The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c30.72

v1.c30.72

By c. 72 B.C., according to the chronology of the Purāṇas, the dynasty of the Çuṅgas had come to an end. In the present state of Indian archaeology it seems impossible to trace the extension of the rule of those kings of Vidiçā who reigned after Pushyamitra beyond the region in which the Jumna and the Ganges meet, i.e. the ancient kingdom of the Vatsas (Kauçāmbī) and the present district of Allahābād. The investigation of ancient sites may no doubt some day throw light on the contemporary history of the countries which lay to the north and east of Kauçāmbī—Kosala (Oudh), Videha (N. Bihār), Kāçī (Benares), Magadha (S. Bihār), and Aṅga (Monghyr and Bhāgalpur); but the available evidence is not sufficient to enable us to determine whether the kingdoms in these countries were still united under one sovereignty, as in the time of Açoka, or whether they had become independent. Kosala is represented by coins of this period which are found on the site of Ayodhyā; but from these little information can be gleaned at present. They represent a line of about ten kings, of whom nothing is known but their names (Pl. V, 11, Āryamitra; 12, Mūladeva)¹. A king of Magadha and a king of Rājagṛiha are also mentioned in the inscription of Khāravela; but whether the former was still a powerful suzerain at this time, and whether the latter was anything more than a local prince ruling over the old capital of Magadha must remain doubtful until more definite evidence can be discovered (p. 537). The history of the famous kingdom of Magadha, once the centre of the empire, becomes utterly obscure. That for some time Pushyamitra continued to occupy the imperial throne which he had seized is a natural inference from those passages of the literature in which he is mentioned in connexion with Pāṭaliputra; but that he was able to hold it to the end, and to hand it down to his successors is at present not capable of proof. No certain traces of the later Çuṅgas or of their feudatories have yet been found in the region of Magadha.