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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
THE KṚITA ERA This description suits Pushyamitra excellently, as he was a Brāhmaṇa, a supreme ruler, a righteous conqueror, and celebrated a horse sacrifice and re-established the Brahmanic religion. Nay, the account of the Kaliyuga preceding the advent of Kalki lays stress on the predominance of Buddhists and the Śūdras becoming the preachers exactly as is done by the Harivaṁśa, according to which this satte of things was ended by Sēnānī dvija, who, as shown by Jayaswal, cannot but be Pushyamitra. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that in the case of the Mahābhārata also, Pushyamitra is intended by the description of Kalki. The only difficulty that may be raised is that Kalki is spoken of as a personage to come. But Jayaswal has already told us that the Purāṇas “clearly say that he did flourish.’’1 Thus, the Matsyapurāṇa says that the Buddha was born as the ninth (avatāra) and that Kalki, Vishṇuyaśas, the leader of the Parāśaras will be the tenth incarnation at the close of the Kaliyaga. Then follows a description of his conquest, but, at the end, we are told that “Time having passed, that king (or god, dēva) disappeared.” This is exactly the conclusion which is forced upon the mind of the scholar who reads the Kalki-Purāṇa.2 This clearly shows that according to some authorities the Kakli incarnation of Vishṇu has come and gone. This means that the Kali Age also has passed away, giving rise to tha Kṛita, which is, therefore, now going on. If this line of reasoning has any weight, Pushyamitra becomes the inaugurator of the Kṛita Epoch which began with 57 B.C.
It is true that Pushyamitra has been assigned to circa 80 B.C. on the strength of the dynastic
lists and regnal periods specified by the Purāṇas. The testimony of the Purāṇas many perhaps
be utilised when there is nothing of an irrefragable character to contradict it.3 Unfortunately,
the recent discovery of a Śuṅga inscription in Ayōdhyā runs counter to the above date of
Pushyamitra. It refers to the reign of Dhanadēva, son of Phalgudēva and Kauśikī, who was
Lord of Kōsala. But the most important point about it is that Dhanadēva says that he was
sixth in descent from “Sēnāpati Pushyamitra, who twice performed the Aśvamēdha sacrifice.”
Now, N. G. Majumdar rightly says in regard to this epigraph that the alphabet is
“almost the same as in the records of the Northern Kshatrapas (first century A.D.).”4
Daya Ram Sahni, who edited this inscription last, also remarks that it “on palaeographical grounds must be assigned to about the first century A.D.”5 In fact, if any scholar
frees his mind from any bias created by the date already assigned to Pushyamitra on the
strength of the Purāṇas and considers impartially the palaeography of the Ayōdhyā inscription,
he cannot but come to the same conclusion viȥ., that the record belongs to the first century
A.D.6 We have seen that Dhanadēva was sixth in descent from Pushyamitra, and if we assign
25 years to a generation, an interval of 150 years must have separated the two. Further,
supposing Dhanadēva lived about 75 A.D., Pushyamitra has to be placed circa 75 B.C. It is
possible that he first seized power about this time, but he must have been engaged in internecine warfare for a pretty long period before he could put down the Mlēchchha rulers and
establish himself as an indisputable paramount sovereign. That he was engaged in warfare
for a long period is shown by the fact that he celebrated the horse sacrifice, not once, but twice.
The first horse sacrifice must have been celebrated after he first established his power. But it
1 Ind. Ant., Vol. XLVI, pp. 145-46.
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