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Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c14.s2.t2: Bindusāra's Family

Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c14.s2.t2

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Bindusāra's Family

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Bindusāra had many children besides Aśoka, the son who succeeded him on the throne. We learn from a passage of the Fifth Rock Edict in which the duties of the *Dharma-mahāmātras*³ are described, that Aśoka had many brothers and sisters. The *Divyāvadāna* mentions two of these brothers, namely, Susīma and Vigataśoka.⁴ The Ceylonese Chronicles seem also to refer to these two princes though under different names, calling the former Sumana and the latter Tishya. Susīma-Sumana is said to have been the eldest son of Bindusāra and a step-brother of Aśoka, while Vigataśoka-Tishya is reputed to have been the youngest son of Bindusāra and a co-uterine brother of Aśoka, born of a Brāhmaṇa girl from Champā.⁵ Hiuen Tsang mentions a brother of Aśoka named Mahendra. Ceylonese tradition, however, represents the latter as a son of Aśoka. It is possible that the Chinese pilgrim has confounded the story of Vigataśoka with that of Mahendra.⁶

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³ "High Officers for the Establishment and Propagation of the Law of Duty."

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⁴ Pp. 369-73; Smith, *Aśoka* 3rd ed., pp. 247 ff.

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⁵ According to R. L. Mitra (*Sanskrit Buddhist Literature of Nepal*, 8) and Smith the name of Aśoka's mother was Subhadrāṅgī. Bigandet II' 128 mentions Dhammā as the mother of Aśoka and Tissa.

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⁶ *Cf.* Smith, *Aśoka*, 3rd ed, p. 257.

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Bindusāra died after a reign of 25 years according to the *Purāṇas*, and 27 or 28 years according to Buddhist tradition.¹ According to the chronology adopted in these pages bis reign terminated about 273 B.C.²

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¹ Hultzsch points out (p. xxxii) that Burmese tradition assigns 27 years to Bindusāra, while Buddhaghosha's *Samanta-pāsādikā* agrees with the *Mahāvaṁsa* in allotting 28 years to that king.

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² *Cf.* Smith, *Aśoka*, p. 73.

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