Figures of specimens-12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 38, 39, 40, 43,145. The size of the figures is anout one-ninth of the specimens, Figures of specimens-11, 14, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 42. The size of the figures is about one-ninth of the specimens. V.-The Empire of Bindusara. By K. P. Jayaswal, M.A. (Oxon.), Barrister-at-Law. THE only matters which are generally known up to this time about Emperor Bindusara are-(1) that at his court Megasthenes was succeeded by Deimachos and that he made a friendly requisition on Antiochos Soter, king of Syria, to send him a professor, some figs and some raisin wine; * (2) that his epithet was something like Amitraghāta ; † (3) and that he was succeeded by Asoka who added only Kalinga to the empire left by the former. But there are some data unnoticed hitherto, which, I think, Fresh data. render the figure of the emperor less 'shadowy'. The data prove (1) that Bindusāra continued the process of the unification of India after his great father Chandragupta; (2) that in this undertaking he, like his father, had the help of the counsel of the Chancellor Kautilya § (Chānakya); (3) that this Mauryan Bismarck, before his death, saw the imperial system much extended: all the land between the 'Western and the Eastern oceans', comprising about 16 capitals, was brought under the imperial control; * Probably in the days of Pindusara the raisin wine, the favourite Madhu of the Hindus, was imported generally from the North-Western Provinces of Kapisa and Arachosis. मृदोकारसो मधु । तस्य स्वदेशो व्याख्यानम् कापिशायनम् TıṣafĦfa | Artha-Sastra, page 120, "Raisin-juice is the Madhu. Its gramfufa रहरक place of origin is (denoted by) its name the Kapisayana (' one which has its home in Kapisa') the Haraharaka [the Arachosian]." Bindusara seems to have preferred the Persian manufacture. Cf. also Kalidasa, Raghu, IV, 6. + According to Dr. Fleet Amitra-khada (J. R. A. S., 1909, p. 24); contra Keith, ibid., 423 et seq. Early History of India (1908), p. 140. § A note on Chanakya: He was son of Chanaka (Telang's Mudra-Rakshasa, Upodghata, 48, 49), who was a follower of the Ausanasa School of Politics and was himself author of a treatise on politics, and who had also thoroughly studied Jyotisha. Chanakya, whose personal name was Vishnugupta, knew all the law (4) that the administration of Bindusara and Chanakya was vigorous, marked with a stern policy in new annexations; (5) that the success was mainly attributed to the policy of the Chancellor whose capacity greatly impressed the popular mind; and (6) that the Chancellor died of some painful disease in the reign of Bindusāra. All these data which are quite in consonance with the preceding and the succeeding chapters of Mauryan history are to be found in Taranatha's History of Buddhism in India. In the beginning of Chapter XVIII, Taranatha says that Chandragupta's son Bindusara, born in the land of Gauda, ruled for 35 (a mistake for the Puranic 25) years. "The minister and Brahman Chanakya had his mantra (policy) made very powerful " by having pleased and controlled the God of Death (Yamantaka) himself!" He destroyed kings and ministers of about 16 capitals and made the king undertake a war and brought all the land between the Eastern and Western oceans under his control." Then follows a passage marked with and was a Srotriya (ibid). The Kautilyas descended from the Yaskas who belonged to the family of the Bhrigus (Gotra pravara-nibandha, Mysore 1900, p. 32). Kaut ili was another Gotra connected with the same stock (ibid., p. 42). According to the colophon to the Artha-sastra, Chanakya had fought against the Nanda. [येन शस्त्र च] शास्त्र' च नन्दराजगता च भूः । श्रमर्षे यो तानि, p. 429]. According to Buddhist writers he was a Brahmin from Taxila. "Darauf herschte der im Lande Gaura geborene Sohn Tschandragupta's Namens Bindusara 35 Yahre. Der Minister und Brahmane Tschanakya bannte herbei den groszornigen Jamantaka, nachdem er Sein Antlitz erblickt, wurde die Macht der Mantra Sehr gross. Durch Werke der Bezanberung toedtete or in etwa 16 staedten die Koenige und Minister, und als in Folge dessen der Koenig einen Kriegszug unternahm, brachte er das zewischen dem oestlichen und Westlichen ocean belegene Land in Seine gewalt." Schiefner, p. 89. Da toedtete dieser Brahmane durch "Verschiedene Hinrichtungs-Vorkeh rungen 3000 Menschen, durch Bettubungsmittel bethoerte er 10,000 Menschen; ferner vertrich, entzweite er, machte starr und stumm u. s. w. In Folge der Suende vielen Menschen geschadet zu haben, starb er an einer Krankheit, durch welche der Koerper in Theile Zerfiel und Wurde in def hoello Wieder-geboren." Ibid. |