Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12.s8.25

c12.s8.25

Pliny informs us¹ that the Prasii surpass in power and glory every other people in all India, their capital being Palibothra (Pāṭaliputra), after which some call the people itself Palibothri, nay, even the whole tract of the Ganges. The author is referring probably to conditions in the time of the Mauryas, and not in that of the Nandas. But the greatness that the Prasii (*i.e.* the Magadhans and some other eastern peoples) attained in the Maurya Age would hardly have been possible but for the achievements of their predecessors of which we have a record by the historians of Alexander. The inclusion of the Ikshvāku territory of Kosala within Nanda's dominions seems to be implied by a passage of the *Kathā-sarit-sāgara*² which refers to the camp of king Nanda in Ayodhyā. Several Mysore inscriptions state that Kuntala, a province which included the southern part of the Bombay presidency and the north of Mysore, was ruled by the Nandas.³ But these are of comparatively modern date, the twelfth century, and too much cannot be built upon their statements. More important is the evidence of the Hāthigumphā inscription which mentions the constructive activity of Nandarāja in Kaliṅga and his conquest (or removal) of some place (or sacred object) in that country. In view of Nanda's control over parts of Kaliṅga, the conquest of Aśmaka and other regions lying further south does not seem to be altogether improbable. The existence on the Godāvarī of a city called "Nau Nand Dehra" (Nander)⁴ also suggests that the Nanda dominions may have embraced a considerable portion of the Deccan.