The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c24.5

c24.5

¹ The names of the successors of Asoka are taken from the *Vishṇu Purāṇa*, omitting Suyaśas, for the reasons given in the text. Other names are given in Jain books and the Buddhist *Asokāvadāna*. The *Vāyu*, which is one of the oldest of the Purāṇas, gives only nine names for the dynasty, as in brackets, and also states the duration of each reign. The approximate dates given are assigned accordingly, on the assumption that the reign of Asoka lasted for about forty or forty-one years. Its duration, according to the *Vāyu Purāṇa*, was thirty-six, and according to the *Mahāvaṁśa*, thirty-seven years, both of which periods probably should be reckoned from the coronation. The Purāṇas agree in assigning 137 years to the Maurya dynasty, but the total of the lengths of reigns, according to the *Vāyu Purāṇa*, is only 133. The difference of four years may be accounted for by the interval between the accession and the coronation of Asoka. For further details see Pargiter, *Dynasties of the Kali Age*. The variant readings are numerous.