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The Mauryan Polity c10.s1.t3: Under Aśoka

The Mauryan Polity c10.s1.t3

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Under Aśoka

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We have both literary and epigraphical evidence, as we shall see subsequently, to show that the government of the provinces was an accomplished fact under Aśoka. That the wealthy city of Taxila⁵ continued to be the capital of the uttarapatha or the northern province is evident from the *Divyāvadāna*. We hear of a similar rising of the citizens under Aśoka when he sent his son Kunāla as governor.¹ Viewed from the present geographical situation, Taxila was the ancient Headquarters of the North-Western Province which probably included the Punjab, Sind, the country beyond the Indus, and Kāṣmir. Besides this, there were certainly three more provinces whose respective capitals were Ujjaini (modern Ujjain in the Gwālior state), Tosāli and Suvarṇagiri. The latter was probably the headquarters of the southern provinces beyond the Nerbudda river.² The jurisdiction of the governor of Tosāli extended to the eastern provinces including the Kaliṅga country. Ujjain was the capital of the western provinces which included Mālva, Gujarat, and Kathiawar.³ According to an inscription of Rudradāman, Girnār continued to be the capital of one of the provinces of Aśoka, under whom the governor was the Yavana chief Tuṣaspha.⁴ Other cities which were seats of government

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⁵ That Taxila was one of the richest cities when Aśoka ascended the throne, Cunningham mentions on the authority of Burnouf's "Introduction a' l'histoire de Buddhisme Indien" (p. 373). The passage is taken from his Ancient Geography of India. "At the time of Aśoka's

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¹ Pp. 407-408.

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² Suvarṇagiri Dr. W. Geiger identified with a mountain of that name near Girivraja in Magadha (*Mahāvaṃśa*, Intro., p. xxvii). It is now identified with Kanakagiri in the Nizam's dominions, south of Māski, famous for an Edict of Aśoka. (See *Hyderabad Arch. Series No. 1*, p. 1. Hultzsch, *Aśoka*, Intro., p. xxxviii: Bühler, Ep. Ind. III, p. 134-ff.

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³ See *Early History of India*, p. 172.

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⁴ *Ep Ind.*, VIII, pp. 46-47.

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accession the wealth of Taxila is said to have amounted to 36 kotis or 360 millions of some unnamed coin, which, even if it was the silver tangka or six pence, would have amounted to nine crores of rupees, or £9,000,000. It is probable, however, that the coin intended by the Indian writer was a gold one, in which case the wealth of this city would have amounted to about 90 or 100 millions of pounds." This statement goes to prove the reputed wealth of Taxila within fifty years after Alexander's expedition.

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nors were Samāpa (Jaugaḍa) and Kauśāmbi, the modern Kośam in the west of the Magadha province.¹

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¹ See Kauśāmbi Pillar Edict of Allahabad-Kośam (Hultzsch, pp. 159-160). Also Cunningham's Inscriptions of Aśoka, p. 39.

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