Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c30.20

c30.20

Much of the matter in Part II will perhaps be familiar to students of Indian history; but it has been arranged in a fresh and scholarly manner, while several important suggestions have been made on different questions. One or two of these may be cited as examples. On pp. 72-73 reasons are set forth for accepting the Ceylon tradition that Śiśunāga was later than Bimbisāra. The view recorded by Mahāmahopadhāya (*sic*) H. P. Śāstrī that the ultimate dismemberment of the Mauryan empire was due to a reaction promoted by the Brāhmanas, is vigorously controverted. Whatever other causes may have operated, and Professor Ray Chaudhuri undoubtedly lays his finger on more than one such, Brāhmanical influences cannot be ignored. The arguments used for holding that Demetrius,¹ rather than Menander, was the Yavana invader of the Madhyadeśa in the time of Puṣyamitra and that Simuka, the founder of the Sātavāhana dynasty, must be placed in the first century B.C., deserve careful consideration.