The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c18.174

c18.174

Nothing is recorded concerning the internal policy of Bindusāra, whose reign lasted for twenty-five years, according to the Purāṇas, nor is any monument or inscription of his time known. But there is reason to believe that he continued his father's career of annexation and conquest within the borders of India, as indicated by his title or secondary name of Amitraghāta. The limits of the empire ruled by Asoka, son and successor of Bindusāra, are known with sufficient accuracy, and it is certain that his dominions, including semi-independent protectorates, extended southwards to about the latitude of Nellore (14° 27′ N.) and included the northern districts of Mysore.² The country south of the Narbadā cannot have been conquered by Asoka, whose only known annexation was that of the kingdom of Kalinga, on the coast of the Bay of Bengal, unless the conquest took place in the early years of his reign, about which we possess no information. The twenty-four years of the reign of Chandragupta seem to be fully occupied with the great events known to have been crowded into them. It is difficult to believe that he could have found time to do more than climb from obscurity to power, expel the Macedonian garrisons, repel the attack of Seleukos, effect a revolution and establish a dynasty at Pātaliputra, annex a large part of Ariāna, and extend his dominion from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea.