Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s23.7

c11.s23.7

³ Ceylon legends contain two different statements—one that Aśoka killed ninety-nine brothers born of different mothers before becoming sovereign (MV. V 20 ; DV. VI 21—2) and the other that after his father's death he caused his eldest brother to be slain before seizing the sovereignty of Pushpapura, (MV. V. 40). The Divyāvadāna says that when Bindusāra, lying in his deathbed, wanted to anoint his son Susīma, his ministers substituted Aśoka in his place ; and when the dying monarch discovered the trick and became angry, Aśoka established his right by successfully calling upon the gods to give him the diadem if it was his by right. (p. 372—3). But elsewhere in the same work Aśoka speaks of his attaining sovereignty by killing his enemies (pp. 387, 400).