The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c8.13

c8.13

Many other early quotations from, or references to, the Purāṇas have been collected by Bühler, who points out that 'the account of the future kings in the *Vāyupurāṇa*, *Vishṇupurāṇa*, *Matsyapurāṇa*, and *Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa* seems to stop with the imperial Guptas and their contemporaries'.⁶ Bühler speaks of 'future kings', because all the historical statements of the Purāṇas are given in the form of prophecy, in order to maintain the appearance of great antiquity in the books, which in their oldest forms were undoubtedly very ancient.