[paragraph continues] The other two authorities give the years of each dynasty severally. The numbers are apparently intended to be the same, but those of the Matsya are palpable blunders, although almost all the MSS. agree in the reading. The chronology of the Váyu is, Ábhíras, 67 years; Garddabhins, 72; Śakas, 380; Yavanas, 82; Tusháras, 500 (all the copies of the Matsya have 7000); Marúńd́as, 200; and Mlechchhas, intending perhaps Maunas, 300 yrs. Total 1601 years, or less than 19 years to a reign. They are not however continuous, but nearly cotemporary dynasties; and if they comprise, as they probably do, the Greek and Scythian princes of the west of India, the periods may not be very wide p. 476 of the truth. The Matsya begins the list with one more dynasty, another Andhra (see n. 39), of whom there were seven: 'When the dominion of the Andhras has ceased, there shall be seven other Andhras, kings of the race of their servants; and then nine Ábhíras.' The passage of the Váyu, although somewhat similar in terms, has a different purport: 'Of these, the Andhras having passed away, there shall be seven cotemporary races; as, ten Ábhíras,' &c. The passage is differently read in different copies, but this is the only intelligible reading. At the same time it subsequently specifies a period for the duration of the Andhra dynasty different from that before given, or three hundred years, as if a different race was referred to: 'The Andhras shall possess the earth two hundred years and one hundred.' The Matsya has twice five hundred: 'The Śríparvatíya Andhras twice five hundred years.' One MS. has more consistently fifty-two years. But there is evidently something faulty in all the MSS. The expression of the Matsya, 'Śríparvatíya Andhras,' is remarkable; Śríparvat being in Telingana. There is probably some confusion of the two races, the Magadhá and Tailinga kings, in these passages of the Puráńas. The Bhágavata has a dynasty of seven Andhra kings, but of a different period (see n. 39). Col. Wilford has attempted a verification of these dynasties; in some instances perhaps with success, though certainly not in all. The Ábhíras he calls the shepherd kings of the north of India: they were more probably Greeks or Scythians or Parthians, along the lower Indus: traces of the name occur, as formerly observed, in the Abiria of Ptolemy, and the Áhírs as a distinct race still exist in Guzerat. Araish Mehfil. The Śakas are the Sacæ, and the duration of their power is not unlikely to be near the truth. The eight Yavana kings may be, as he supposes, Greek princes of Bactria, or rather of western India. The Tusháras he makes the Parthians. If the Bhágavata has the preferable reading, Tushkáras, they were the Tochari, a Scythian race. The Murúńd́as, or, as he has it, Maurúńd́as, he considers to be a tribe of Huns, the Morundæ of Ptolemy. According to the Matsya they were of Mlechchha origin, Mlechchha-sambhava. The Váyu calls them Arya-mlechchhas; quere, Barbarians of Ariana. Wilford regards the Maunas as also a tribe of Huns; and the word is in all the MSS. of the Matsya, Húńas; traces of whom may be still found in the west and south of India. Inscription at Merritch. Journ. R. As. vol. III. p. 103. The Garddabhins Wilford conjectures to be descendants of Bahram Gor, king of Persia; but this is very questionable. That they were a tribe in the west of India may be conjectured, as some strange tales prevail there of a Gandharba, changed to an ass, marrying the daughter of the king of Dhár. As. Res. VI. 35, and IX. 147; also 'Cutch' by Mrs. Postans, p. 18: fables suggested no doubt by the name Garddabha, signifying an ass. There is also p. 477 evidently some affinity between these Garddabhins and the old Gadhia Pysa, or ass-money, as vulgarly termed, found in various parts of western India, and which is unquestionably of ancient date. Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, Dec. 1835, p. 688. It may be the coinage of the Garddabha princes; Garddabla, being the original of Gadha, meaning also an ass. I have elsewhere conjectured the possibility of their being current about a century and a half before our era. Journ. R. As. Soc. vol. III. 385. Col. Tod, quoting a parallel passage in Hindi, reads, instead of Garddhabhin, Gor-ind, which he explains the Indras or lords of Gor; but the reading is undoubtedly erroneous.