The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c24.111

v1.c24.111

In order to understand the situation we must consider what the consequences of a triumph of this kind must have been. Under the Nandas and the Mauryas Magadha had established a suzerainty which passed by conquest to the first Çuṅga king, Pushyamitra, and was solemnly proclaimed by his performance of the 'horse-sacrifice' (*açvamedha*)². This suzerainty, and with it the proud title of *chakravartin*, 'universal monarch,' was contested successfully by the Andhra king who, as is known from the Nānāghāt inscription of his queen, Nāganikā, celebrated the Açvamedha on two occasions³; and, as we have seen (p. 302), there is good reason for believing that the genealogies preserved in the Purāṇas have their origin in the proclamation of the king's lineage which accompanied the performance of this sacrifice.