Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c9.s2.t1.19

c9.s2.t1.19

It is interesting to note that two important sections of Indians who joined the army of Darius III fought under the banner of the satraps of Bactria and Arachosia. This possibly implies that their territories were committed to the charge of those two satrapies. The amalgamation of two, or even three, provinces is a feature of the administrative history of the later Achaemenids. Like the Daṇḍapanatasāmantas, mentioned in Kauṭiliyan Arthaśāstra, Indian lieges furnished contingents to the paramount power in the hour of its need. The great provincial satraps had the assistance of district officials or local potentates of the rank of nomarch and hyparch. A number of these functionaries are mentioned as ruling in the Kabul and Indus valleys on the eve of the Macedonian invasion of 326 B. C. Alexander did not meet with any Persian satrap after he crossed the Indus. But hyparchs and nomarchs were to be found as far as the Salt range. Some of the chiefs assumed the full insignia of sovereignty and even styled themselves Basileus or king. The hold of the Persian king and satraps had by this time grown very weak. Each petty principality or chiefship cherished "with a passionate tenacity its individual life and.. political ambition, making wars and alliances as the interest of the moment might dictate."