Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/282

244 THE KUSHAN OR INDO- SCYTHIAN DYNASTY tory tribes subject to Iranian influence, rather than a regular attack by a Persian king. So much, however, is clear that Vasudeva was the last Kushan king who continued to hold extensive terri- tories in India. After his death there is no indication of the existence of a paramount power in Northern India. Probably numerous rajas asserted their inde- pendence and formed a number of short-lived states, such as commonly arise from the ruins of a great Ori- ental monarchy; but historical material for the third century is so completely lacking that it is impossible to say what or how many those states were. The period was evidently one of extreme confusion, associated with foreign invasions from the northwest, which is reflected in the muddled statements of the Vishnu Purana concerning the Abhiras, Gardabhilas, Sakas, Yavanas, Bahlikas, and other outlandish dynas- ties named as the successors of the Andhras. The dynasties thus enumerated were clearly to a large extent contemporary, not consecutive, and none of them could claim paramount rank. It seems to be quite^hope- less to attempt to reduce to order the Puranic accounts of this anarchical period, and nothing would be gained by quoting a long list of names, the very forms of which are uncertain. Coins indicate that the Kushans held their own in the Panjab and Kabul for a long time. It is certain that the Kushan Kings of Kabul continued to be a con- siderable power until the fifth century, when they were overthrown by the White Huns. At the beginning of