielded these approximate dates as regards Magadha--Senājit began to reign about 850 B.C.; he and his 15 successors, and the 5 Pradyotas and the 10 Śiśunāgas reigned altogether 448 years (the average reign being thus about 14½ years); Mahāpadma then began in 402; he and his eight sons reigned 80 years; and Candragupta ascended the throne in 322 B.C. According to that average the 5 Pradyotas with 72 years would have begun in 619 B.C., and the 10 Śiśunāgas with 145 years in 547 B.C.; but the synchronisms of Buddha, Bimbisāra and Ajātaśatru (the fifth and sixth Śiśunāgas)⁴ show that Ajātaśatru had come to the throne before Buddha’s death about 487 B.C., and that the beginning of the Śiśunāgas should be placed earlier than 547 though not necessarily as early as 602 B.C. The above average makes the combined duration of the Pradyotas and Śiśunāgas (72 + 145) 217 years; and it is noteworthy that the Matsya gives the Pradyotas 52 years and can be read as assigning the Śiśunāgas 163 years, that is, 215 years altogether. This remarkable agreement suggests that the only modification needed in the above calculations is to transfer 20 years from the Pradyotas to the Śiśunāgas, whereby the chronology may be arranged thus:—