Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12.s8.34

c12.s8.34

The fist Nanda left to his sons not only a big empire but also a large army and, if tradition is to be believed, a full exchequer and an efficient system of civil government. Curtius tells us that Agrammes, king of the Gangaridae and the Prasii, kept in the field for guarding the approaches to his country 20,000 cavalry and 200,000 infantry, besides 2,000 four-horsed chariots, and what was the most formidable force of all, a troop of elephants which, he said, ran up to the number of 3,000. Diodoros and Plutarch give similar accounts. But they raise the number of elephants to 4,000 and 6,000 respectively. The name of one of the generals, Bhaddasāla is preserved by Buddhist tradition.¹