The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c11.6

c11.6

The English series of ten reigns from Charles II to Victoria inclusive, 1649–1901 (reckoning the accession of Charles II from the death of his father in 1649), occupied 252 years, and included the two exceptionally long reigns of George III and Victoria, aggregating 124 years. The resultant average, 25·2 years per reign, may be taken as the maximum possible, and consequently 252 years are the maximum allowable for the ten Śaiśunāga reigns. The Purāṇic figures of 321 (*Matsya*) and 332 (*Vāyu*) years, obtained by adding together the durations of the several reigns, may be rejected without hesitation as being incredible. The *Matsya* account concludes with the statement, 'These will be the ten Śaiśunāga kings. The Śaiśunāgas will endure 360 years, being kings with Kshatriya kinsfolk.'¹ Mr. Pargiter suggests that the figures '360' should be interpreted as '163'. If that interpretation be accepted the average length of reign would be only 16·3, and it would be difficult to make the death of Buddha (*c.* 543 B. C.) synchronize with the dates of his contemporaries, Bimbisāra and Ajātaśatru. It is probable that the dynasty lasted for more than two centuries.