Historical Geography of Ancient India c10.452

c10.452

It is with the kingdom of Vidiśā that the Śuṅgas are especially associated in literature and inscriptions.¹ The *Mālavikāgnimitra* refers to the love of Agnimitra, king of Vidiśā and a viceroy of his father Puṣyamitra,² for Mālavikā, a princess of Vidarbha (Berar) living at his court in disguise. There was a war in 170 B.C. between Vidiśā and Vidarbha in which the former was victorious. Mādhavasena, a cousin of Yajñasena and a partisan of Agnimitra, was arrested and kept in custody of Yajñasena's warden when the former was on his way to Vidiśā. This led the Śuṅga monarch Agnimitra to ask Virasena to attack Vidarbha. Yajñasena was defeated and the kingdom of Vidarbha was divided between the two cousins.³ After ruling Vidiśā as his father's viceroy, Agnimitra was his successor as suzerain for eight years.⁴ The king at Vidiśā was the son of Kāśī, i.e., a princess from Benares.⁵ The Śuṅgas ruled originally as feudatories of the Mauryas at Vidiśā.⁶ Both Puṣyamitra and Agnimitra belonged to Vidiśā.