Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c15.s2.77

c15.s2.77

¹ Note also the employment of Brāhmaṇa officers, *e.g.*, Pushyamitra, by the later Mauryas. Kalhaṇa has nothing but praise for Aśoka. Another Brāhmaṇa writer, Bāṇa, applies the epithet *anārya* (ignoble) not to the Maurya kings, but to the Brāhmaṇa general who overthrew the last of them. Viśākhadatta compares Chandragupta with the Boar Incarnation of Vishṇu. Certain epic and Purāṇic writers, it is true, refer to the Mauryas as *asuras*, and the *Gārgī-Saṁhitā* draws pointed attention to the oppressive rule of some of the later members of the family. But there is little to suggest that the Brāhmaṇas were special victims of Maurya tyranny. On the contrary, members of the class were freely admitted to high office as evidenced by the case of Pushyamitra. The epithet *asura* or *sura-dvish* was applied not only to the Mauryas but to all persons ‘beguiled by the Buddha.’ The testimony of the Purāṇas in this respect is contradicted by that of contemporary epigraphs which refer to Aśoka and the only one among his imperial descendants who has left any epigraphic record as *devānāṁpiya*, that is, the beloved (and not the enemy) of the gods.