Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c14.s2.t2.1

c14.s2.t2.1

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