The Classical Doctrine of Indian Medicine: Its Origins and its Greek Parallels c8.10

c8.10

According to the Viṣṇupurāṇa (IV, XXIV, 32), 1015 years passed between the birth of Parīkṣita and the consecration of the Magadhan king, Nanda. The same period is calculated at 1115 years by the Bhāgavatapurāṇa (XII, 11, 26) and at 1050 years by the Vāyu-(XCIX, 415), the Matsya-and the Brahmāṇḍapurāṇas.² According to these texts, the dynasty founded by Nanda would have lasted a hundred years. Therefore, the Purāṇas, (leaving aside the somewhat aberrant data of the Bhāgavata) without agreeing on the exact figure, allow a period of eleven centuries between the birth of Parīkṣit and the end of the Nandas. Now this end of the Nandas dates from the time when Candragupta took over power in 313 B. C. It is, therefore, in the XVth century B. C., roughly towards 1400 B. C., that Parīkṣit of the Atharvaveda should be placed. A number of hymns of this Veda could be older still, as the hymn to Parīkṣit belongs to the most recent stratum of the collection.¹