The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c10.73

c10.73

By putting all the hints together we may conclude with tolerable certainty that the Nanda family really was of base origin, that it acquired power by the assassination of the legitimate king, and retained possession of the throne for two generations only. The great military power of the usurpers, as attested by Greek testimony, was the result of the conquests effected by Bimbisāra and Ajātasatru, and presumably continued by their successors; but the limits of the Nanda dominions cannot be defined, nor can the dates of the dynasty be determined with accuracy. It is quite certain that the two generations did not last for a hundred and fifty-five, and improbable that they lasted for a hundred, years; but it is impossible to determine their actual duration.³