Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12.s8.9

c12.s8.9

The epigraphs, though valuable as early notices of a line known mainly from literature, are not contemporaneous. For contemporary reports we must turn to Greek writers. There is an interesting reference, in the *Cyropaedia*³ of Xenophon, who died some time after 355 B.C., to "the Indian king, a very wealthy man". This cannot fail to remind one of the Nandas whom the unanimous testimony of Sanskrit, Tamil, Ceylonese and Chinese writers describe as the possessors of enormous wealth.⁴ Clearer information about the ruling family of Magadha (c. 326 B.C.) is supplied by the contemporaries of Alexander whose writings form the bases of the accounts of Curtius, Diodoros and Plutarch. Unfortunately, the classical writers do not mention the family name 'Nanda'. The reading 'Nandrum' in the place of 'Alexandrum' in the account of Justin is absolutely unjustifiable.