The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c7.s6.17

v1.c7.s6.17

Pushyamitra halted the warlike inroads of the Greeks in the Madhyamikā country and rescued the capital, Pāṭaliputra, from any immediate danger. He plunged into the work of fully preparing the country to repel the foreigner. But in the meanwhile, indirect and unexpected help came his way from the side of a new power, that of the Chetis of Kaliṅga. Khāravela’s heroic exploits, recorded in his Hāthigumphā inscription, included a war with the Yavana Dimita in the eighth regnal year of that king. A dreadful war had broken out in the Greeks’ own country.⁴ The two houses of Euthydemos and Eucratides were at grips with each other. With a civil war at home, and with the great Khāravela out for a decisive struggle with the Greeks, Dimita or Demetrios preferred retreat to the uncertainties of armed conflict. The great danger to India passed for the time.