Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c9.s7.92

c9.s7.92

Some of the later princes of the Purāṇic list, *e.g.*, Śākya, Suddhodana, Siddhārtha, Rāhula and Prasenajit, are mentioned in Buddhist texts. The exact relations of Hiraṇyanābha (and Hairaṇyanābha) with Prasenajit, who also flourished in the sixth century B. C. are not known. The Purāṇic chroniclers make Hiraṇyanābha an ancestor of Prasenajit, but are not sure about his position in the dynastic list.⁷ Further they refer to Prasenajit as the son and successor of Rāhula, and grand-son of Siddhārtha (Buddha). This is absurd, because Prasenajit was of the same age as the Buddha and belonged to a different branch of the Ikshvāku line. The Tibetans represent him as the son of Brahmadatta.¹ It is clear that no unanimous tradition about the parentage of Prasenajit and the position of Hiraṇyanābha in the family tree has been preserved. Hiraṇyanābha, or preferably his son, performed an *Aśvamedha* sacrifice and was apparently a great conqueror. Is this ruler identical with the "Great Kosalan" (Mahākosala) of Buddhist tradition? If he really flourished in the sixth century B.C., he may have been identical with 'Mahākosala' of Buddhist texts.