Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12.s8.21

c12.s8.21

The Purāṇas call Mahāpadma, the first Nanda king, the destroyer of all the Kshatriyas (*sarva Kshatrāntaka*) and the sole monarch (*ekarāṭ*) of the earth which was under his undisputed sway, which terms imply that he finally overthrew all the dynasties which ruled contemporaneously with the Saiśunāgas, *viz*., the Ikshvākus, Pañchālas, Kāśis, Haihayas, Kaliṅgas, Aśmakas, Kurus, Maithilas, Sūrasenas, Vītihotras,¹ etc. The Jainas, too, allude to the wide dominion of Nanda.² The Indian account of the unification of a considerable portion of India under Nanda's sceptre is corroborated by several classical writers who speak of the most powerful peoples who dwelt beyond the 'extensive deserts' (apparently of Rājputāna and some adjoining tracts) in the time of Alexander, *viz.*, the Prasii (Prāchyas) and the Gangaridae (people of the lower Ganges Valley) as being under one sovereign who had his capital at Palibothra (Pāṭaliputra).³