38 Verification of the Itinerary of H wan Thsang [July, 



Guptas. This it not the place for the discussion of all the points bear- 

 ing upon this period of history. It will be sufficient to mention here 

 only a few of the dates established by this discovery for the further 

 verification of the truth of the Chinese Pilgrim's narrative. As the 

 Balabhi era began in A. D. 319, Chandra Gupta's date of 79f is equi- 

 valent to A. D. 398f. Skanda Gupta's death took place in 133 -f- 319 

 = 452 A. D., and Budha Gupta was reigning in 165 -f- 319 = 484 

 A. D. Now, according to Ma-twan-lin, Siladitya died between the 

 years 642 and 648, say in 645 A. D. and as Hwan Thsang says that he 

 reigned 60 years, his accession must be dated in A. D. 585. We have 

 thus a period of 101 years to be divided between the three reigns of 

 Takata Gupta, Baladitya and Vajra, together with the latter portion of 

 Budha Gupta's reign, that is between nearly few reigns, which yields the 

 natural term of somewhat more than 25 years for each reign. For the 

 period between 452 A. D. the date of Skanda's death, and 480 A. D. 

 the probable period of Budha' s accession, or for 28 years, we have the 

 reigns of Deva Gupta, of the Asirgarh inscription, and Lagraditya of 

 Hwan Thsang. Thus from A. D. 452 to 585 we have six Princes 

 amongst whom to divide a period of 1 33 years ; which gives an average 

 of rather more than 22 years for each reign. But this average will be 

 lessened by adding the two reigns of Kumara and Skanda : for as 

 Chandra Gupta was reigning in A. D. 428 we may safely assume A. D. 

 430 as the period of Kumara's accession. We thus have A. D. 430 — 

 585 =155 years, to be divided between 8 Princes, which yield upwards 

 of 19 years for each reign, — a natural term within the limits of the 

 European averages.) 



From Lo-yin-ni-la (or Rohinala) to the E. amongst great moun- 

 tains and forests at 200 li (34 miles) to 



No. 78, Yi-lan-nu-po-fa-to, 3000 li (500 miles) in extent. The 

 capital is situated on the Ganges, and near it is Mount Yi-lan-nu, 

 which vomits forth smoke so as to darken both the sun and the 

 moon. (The bearing and distance point to the Fort of Mongir, but the 

 Chinese syllables seem to represent the Sanskrit Hirana-parvata, or 

 " red-hill," a name which may have been applied to it on account of the 

 flames which must have burst forth occasionally along with the smoke 

 mentioned by Hwan Thsang. The existence of two hot springs, the 

 Sita-kund and the Raki-kund, within a few miles of Mongir, shows that 



