479:70 Such appears to be the purport of our text. The nine Nágas might be thought to mean the same as the descendants of Śesha Nága, but the Váyu has another series here, analogous to that of the text: 'The nine Náka kings will possess the city Champávatí, and the seven Nágas (?) the pleasant city Mathura. Princes of the Gupta race will possess all these countries, the banks of the Ganges to Prayága and Sáketa and Magadhá.' p. 480 This account is the most explicit, and probably most accurate, of all. The Nákas were Rájás of Bhágalpur; the Nágas, of Mathura; and the intermediate countries along the Ganges were governed by the Guptas, or Rájás of the Vaiśya caste. The Bhágavata seems to have taken great liberties with the account, as it makes Viśwasphúrtti king over Anugangá, the course of the Ganges from Haridwar, according to the commentator, to Prayága, residing at Padmávatí: omitting the Nágas altogether, and converting 'gupta' into an epithet of 'medini,' the preserved or protected earth. Wilford considers the Nágas, Nákas, and Guptas to be all the same: he says, 'Then came a dynasty of nine kings, called the nine Nágas or Nágas; these were an obscure tribe, called for that reason Guptavanśas, who ruled in Padmávati.' That city he calls Patna; but in the Málati and Mádhava, Padmávatí lies amongst the Vindhya hills. Kántipuri he makes Cotwal, near Gwalior. The reading of the Váyu, Champávati, however, obviates the necessity of all vague conjecture. According to Wilford there is a powerful tribe still called Nákas between the Jamuna and the Betwa. Of the existence and power of the Guptas, however, we have recently had ample proofs from inscriptions and coins, as in the Chandragupta and Samudragupta of the Allatabad column; Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, March and June, 1834; and Kumáragupta, Chandragupta, Samudragupta, Śaśigupta, &c. on the Archer coins, found at Kanoj and elsewhere; As. Res. XVII. pl. 1. fig. 5, 7, 13, 19; and Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, Nov. 1835, pl. 38 and 39; and in other numbers of the same Journal: in all which, the character in which the legends are written is of a period prior to the use of the modern Devanagari, and was current in all probability about the fifth century of our era, as conjectured by Mr. Prinsep: see his table of the modifications of the Sanscrit alphabet from 543 B. C. to 1200 A. D. Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, March 1838.

480:71 The Váyu also mentions the descendants of Devarakshita or Daivarakshitas as kings of the Kośalas, Támralipta, and the sea coast; so far conforming with our text as to include the western parts of Bengal, Tamlook, Medinipur, and Orissa. One copy reads Andhra, perhaps for Od́ra, Orissa; and one has Champá for the capital, which is probably an error, although the two other MSS., being still more faulty, do not offer the means of correction.

480:72 The Váyu has the same. The countries are parts of Orissa and Berar.