XXXI
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period of about 3500 years- Kalhana was the son of" Champaka and was by birth a brahmin of Kashmir. His father was a fervent worshipper of the Tirthas of Nandik-shetra and was in life a loyal official of the court of King Harsha. Rewrote the introduction to his work in 1148-A. D. Kalhana's account of Kashmir begins in 628 of the-Laukika era and ends with 4203- The first book forms the narrative of the Gonanda dynasty and embraces an> interval of 2233 years and the rest of the work describes the history of five successive dynasties ending with the reign of Jayasimha. Kalhana's account is a purely poetical' amplification of the text of the Nilamata. In judging of the * story of Gonanda and his descendants as told in the latter,,, there is a deliberate attempt made to connect special Kashmirian - legends With those of India proper and particularly the Mahabharata. The true value of the alleged connection between the story of Gonanda and th§ Great War can thus be easily estimated. Yet it is th$ imaginary synchronism with a legendary event, which Kalhana has chosen as the fundamental datum for his chronological system. For he derives 653 Kali as the initial year of Gonanda rule from the traditional date of the coronation of Yudhisthira,
It cannot be disputed that Kalhana's work has in ifc many stones of a legendary character and the basis of his ^chronology is founded on slippery tradition* The radical -Indian scholar, however, argues for Kalhana and the authenticity of his record* He says, modern scholars-start with the axiom that Kanishka ruled about 78 A. D,,,speech peculiar to a class of religionists or a sacred language, and its use in the edicts of Piyadasi, although-incompatible with their Buddhistic origin, cannot be accepted as a conclusive proof that they originated from & | peculiar form of religious belief." The mention of thev