The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c30.44

v1.c30.44

The fate of the fourth king in the list, Vasumitra or Sumitra, who as a youthful prince guarded the sacrificial horse and defeated the Yavanas, is told in the Harshacharita: ‘Sumitra, son of Agnimitra, being over fond of the drama, was attacked by Mitradeva in the midst of actors, and with a scimitar shorn, like a lotus stalk, of his head’¹. Who Mitradeva was we can only conjecture; but it seems not improbable that he may have been the king’s minister and a Kaṇva Brāhman of the same family as Vasudeva, who is said to have brought about the fall of the dynasty through the assassination of the last king Devabhūti. It may be that we have here an indication of the growth of that influence, which so often in Indian history has transferred the real power in the state from the prince to the minister, from the Kshatriya to the Brāhman.