The Greeks in Bactria and India c10.s2.19

c10.s2.19

That gives the end of the conquest; it remains to date the beginning a little more closely. The date given in the Purāṇas for the end of the Maurya dynasty, 184, has been generally accepted by historians of India;¹ that is the year in which Pushyamitra the Sunga, hereditary ruler of Vidiśā (East Malva) and general of the last Maurya king, assassinated his master and seized the vacant throne. Whether the Maurya dynasty had split into two lines and, if so, what were their relationships is too obscure a matter to warrant any deductions; we can only take 184, the year of Pushyamitra’s accession, as signifying the end of the Mauryan empire.² In the tradition (p. 177) Pushyamitra proceeded to make his power felt, first near the capital, and then at Sāgala (Sialkot) in the eastern Punjab, subsequently Menander’s capital, which must imply some intermediate steps; the Greeks then did not take Sāgala for an unknown period after 184, say two or three years at the least. On the other hand, there are reasons, which need not be anticipated here, for connecting Demetrius’ enterprise with the end of the Mauryan empire and the accession of a usurper in 184, a thing which fits very well with the dates already obtained for Demetrius; if then it be supposed that he crossed the Hindu Kush about 183 or 182, that date cannot be very far out. In any case, the whole of the events to be recorded down to the death of Demetrius (Chap. v) must lie between 184 and 167 as their terminal points.