The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c26.s1.6

c26.s1.6

But it is certain that the unity of the empire did not survive Asoka, and that when the influence of his dominating personality ceased to act, the outlying provinces shook off their allegiance and set up as independent states; of some of which the history has been told in the last preceding chapter. The regions of the north-western frontier, when no longer protected by the arm of a strong paramount native power in the interior, offered a tempting field to the ambition of the Hellenistic princes of Bactria and Parthia, as well as to the cupidity of the warlike races on the border, which was freely exploited by a succession of invaders. This chapter will be devoted, so far as the very imperfect materials available permit, to a sketch of the leading events in the annals of the Panjāb and trans-Indus provinces from the close of Asoka’s reign to the establishment of the Indo-Scythian, or Kushān, power. Dates, it will be understood, are uncertain.