80 Kaliyuga epoch erroneous — Inscriptions 



supposition that the hrahmans had purposely antiquated theirs, to 

 confound their rivals in the contest for ascendancy over the minds of 

 princes and people. That they should have suspended their histories 

 with Sumitra of the solar, and Chandrabija of the lunar line, in the 

 fifth century, might be naturally accounted for by the predominance of 

 the Buddhists at that period, or more probably by the destruction of 

 the Hindu monarchies by the incursions of the Huns and Tartars. 

 The Purdnas, or at least the prophetical supplements describing their 

 genealogies, must have been compiled long afterwards, and the relative 

 dates then falsified. But the principal blame in the business seems to fall 

 upon the astronomers, who are accused of throwing back the commence- 

 ment of their era : for, taking the data of the Paurdnic tables, and allow- 

 ing, with them, 1015 years from Yudhisthira to Nanda ; and from 

 the latter prince to Puliman 836 years, (which name is identified with 

 Poulomien of the Chinese by Wilford, and placed in the year A. D. 

 648.) the highest estimate of the Bhdgavat gives 1857 B. C. for 

 the epoch of the Kaliyuga, instead of the 3101 assigned in the astro- 

 nomical works ; while in the Brahmdnda Purdna, it is brought down 

 to B. C. 1775 ; and in the Vdyu Purdna, toB. C. 1729. The Jains, 

 it is said, adopt the still more modern epoch of 1078 B. C. ; and if 

 Anjana of Crawfurd's Burmese chronology, founder of the sacred 

 epoch, be Arjuna, this contemporary of Yudhisthira is placed by 

 theBauddhas so late as 691 B. C. ! 



The Jains are generally also the most trust- worthy authorities for 

 the middle ages. To them it is asserted, that Abul Fazl is indebted 

 for the series of Bengal, Malwa, and other princes published in the 

 Ayin Akbery with every appearance of accurate detail. The Raja 

 Taringini of Cashmir also, the only Indian history of any antiquitv, 

 begins with Buddhist theogony. The Rdjdvali collection of genea- 

 logies is quite modern, having been compiled by Siwai Jaya Sinh 

 of Ambfr, in 1650. Neither that nor the native bards and chroniclers, 

 whence the valuable data for the more modern history of Hindustan 

 were furnished to Col. Tod for his Annals of Rajasthan, are to be 

 trusted when they trace the ancestry of their princes back, and strive 

 to connect them with the latter heroes of the Purdnas ; nor even to 

 the earlier centuries of the Christian era, in which we find hardly any 

 of their names confirmed either by grants, coins, or by the historians 

 of neighbouring countries. 



More authentic in every respect are the copper-plate grants, dug 

 up in many parts of India ; and the Sanscrit inscriptions on columns 

 and temples ; of which many have been decyphered and published, 

 although the subject is by no means yet exhausted. Owing to a 



