Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c11.s1.3

c11.s1.3

For the history of the period from Bimbisāra to Aśoka the writer of these pages cannot in some respects claim much originality. The subject has been treated by Rhys Davids and Smith, and a flood of new light has been thrown on particular dynasties by Geiger, Bhandarkar, Rapson, Jayaswal, Malalasekera, Jackson, Herzfeld, Hultzsch and others. Use has in some cases been made of the information contained in their works, and it has been supplemented with fresh data gathered mainly from epical, Jaina, Buddhist and classical sources. As instances it may be pointed out that attention to the name Haryaṅka, given to the Bimbisārid family by Aśvaghosha, was first drawn in these pages. The tradition recorded in the *Harsha-charita* and Jaina works regarding the tragic end of Śiśunāga’s line and origin of the Nandas has been collated with the evidence of the Graeco-Latin writers. Epic data have been used largely to illustrate the dawn of Magadhan ascendancy, locate tribes like the Kambojas and the Pulindas who figure in the Aśokan edicts, and to explain expressions like *stryadhyaksha*, *vihārayātrā*, ,*anusaṁyāna* etc. Old materials have also been presented in many cases in a new shape, and the author’s conclusions are often different from those of former writers.