Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c29.64

c29.64

The kingdoms mentioned continued as they have been described, with the exception of the Aila dynasty at Pratiṣṭhāna. That quickly developed. Northward its expansion was limited by the kingdom of Ayodhyā and southward by the warlike Kāruṣas, hence its extension began north-westward and eastward along the Ganges. Purūravas was succeeded by Āyu at Pratiṣṭhāna, and another son Amāvasu founded another kingdom, the capital of which was then or afterwards Kānyakubja (Kanauj).⁴ Āyu was succeeded by Nahuṣa,⁵ and another son Kṣatravṛddha established himself at Kāśi (Benares).⁶ Nahuṣa was a famous king.⁷ His son and successor Yayāti was a renowned conqueror,⁸ extended his kingdom widely, and was reckoned a samrāj.⁹ He appears to have conquered not only all Madhyadeśa west of the Ayodhyā and Kānyakubja kingdoms, and north-west as far as the R. Sarasvatī,¹⁰ but also the country west, south, and south-east of his territory of Pratiṣṭhāna.¹ He had five sons, Yadu, Turvasu, Druhyu, Anu and Pūru (p. 87). After a long reign² he divided his territories among them.³ Pūru the youngest is said to have been the most dutiful⁴ and Yayāti installed him as his successor⁵ in the ancestral sovereignty in the middle region, that is, in the southern half of the Ganges-Jumna doab with the capital Pratiṣṭhāna, and gave the elder sons the outlying territories.⁶ The texts collated show that Yadu got the south-west, Turvasu the south-east, Druhyu the west and Anu the north.⁷ These directions are taken with reference to the ancestral kingdom that Pūru obtained; hence Yadu’s realm lay in the country watered by the rivers Chambal (Carmanvatī), Betwa (Vetravatī) and Ken (Śuktimatī); Druhyu’s kingdom in the country west of the Jumna and north of the Chambal; Anu’s realm comprised the northern portion of the Ganges-Jumna plain; and Turvasu’s kingdom the territory around Rewa, the Kārūṣas, who occupied it (ante) having been subdued, for nothing more is said