Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c17.s1.4

c17.s1.4

The chronology of the Kāṇva dynasty is a matter of controversy. In his *Early History of the Deccan*, Sir R. G. Bhandarkar observes, "the founder of the Andhra-bhṛityas is said to have uprooted not only the Kāṇvas, but 'whatever was left of the power of the Śuṅgas.' And the Kāṇvas are pointedly spoken of as Śuṅga-bhṛityas or servants of the Śuṅgas. It, therefore, appears likely that when the princes of the Śuṅga family became weak, the Kāṇvas usurped the whole power and ruled like the Peshwas in modern times, not uprooting the dynasty of their masters but reducing them to the character of nominal sovereigns. Thus then these dynasties reigned contemporaneously, and hence the 112 years that tradition assigns to the Śuṅgas include the 45 assigned to the Kāṇvas.