Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c9.s4.27

c9.s4.27

It is clear from what has been stated above that Janaka was separated by five or six generations from Janamejaya's time.² Jacobi and Rhys Davids³ agree in estimating the average length of a patriarchate or generation (in lists relating to spiritual succession) at 30 years. To the five or six teachers from Indrota to Somaśushma, and from Tura to Uddālaka Āruṇi and Janaka, we may, therefore, assign a period of 150 or 180 years.¹ It is, therefore, reasonable to think that Janaka flourished about 150 or 180 years after Janamejaya, and two centuries after Parikshit. If, following a Purāṇic tradition, we place Parikshit in the fourteenth century B.C., we must place Janaka in the twelfth century B.C. If, on the other hand, we accept a date for Guṇākhya Sāṅkhāyana, the pupil's pupil of Uddālaka according to the *Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka*, in the sixth century B.C., we must place Parikshit in the ninth century B.C., and Janaka in the seventh century B.C.