The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s6.79

c10.s6.79

¹ The *Purāṇas*, except the *Yuga-purāṇa*, all give eight kings of the Yavanas in India (there were of course far more) but the names and duration of rule differ (*Lévi, Quid de Graecis* p. 11). These lists are valueless; the one said to be the oldest and usually quoted, that of the *Vayu-purāṇa* (p. 133 n. 3), is in utter confusion chronologically and is not true for any one place in India. But the figure, eighty-two years, for the duration of Yavana rule which Cunningham cited, *NC* 1872 p. 185, as it is not a round number, might be a real tradition for some particular place; if so, that place must be Mathurā, as the figure is far too small for anywhere else unless Sind or Surastrene, and they cannot come in question because later Puranic history is confined to the United Provinces and Bihar (*CHI* p. 307). This would make the loss of Mathurā shortly after 100 B.C., which agrees well enough with the view in the text, based on coins.