﻿142 • ON THE CHRONOLOGY 



After the death of Chandrabija, which happened, ac- 

 cording to the Hindus, 396 years before Vicramaditya^ 

 or 452 B. C. we hear no more of Magadha as an in- 

 dependent kingdom ; but Radhacant has exhibited 

 the names of seven dynasties, in which seventy six 

 princes are said to have reigned one thousand three 

 hundred and ninety-nine years in Avabhriti, a town of 

 the Dacshin, or South, which we commonly call 

 Decan. The names of the seven dynasties, or of the 

 families who established them, areAbhira, Gardabhin, 

 Canca, Yavana, Turushcara , Bhurunda, Maula ; of 

 which the Yavanas are by some, not generally, sup- 

 posed to have been Ionians or Greeks, but the Turush- 

 caras and Maulas are universally believed to have 

 been Turcs and Moguls ; yet Radhacant adds, " when, 

 " the Maula race was extinct, five princes, named Bhu- 

 €t nanda Bangira, Sisunandi, Yasonandi, and Pravi- 

 '*■ raca reigned an hundred and six years (or till the year 

 " 1053) in tl>e city of Cdacila," which he tells me, 

 he -understands to be in the country of the Maharash- 

 tras, or Mahrattas ; and here ends his Indian chrono- 

 logy ; for " after Praviraca," says he, " this empire 

 " was divided among Mleclihas, or Infidels." This 

 account of the seven modern dynasties appears very 

 doubtful in itself, and has no relation to our present 

 inquiry; for their dominion seems confined to the 

 Decan, without extending to Magadha ; nor have we 

 any reason to believe that a race of Grecian princes 

 ever established a kingdom in either of those coun- 

 tries. As to the Moguls, their dynasty still subsists 

 at least nominally, unless that of Chengiz be meant ; 

 and his successors could not have reigned in any part 

 of India for the period of three hundred years, which 

 is assigned to the Manias ; nor is it probable that the 

 word Turc, which an Indian could have easily pro- 

 nounced and clearly expressed in the Nagari letters, 

 should have been corrupted into Turushcara. On, 

 the whole, we may safely close the most authentic 



