The Mauryan Polity c6.s1.t4.28

c6.s1.t4.28

¹ This fact of the flood of the Ganges sweeping over Patna is of considerable importance to a student of South Indian history. For it has been mentioned by the Tamil poet Māmūlaṇār. From Cunningham's statement the flood must have occurred after Aśoka's time, and from Spooner's examination of the subject, the fire must have broken out at least before the epoch of the Guptas. This may then give clue to fixing the date of this poet roughly. He may be said to have flourished between 230 B.C. and 300 A.D. But his reference to the Vemba Mauryas and his silence regarding the fire incident may induce us to assign him to the last period of the Mauryan epoch or perhaps not far from it. See also author's Studies in Tamil Literature and History, (1930), pp. 133-134.