The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c13.10

c13.10

of which acknowledged their suzerainty. The coins and inscriptions which bear the name of a Śuṅga as well as another name clearly bring out the feudal relationship. Bhārhut in Central India, Kauśāmbī, Pañcāla and probably Mathurā were among the feudatory states.¹ The Hāthīgumphā Inscription refers to the frightened "kings" of the Uttarāpatha and supports the same conclusion.² All through this period there are some non-monarchical feudatories in the Puñjāb and modern Rājputānā, such as the Yaudheyas, Ārjunāyanas and Udumbaras. The coins of the first two date from a period as early as the first century B.C.³ The tradition preserved in Kālidāsa that Vasumitra, grandson of Puṣyamitra, was accompanied by a hundred royal princes in his campaigns is another evidence of feudalism.⁴ A Śuṅga inscription says that the Senāpati Puṣyamitra performed two sacrifices.⁵ It appears that the Śuṅga ruler revived the Rājasūya, imposed his suzerainty on surrounding principalities and only then received formal consecration and titles of royalty. The traditions dramatised by Kālidāsa in his Mālavikāgnimitra about the 4th or 5th century A.D. fully accord with epigraphic testimony and prove that until the completion of the sacrifice Puṣyamitra styled himself only Senāpati. He is said to have written to his son, "May it be well with thee! From the sacrificial enclosure the commander-in-chief sends this message to his son Agnimitra, who is in the territory of Vidiśā,"⁶ affectionately embracing him.