The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c25.9

c25.9

¹ Rapson (*Anc. Ind.*, 1914, p. 131) considers the book to be important, but does not discuss its date. It has never been edited, and the MS. of it which has been described is both fragmentary and corrupt. It is an astrological treatise, and almost the only example of its class, which was superseded in the fourth century by the Alexandrian science. Fleet (*J. R. A. G.*, 1912, p. 792) pointed out that the passage quoted is from a chapter of the *Gārgī-Saṁhitā* entitled the *Yuga-purāṇa*, and rightly observed that it cannot be as early as 50 B. C., as Kern long ago conjectured. The learned critic ignored Max Müller's view, and censured the author for using the book, which he denounced as ‘quite late’ and ‘worthless’. But he gave no reason for discrediting Max Müller’s guess that the work might date from the third century after Christ. No doubt some of the statements in the *Yugapurāṇa*, as in all Purāṇas, are absurd or erroneous, and the text probably is corrupt; e. g. *Kusumadhvaja* seems to be a mistake for *Kusumapura*. But such errors do not justify total rejection. The book correctly names Śāliśūka Maurya, who, according to the early *e* Vāyu MS. (Pargiter), reigned for thirteen years. I do not see any reason for refusing to believe that the *Yugapurāṇa* may date from the third century. Whatever the date of the existing text may be, it is most unlikely that the author should have invented the statement about the *dushṭa vikrāntāḥ* Yavanas. The name of the Yavana leader appears to have been lost owing to corruption of the text. As to Menander’s date, I have followed Cunningham, in preference to Gardner, on whom Fleet relied. I still think that there is good reason for connecting the statement of the *Yugapurāṇa* with Menander, and for the chronology adopted. D. R. Bhandarkar, who at first supposed that the invader may have been Demetrios, now accepts the identification with Menander. The ruins of the town may date from Menander’s siege.