Historical Geography of Ancient India c9.221

c9.221

According to the *Bhagavatī Sūtra* Udayana of Sauvīradeśa was succeeded by his nephew Keśī in whose reign Vitahavya was completely ruined. He went to the extent of renouncing the world, but when the question of the succession of his son Abhi came before him, he said to himself: ‘If I renounce the world after appointing Abhi to royal power, then Abhi will be addicted to it and to the enjoyment of human pleasures. He will go on wandering in this world’. This led him to renounce the world appointing his sister’s son Keśī to royal power (pp. 619-20). It seems to be a case of the matriarchal system in vogue in Sauvīradeśa.