Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c9.s2.t1.8

c9.s2.t1.8

Geographical factors exercised a controlling influence upon the history of the Land of the Five Rivers as on the rest of the country. The mountains on the west and the north that frown on the riparian plains afforded shelter to fighting clans, who turned every rocky eminence into a citadel of defence and braved the wrath of the mightiest conqueror of antiquity. The numerous streams and rivulets that intersect the plains made each doab or strip of territory between two sheets of water nourish centres of autonomous political life. The mighty Indus with its confluent streams at times promoted an opposite tendency. They served as highways for ambitious rulers who sought to compel the political molecules of the Punjab and Sind to submit to one controlling force. The story of the mineral and agricultural wealth of the country must have been carried by travellers and merchants beyond its border so as to reach the ears of the King of Kings who held his court at Susa and Ekbatana from the sixth to the fourth century B. C. The riches of India and the lack of political cohesion among the children of the soil invited invasion from outside. The existence of a centralised monarchy in Iran indicated the source from which it was to come.