Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c14.s1.43

c14.s1.43

Reference has already been made to an Aramaic Inscription from Taxila which mentions the form *Priyadarśana*, a well-known epithet of Aśoka Maurya. But it is well to remember that in the *Mudrārākshasa Piadamsana* is used as a designation of Chandasiri or Chandragupta himself.² Further, in Rock Edict VIII of Aśoka, his ancestors, equally with himself, are styled *Devānaṁpiya*. It is, therefore, not unreasonable to conclude that, like his famous grandson, Chandragupta, too, was known as ‘Devānaṁpiya Piyadasi’ (or ‘Priyadarśana’), and it is not always safe to ascribe all epigraphs that make mention of Priyadarśana, irrespective of their contents, to Aśoka the Great.