Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c11.4

c11.4

positive evidence to that effect Vidarbha, the country of the Bhojas, must have existed as a separate kingdom about that time For in the dramatic play of Mâlavikâgnimitra, the political events narrated in which may be accepted as historical, Agnimitra the son of Pushyamitra, the first king of the Śuṅga dynasty, who reigned in [15] the second and third quarters of the second century before Christ, is represented to have reigned at Vidiśâ, which I have before identified with Bhilsâ, probably as his father's viceroy He had made proposals of marriage with Mâlavikâ to her brother Mâdhavasena, the cousin of Yajñasena, king of Vidarbha Between these cousins there was a quarrel as regards the succession to the throne When Mâdhavasena was secretly on his way to Vidiśā, the general of Yajña-sena, posted on the frontier of the kingdom, captured him His counsellor Sumati and Mâlavikâ escaped, but Mâdhavasena was kept in custody Thereupon Agnimitra demanded of Yajñasena the surrender of Mâdhavasena Yajñasena promised to give him up on condition that his wife's brother, who was the counsellor of the last Maurya king and had been imprisoned by Agnimitra or his father Pushya-mitra, should be released This enraged Agnimitra, who thereupon sent an army against Yajñasena and vanquished him Mâdhavasena was released, and the country of Vidarbha was divided between the two cousins, each ruling over each side of the river Varadâ