The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c24.s1.15

c24.s1.15

Pushyamitra determined to revive and celebrate with appropriate magnificence the antique Vedic rite of the horse-sacrifice (*aśvamedha*), which, according to immemorial tradition, could only be performed by a paramount sovereign, and involved as a preliminary a formal and successful challenge to all rival claimants to supreme power, delivered after this fashion:—