Political History Of Ancient India

SR No.: 032292
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hemchandra Raychaudhari
Publisher: University of Calcutta
Publication Year: 1950
Total Pages: 714
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

Page 131

102 POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA connected with Para Ātņāra ( Āhlāra ), the KosalaVidehan king,, mentioned in a gāthā (song) occurring in the Satapatha Brāhmana' and the Sanlchāyana Srauta sutra, as well as a passage of Jaiminīya Upanishad Brāhmaṇa. The gāthā as quoted in the Satapatha Brāhmaṇa gives to Para the patronymic 'Hairanyanābha,' while the Srauta Sūtra identifies Para with Hiranyanābha himself. It is difficult to say whether the original gātha extolling the deeds of Para Ātņāra (Ahlāra) gave to that conqueror the name 'Hiraṇyanābha' or the patronymic ‘Hairanyanābha. The Satapatha Brālimana is the older of the two works mentioning the prince's exploits and is, therefore, more likely to preserve the original text than the sūtra. According to the Praśna Upanishal, Hiranyavābha, the father, was a contemporary of Sukešā Bhārad vāja,“ who was himself a contemporary of Kausalya Āśvalāyana. If it be true, as seems probable, that Āśvalāyana of Kosala is identical with Assalāyana of Sāvatthi mentioned in the Majjhima Nikāya as a contemporary of Gotama Buddha, he must be placed in the sixth century B. C. Consequently Hiranyanābha, and his son, Hairanyanābha too, must have flourished in that century.
Some of the later princes of thc Purāṇic list, e. g., Śākya, Suddhodana, Siddhārtha, Rāhula and Prasenajit, are mentioned in Buddhist texts. The exact relations of Hiraṇyanābha (and Hairanyavābha) with Prasenajit, who also flourished in the sixth century B. C., are not known. The Purāṇic chroniclers make Hiraṇyanābha an ancestor of Prasenajit, but are not sure about his position in the dynastic list. Further they refer to
1 XIII. 5. 4. 4. Atnārasya Parah putro'śvain medhyamabandhayat
Hairanyanābhah Kausalyo diśah pūrņā amanhata (iti). 2 XVI. 9. 13.
3 II. 6.
4 VI. 1. 5 Praśna, I. 1.
6 II. 147 et seq.
7 AIHT., 173.