Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c9.s3.134

c9.s3.134

It has been stated further that the period separating the priests of Janamejaya from c. 550 B.C. is 800 years. This figure is obtained by accepting the round number 40 for the intervening generations and assigning to each generation in the *gurusishya paramparā* a period of 20 years. The probative value of this mode of calculation is impaired by the fact that the actual number of teachers of the period given in the *Bṛihadāraṇyaka Upanishad* is 45 and not 40 (p. 70), and the true average length of a spiritual generation is, according to Jaina and Buddhist evidence, about 30 and not 20 years.¹ Moreover. it should not be forgotten that if the lists which form the basis of calculation are really to be dated 'not later than c. 550 B.C.,' c. 1350 B.C. (550+800) can only be regarded as a *terminus ad quem*. The *terminus a quo* still remains to be determined. The uncertainty regarding the date of the particular *Vaṁśa* lists, on which the whole chronological theory rests, lays even the lower limit open to objection.