Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c15.s2.94

c15.s2.94

² *Cf.* the events narrated on page 353 f. *ante*, and "Garga's" attack on the policy of so-called Dharmavijaya, "conquest conformable to Dharma" attributed to Śāliśūka, which, in the opinion of the present writer, is hard to dissociate from *Dhamma-Vijaya* as promulgated by Aśoka himself and recommended for adoption by his "sons and even great-grandsons." Attention to the passage in the *Gārgī Saṁhitā* was also drawn by Jayaswal (*JBORS*, IV, 261)—*sthāpayishyati mohātmā vijayaṁ nāma dhāmikaṁ*, "the fool will establish the so-called conquest of Dharma." The expression *mohātmā* reminds one of the later meaning of '*Devānaṁpiya*' (fool, idiot like a brute, beast, Apte, *Sanskrit-English Dictionary*, 510). An eminent writer takes Vijaya to be a proper name, the appellation of the elder brother of Śāliśūka, whom the latter established *on the throne*. But it is not clear why the enthronement of a righteous (*dhārmika*) man should earn for the person responsible for the action the opprobrious epithet *mohātmā*. Besides, Vijaya does not occur as a royal name in any of the lists of *later* Mauryas known to tradition. (For reference to divergent views see *Cal. Rev.*, Feb., 1943, p. 123 ff; Feb., 1946, p. 79 ff). As pointed out by Dr. Sircar, conjectural emendations of the text of the *Gārgī Saṁhitā* in support of a particular theory do not carry conviction (*Cal. Rev*, 1943, April, 39ff).