Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c19.s4.17
Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c19.s4.17
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c19.s4.17
The assumption of big titles¹ by kings and emperors was paralleled by the use of equally exalted epithets in reference to their chief consorts. Aśoka's queens appear to have been styled merely *Devī*. The mother of Tīvara, for instance, is called "*Dutīā Devī*" (the second queen) and the implication is that the elder queen was *Prathamā Devī*. But in the Scythian epoch we come across the titles of *Agra-Mahishī* and *Mahādevī* which distinguished the chief queen from her rivals. Among such chief consorts may be mentioned Ayasi-Kamuia, Nāganikā, and Balaśrī.