The Purana Index v1.c3.s5.1

v1.c3.s5.1

As in the case of the Vāyu Purāṇa the scene of this Purāṇa is laid in the sacred forest of Naimisha where many of the great sages of India assembled to witness the sacrifice of Adhisīmakrishna, the Paurava king of much celebrity. Here too the list of ‘future kings’ is continued till the last of the kings of Āndhra dynasty. The Guptas are not mentioned. And this gives the certain clue that the last redaction of the Matsya Purāṇa must have taken place not later than the commencement of the Gupta epoch and immediately after the dismemberment of the Āndhra empire. The latest date for the Purāṇa must be found somewhere towards the close of the third century as the Guptas commenced their rule from about 320 A.D. But this does not solve the problem. The real difficulty lies in fixing the upper limit of the Purāṇa. Though the Purāṇa definitely says that Adhisīmakrishna was the reigning king by the use of the expression, Sāmpratam we cannot assign such an early date to this Purāṇa. Perhaps some portions of the Purāṇa must have been in existence then. Subsequently additions were made from time to time until the beginning of the Gupta era.