Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c9.s7.149

c9.s7.149

Between the Vatsas and the realm of Aṅga lived the Magadhas, then a comparatively weak people. A great struggle was going on between this kingdom and its great eastern neighbour.¹ The *Vidhura Paṇḍita Jātaka*² describes Rājagṛiha, the Magadhan capital, as a city of Aṅga while the *Mahābhārata* refers to a sacrifice which an Aṅga king probably performed at Gayā. These details may indicate that Aṅga succeeded in annexing Magadha. Its frontier thus approached the Vatsa Kingdom whose monarch's alarm may have been responsible for an attack on Champā. The Aṅga king preferred to have friendly relations with Kauśāmbī, possibly because he was threatened by the reviving power of Magadha. Śrī Harsha speaks of a ruler of Aṅga named Dṛiḍhavarman who gave his daughter in marriage to Udayana, son and successor of Śatānīka³ and secured his help in regaining his throne.