The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c28.133

c28.133

So much, however, is clear, that Vāsudeva was the last Kushān king who continued to hold extensive territories in India. After his death there is no indication of the existence of a paramount power in Northern India. Probably numerous Rājas asserted their independence and formed a number of short-lived states, such as commonly arise from the ruins of a great oriental monarchy; but historical material for the third century is so completely lacking that it is impossible to say what or how many those states were. The period evidently was one of extreme confusion associated with foreign invasions from the north-west, which is reflected in the muddled statements of the *Purāṇas* concerning the Ābhīras,¹ Gardabbilas, Śakas, Yavanas, Bāhlīkas, and other outlandish dynasties named as the successors of the Āndhras. The dynasties thus enumerated clearly were to a large extent contemporary with one another, not consecutive, and none of them could claim paramount rank. It seems to be quite hopeless to attempt to reduce to order the Purāṇic accounts of this anarchical period, and nothing would be gained by quoting a long list of names, the very forms of which are uncertain.