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Magadhan Empire

The Magadhan Empire was an ancient Indian empire that succeeded the Magadha Mahajanapada. It was established by Bimbisara[2] in 544 BC. It was ruled by the Haryankas (544–413 BCE), the Shaishunagas (413–345 BCE), the Nandas (345–322 BCE), the Mauryas (322–184 BCE), the Śungas (184–73 BCE), the Kanvas (73–28 BCE).[3]

Magadhan Empire
544 BC – 28 BC
Expansion of the Magadhan Empire between 544 BC AND 28 BC
Expansion of the Magadhan Empire between 544 BC AND 28 BC
CapitalRajagriha (Girivraj)
Later, Pataliputra (modern-day Patna)
Common languagesSanskrit[1]
Magadhi Prakrit
Ardhamagadhi Prakrit
Religion
Brahmanism (later Hinduism)
Buddhism
Jainism
Demonym(s)Māgadhī
GovernmentAbsolute monarchy[a]
Notable emperors 
• c. 544 – c. 492 BCE
Bimbisara
• c. 492 – c. 460 BCE
Ajatashatru
• c. 413 – c. 395 BCE
Shishunaga
• c. 345 – c. 329 BCE
Mahapadma Nanda
• c. 329 – c. 321 BCE
Dhana Nanda
• c. 321 – c. 297 BCE
Chandragupta Maurya
• c. 268 – c. 232 BCE
Ashoka
• c. 185 – c. 149 BCE
Pushyamitra Shunga
CurrencyPanas
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Magadha
Principality of Pataliputra
Satavahana dynasty
Vidarbha kingdom
Today part of

Under the Mauryas, Magadha became a pan-Indian empire, covering large swaths of the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan. The Kanva dynasty lost much of its territory after being defeated by the Satavahanas of Deccan in 28 BCE and was reduced to a small principality around Pataliputra.[4][5]

History

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Early expansion under Bimbisara and Ajatshatru

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Main articles: Haryanka dynasty, Shishunaga dynasty, and Nanda dynasty
 
King Bimbisara visits the Bamboo Garden (Venuvana) in Rajagriha; artwork from Sanchi.

The Haryanka dynasty was founded by Bimbisara. Bimbisara led an active and expansive policy, conquering the kingdom of Anga in what is now West Bengal. King Bimbisara was killed by his son, Ajatashatru. Pasenadi, king of neighbouring Kosala and brother-in-law of Bimbisara, promptly reconquered the Kashi province.

Accounts differ slightly as to the cause of King Ajatashatru's war with the Licchavi, a powerful tribe north of the river Ganges. It appears that Ajatashatru sent a minister to the area who worked for three years to undermine the unity of the Licchavis. To launch his attack across the Ganges River, Ajatashatru built a fort at the town of Pataliputra. Torn by disagreements, the Licchavis fought with Ajatashatru. It took fifteen years for Ajatashatru to defeat them. Jain texts tell how Ajatashatru used two new weapons: a catapult, and a covered chariot with swinging mace that has been compared to a modern tank. Pataliputra began to grow as a centre of commerce and became the capital of Magadha after Ajatashatru's death.

Shishunanagas and Nandas

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The Haryanka dynasty was overthrown by the Shishunaga dynasty. The last Shishunaga ruler, Mahanandin, was assassinated by Mahapadma Nanda in 345 BCE, the first of the so-called "Nine Nandas", i.e. Mahapadma and his eight sons, last being Dhana Nanda.

In 326 BCE, the army of Alexander approached the western boundaries of Magadha. The army, exhausted and frightened at the prospect of facing another giant Indian army at the Ganges, mutinied at the Hyphasis (the modern Beas River) and refused to march further east. Alexander, after the meeting with his officer Coenus, was persuaded that it was better to return and turned south, conquering his way down the Indus to the Ocean.

Around 321 BCE, the Nanda Dynasty ended with the defeat of Dhana Nanda at the hands of Chandragupta Maurya.

Chandragupta Maurya

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Main articles: Chandragupta Maurya and Overthrow of the Nanda dynasty

After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, Chandragupta led a series of campaigns in 305 BCE to take satrapies in the Indus Valley and northwest India.[6] When Alexander's remaining forces were routed, returning westwards, Seleucus I Nicator fought to defend these territories. Not many details of the campaigns are known from ancient sources. Seleucus was defeated and retreated into the mountainous region of Afghanistan.[7]

Chandragupta established a strong centralised state with an administration at Pataliputra, which, according to Megasthenes, was "surrounded by a wooden wall pierced by 64 gates and 570 towers". Aelian, although not expressly quoting Megasthenes nor mentioning Pataliputra, described Indian palaces as superior in splendor to Persia's Susa or Ecbatana.[8] The architecture of the city seems to have had many similarities with Persian cities of the period.[9]

Chandragupta renounced his throne and followed Jain teacher Bhadrabahu. He is said to have lived as an ascetic at Shravanabelagola for several years before fasting to death, as per the Jain practice of sallekhana.

Bindusara

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Main article: Bindusara

Bindusara's life has not been documented as well as that of his father Chandragupta or of his son Ashoka. Chanakya continued to serve as prime minister during his reign. According to the medieval Tibetan scholar Taranatha who visited India, Chanakya helped Bindusara "to destroy the nobles and kings of the sixteen kingdoms and thus to become absolute master of the territory between the eastern and western oceans". During his rule, the citizens of Taxila revolted twice. The reason for the first revolt was the maladministration of Susima, his eldest son. The reason for the second revolt is unknown, but Bindusara could not suppress it in his lifetime. It was crushed by Ashoka after Bindusara's death.[10]

Bindusara maintained friendly diplomatic relations with the Hellenic world. Deimachus was the ambassador of Seleucid king Antiochus I at Bindusara's court.[11] Diodorus states that the king of Palibothra (Pataliputra, the Mauryan capital) welcomed a Greek author, Iambulus. This king is usually identified as Bindusara.[11] Pliny states that the Ptolemaic king Philadelphus sent an envoy named Dionysius to India.[12][13] According to Sailendra Nath Sen, this appears to have happened during Bindusara's reign.

Unlike his father Chandragupta (who at a later stage converted to Jainism), Bindusara believed in the Ajivika religion.

Ashoka

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Main articles: Ashoka and Kalinga War

As emperor he was ambitious and aggressive, re-asserting the Empire's superiority in southern and western India. But it was his conquest of Kalinga (262–261 BCE) which proved to be the pivotal event of his life. Ashoka used Kalinga to project power over a large region by building a fortification there and securing it as a possession.[14] Although Ashoka's army succeeded in overwhelming Kalinga forces of royal soldiers and citizen militias, an estimated 100,000 soldiers and civilians were killed in the furious warfare, including over 10,000 of Imperial Mauryan soldiers. Hundreds of thousands of people were adversely affected by the destruction and fallout of war.

The Edicts of Ashoka, set in stone, are found throughout the Subcontinent. Ranging from as far west as Afghanistan and as far south as Andhra (Nellore District), Ashoka's edicts state his policies and accomplishments. Although predominantly written in Prakrit, two of them were written in Greek, and one in both Greek and Aramaic. Ashoka's edicts refer to the Greeks, Kambojas, and Gandharas as peoples forming a frontier region of his empire. They also attest to Ashoka's having sent envoys to the Greek rulers in the West as far as the Mediterranean. The edicts precisely name each of the rulers of the Hellenistic world at the time such as Amtiyoko (Antiochus II Theos), Tulamaya (Ptolemy II), Amtikini (Antigonos II), Maka (Magas) and Alikasudaro (Alexander II of Epirus) as recipients of Ashoka's proselytism. The Edicts also accurately locate their territory "600 yojanas away" (1 yojana being about 7 miles), corresponding to the distance between the center of India and Greece (roughly 4,000 miles).[15]

Pushyamitra

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Following Ashoka's death the empire went into a decline. According to the Ashokavadana, Pushyamitra the Vidisha general of the last Mauryan king assassinated Brihadratha in a military coup, and declared himself the emperor of Magadha.[16] He was known for suppressing Buddhism. Then it describes how Pushyamitra sent an army to Pataliputra and as far as Sakala (Sialkot), in the Punjab, to persecute Buddhist monks.[17]

War with the Yavanas (Greeks)

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The Indo-Greeks, called Yavanas in Indian sources, either led by Demetrius I or Menander I, then invaded India, possibly receiving the help of Buddhists.[18] Menander in particular is described as a convert to Buddhism in the Milindapanha.

The Hindu text of the Yuga Purana, which describes Indian historical events in the form of a prophecy,[19][note 1] relates the attack of the Indo-Greeks on the Shunga capital Pataliputra, a magnificent fortified city with 570 towers and 64 gates according to Megasthenes,[21] and describes the impending war for city:

Then, after having approached Saketa together with the Panchalas and the Mathuras, the Yavanas, valiant in battle, will reach Kusumadhvaja "the town of the flower-standard", Pataliputra. Then, once Puspapura (another name of Pataliputra) has been reached and its celebrated mud-walls cast down, all the realm will be in disorder

— Yuga Purana, Paragraph 47–48, 2002 edition)

However, the Yuga Purana indicates that the Yavanas (Indo-Greeks) did not remain for long in Pataliputra, as they were faced with a civil war in Bactria.

Western sources also suggest that this new offensive of the Greeks into India led them as far as the capital Pataliputra:[22]

Those who came after Alexander went to the Ganges and Pataliputra

— Strabo, 15.698

Vasumitra

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Vasumitra was the grandson of Pushyamitra and the third king. Before becoming king, he gained fame by defeating the Greeks (Yavanas) on the banks of the Sindhu river. An account of a direct battle between the Greeks and Vasumitra is also found in the Mālavikāgnimitram, a play by Kālidāsa which describes a battle between a squadron of Greek cavalrymen and Vasumitra, the grandson of Pushyamitra, accompanied by a hundred soldiers on the "Sindhu river", in which the Indians defeated a squadron of Greeks and Pushyamitra successfully completed the Ashvamedha Yagna.[23] This river may be the Indus River in the northwest, but such expansion by the Shungas is unlikely, and it is more probable that the river mentioned in the text is the Sindh River or the Kali Sindh River in the Ganges Basin.[24]

According to Sailendra Nath Sen, he (Vasumitra) "After becoming king, gave himself up to pleasure".[25] But we know that the Shunga decline began during his reign.[26] Sensing an opportunity, enemies began plotting.[25] Banabhatta's Harshacharita mentioned him as Sumitra and informed us that he was killed by Mitradeva (or Muladeva, according to some manuscripts) while enjoying a drama. Muladeva is regarded as the founder of the independent Principality of Kosala. The secession of Kosala extinguished the Shunga hold over territories west of Magadha but also must have encouraged other rulers to rebel and declare independence. Examples of these include Panchala, Kausambi, and Mathura.[25][27]

Vasudeva

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Vasudeva Kanva, originally an Amatya (minister) of the last Shunga king Devabhuti, killed the latter and established Kanva dynasty.[28] Bana's Harshacharita informs us that he came to power after the death of Devabhuti by a daughter of his slave woman disguised as his empress.[29][30][31]

He was a Vaishnavite (worshipper of Lord Vishnu).[31] Most of the taxes collected during his reign were used for temples. He was one of the famous patrons of arts.[32][30][31] During his reign, the Indo-Greeks invaded, but he managed to keep his throne.[31][33][30][31] Vasudeva was succeeded by three other Kanva kings. The Magadhan Empire collapsed in 28 BC, likely due an invasion by the Satavahanas.

Territorial expansion

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Maurya dynasty

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Overthrow of the Nanda dynasty

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Main article: Overthrow of the Nanda dynasty

After Alexander ended his campaign and left, Chandragupta's army conquered the Nanda capital Pataliputra around 322 BCE with Chanakya's counsel.[34]

Chandragupta laid siege to Patliputra (now Patna), the capital of Magadha around 322 B.C, by deploying guerrilla warfare methods with the help of mercenaries from conquered areas.[35][36] Historian P. K. Bhattacharyya states that the empire was built by a gradual conquest of provinces after the initial consolidation of Magadha.

North-western conquests

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Main article: Chandragupta Maurya § Conquest of north-west regions

Justin mentions Chandragupta as a rival of the Alexander's successors in north-western India.[37] He states that after Alexander's death, Chandragupta freed Indian territories from the Greeks and executed some of the governors.[38] According to Boesche, this war with the northwestern territories was in part fought by mercenaries hired by Chandragupta and Chanakya, and these wars may have been the cause of the demise of two of Alexander's governors, Nicanor and Philip.

War and alliance with Seleucid Empire

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Main article: Seleucid–Mauryan War

Seleucus and Chandragupta waged war until they came to an understanding with each other. Seleucus married off his daughter, Berenice, to Chandragupta to forge an alliance, R. C. Majumdar and D. D. Kosambi note that Seleucus appeared to have fared poorly after ceding large territories west of the Indus to Chandragupta. The Maurya Empire added Arachosia (Kandahar), Gedrosia (Balochistan), and Paropamisadae (Gandhara) to her territories.[39][40] According to Strabo, Seleucus Nicator gave these regions to Chandragupta along with a marriage treaty, and in return received five hundred elephants.

Southern conquests

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Main article: Chandragupta Maurya § Conquests in Southern India

Chandragupta began expanding his empire southwards beyond the Vindhya Range and into the Deccan Plateau.[34] By the time his conquests were complete, Chandragupta's empire extended over most of the subcontinent.[41]

Kalinga War

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Main article: Kalinga War
 
Extent of the Mauryan Empire under Ashoka, 250 BCE.

The northern part of Kalinga was known as the Utkala (Uttar: North, Kal: Kalinga), they were the first from the region to use a navy and traveled offshore to Southeast Asia for trade. For that reason, Kalinga was able to develop several ports and a skilled navy. This is the only major war Ashoka fought after his accession to the throne, and marked the close of the empire-building and military conquests of ancient India that began with the Mauryan Emperor Chandragupta Maurya.[42] The war cost nearly 250,000 lives.[42]

Ashoka's response to the Kalinga War is recorded in the Edicts of Ashoka. The Kalinga War prompted Ashoka, already a non-engaged Buddhist, to devote the rest of his life to ahimsa (non-violence) and to dharma-vijaya (victory through dharma). Following the conquest of Kalinga, Ashoka ended the military expansion of the empire and began an era of more than 40 years of relative peace, harmony, and prosperity.[43]

Military

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Nanda dynasty

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According to Curtius, Alexander learned that Agrammes had 200,000 infantry; 20,000 cavalry; 3000 elephants; and 2,000 four-horse chariots.[44][45] Diodorus gives the number of elephants as 4,000.[46] Plutarch inflates these numbers significantly, except the infantry:[47] according to him, the Nanda force included 200,000 infantry; 80,000 cavalry; 6,000 elephants; and 8,000 chariots.[48] It is possible that the numbers reported to Alexander had been exaggerated by the local Indian population, who had the incentive to mislead the invaders.[49]

The Nanda army did not have the opportunity to face Alexander, whose soldiers mutinied at the Beas River, refusing to go any further in the east. Alexander's soldiers had first started to agitate to return to their homeland at Hecatompylos in 330 BCE, and the stiff resistance that they had met in north-western India in the subsequent years had demoralised them. They mutinied, when faced with the prospect of facing the Nanda army, forcing Alexander to withdraw from India.[50]

Maurya dynasty

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Megasthenes mentions military command consisting of six boards of five members each, (i) Navy (ii) Military transport (iii) Infantry (iv) Cavalry and Catapults (v) Chariot divisions and (vi) Elephants.[51]

Chandragupta and his successors devoted much of their wealth to building military power. At the height of the Mauryan empire, army was counted at 600,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, 9,000 war elephants, and 8,000 chariots.[52]

Dynasties and rulers

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Main article: List of monarchs of Magadha

There is much uncertainty about the succession of kings and the precise chronology of Magadha prior to Mahapadma Nanda; the accounts of various ancient texts (all of which were written many centuries later than the era in question) contradict each other on many points.

Two notable rulers of Magadha were Bimbisara (also known as Shrenika) and his son Ajatashatru (also known as Kunika), who are mentioned in Buddhist and Jain literature as contemporaries of the Buddha and Mahavira. Later, the throne of Magadha was usurped by Mahapadma Nanda, the founder of the Nanda Dynasty (c. 345 – c. 322 BCE), which conquered much of north India. The Nanda dynasty was overthrown by Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya Empire (c. 322–185 BCE).

Furthermore, there is a "Long Chronology" and a contrasting "Short Chronology" preferred by some scholars, an issue that is inextricably linked to the uncertain chronology of the Buddha and Mahavira.[53]

According to historian K. T. S. Sarao, a proponent of the Short Chronology wherein the Buddha's lifespan was c.477–397 BCE, it can be estimated that Bimbisara was reigning c.457–405 BCE, and Ajatashatru was reigning c.405–373 BCE.[54]

According to historian John Keay, a proponent of the "Long Chronology," Bimbisara must have been reigning in the late 5th century BCE,[55] and Ajatashatru in the early 4th century BCE.[56] Keay states that there is great uncertainty about the royal succession after Ajatashatru's death, probably because there was a period of "court intrigues and murders," during which "evidently the throne changed hands frequently, perhaps with more than one incumbent claiming to occupy it at the same time" until Mahapadma Nanda was able to secure the throne.[56]

List of rulers

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The following "Long Chronology" is according to the Buddhist Mahavamsa:[57]

Haryanka dynasty (c. 544 – 413 BCE)
List of Haryanka dynasty rulers
Ruler Reign (BCE)
Bimbisara 544–491 BCE
Ajatashatru 491–461 BCE
Udayin 461–428 BCE
Anirudha 428–419 BCE
Munda 419–417 BCE
Darshaka 417–415 BCE
Nāgadāsaka 415–413 BCE
Shishunaga dynasty (c. 413 – 345 BCE)
List of Shishunga dynasty rulers
Ruler Reign (BCE)
Shishunaga 413–395 BCE
Kalashoka 395–377 BCE
Kshemadharman 377–365 BCE
Kshatraujas 365–355 BCE
Nandivardhana 355–349 BCE
Mahanandin 349–345 BCE
Nanda Empire (c. 345 – c. 322 BCE)
List of Nanda dynasty rulers
Ruler Reign (BCE)
Mahapadma Nanda 345–340 BCE
Pandhukananda 340–339 BCE
Panghupatinanda 339–338 BCE
Bhutapalananda 338–337 BCE
Rashtrapalananada 337–336 BCE
Govishanakananda 336–335 BCE
Dashasidkhakananda 335–334 BCE
Kaivartananda 334–333 BCE
Karvinathanand 333–330 BCE
Dhana Nanda 330–322 BCE

Other lists

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Puranic list

The Hindu Literature mostly Puranas give a different sequence:[58]

  • Shishunaga dynasty (360 years)
    • Shishunaga (reigned for 40 years)
    • Kakavarna (36 years)
    • Kshemadharman (20 years)
    • Kshatraujas (29 years)
    • Bimbisara (28 years)
    • Ajatashatru (25 years)
    • Darbhaka or Darshaka or Harshaka (25 years)
    • Udayin (33 years)
    • Nandivardhana (42 years)
    • Mahanandin (43 years)
  • Nanda dynasty (100 years)
List by Jain literature

A shorter list appears in the Jain tradition, which simply lists Shrenika (Bimbisara), Kunika (Ajatashatru), Udayin, followed by the Nanda dynasty.[58]

List of military conflicts

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Main article: List of wars involving Magadha

Foreign relations

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Main article: Foreign relations of Magadha

Notes

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  1. ^ as described in the Arthashastra
  1. ^ Formerly, scholars doubted the validity of the Yuga Purana, because manuscripts of it have been highly corrupted over its history; however, Sanskrit scholar Ludo Rocher says that recent "research has [...] been concerned with establishing a more acceptable text," and "The Yuga [Purana] is important primarily as a historical document. It is a matter-of-fact chronicle [...] of the Magadha empire, down to the breakdown of the Sungas and the arrival of the Sakas. It is unique in its description of the invasion and retirement of the Yavanas in Magadha."[20]

References

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  1. ^ Jain, Dhanesh (2007). "Sociolinguistics of the Indo-Aryan languages". In George Cardona; Dhanesh Jain (eds.). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. pp. 47–66, 51. ISBN 978-1-135-79711-9.
  2. ^ Sailendra Nath Sen (1999). Ancient Indian History and Civilization. New Age International. p. 114. ISBN 978-81-224-1198-0. Thus the foundation of the Magadhan empire laid by Bimbisara was now firmly established as a result of the subtle diplomacy of Ajatasatru .
  3. ^ *J. L. Jain (1994). Development and Structure of an Urban System. Mittal Publications. p. 28. ISBN 978-81-7099-552-4. The sceptre of Magadhan empire was borne successively by the Sisunagas, the Nandas, the Mauryas, the Shungas and the Kanvas from early fifth century B.C. to the first century B.C.
    • Narendra Krishna Sinha (1973). A History of India. Orient Longman. p. 107. Later in the fourth century A.D., with the rise of the second Magadhan Empire under the Guptas,
  4. ^ Keny, Liladhar (1943). ""THE SUPPOSED IDENTIFICATION OF UDAYANA OF KAUŚĀMBI WITH UDAYIN OF MAGADHA"". Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. 24 (1/2): 60–66. JSTOR 41784405.
  5. ^ Roy, Daya (1986). "SOME ASPECTS OF THE RELATION BETWEEN ANGA AND MAGADHA (600 B.C.—323 B.C.)". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 47: 108–112. JSTOR 44141530.
  6. ^ From Polis to Empire, the Ancient World, C. 800 B.C.-A.D. 500. Greenwood Publishing. 2002. ISBN 0313309426. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  7. ^ Kistler, John M. (2007). War Elephants. University of Nebraska Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0803260047. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  8. ^ "In the royal residences in India where the greatest of the kings of that country live, there are so many objects for admiration that neither Memnon's city of Susa with all its extravagance, nor the magnificence of Ectabana is to be compared with them. ... In the parks, tame peacocks and pheasants are kept." Aelian, Characteristics of animals book XIII, Chapter 18, also quoted in The Cambridge History of India, Volume 1, p411
  9. ^ Romila Thapar (1961), Aśoka and the decline of the Mauryas, Volume 5, p.129, Oxford University Press. "The architectural closeness of certain buildings in Achaemenid Iran and Mauryan India have raised much comment. The royal palace at Pataliputra is the most striking example and has been compared with the palaces at Susa, Ecbatana, and Persepolis."
  10. ^ Eugène Burnouf (1911). Legends of Indian Buddhism. New York: E. P. Dutton. p. 59.
  11. ^ a b S. N. Sen 1999, p. 142.
  12. ^ "Three Greek ambassadors are known by name: Megasthenes, ambassador to Chandragupta; Deimachus, ambassador to Chandragupta's son Bindusara; and Dyonisius, whom Ptolemy Philadelphus sent to the court of Ashoka, Bindusara's son", McEvilley, p.367
  13. ^ India, the Ancient Past, Burjor Avari, pp. 108–109
  14. ^ Allchin, F. R.; Erdosy, George (1995). The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 306.
  15. ^ Edicts of Ashoka, 13th Rock Edict, translation S. Dhammika.
  16. ^ John S. Strong (1989). The Legend of King Aśoka: A Study and Translation of the Aśokāvadāna. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-0616-0. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  17. ^ "Pushyamitra equipped a fourfold army, and intending to destroy the Buddhist religion, he went to the Kukkutarama (in Pataliputra). ... Pushyamitra therefore destroyed the sangharama, killed the monks there, and departed. ... After some time, he arrived in Sakala, and proclaimed that he would give a ... reward to whoever brought him the head of a Buddhist monk."John S. Strong (1989). The Legend of King Aśoka: A Study and Translation of the Aśokāvadāna. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-81-208-0616-0. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
  18. ^ A Journey Through India's Past Chandra Mauli Mani, Northern Book Centre, 2005, p.39
  19. ^ "For any scholar engaged in the study of the presence of the Indo-Greeks or Indo-Scythians before the Christian Era, the Yuga Purana is an important source material" Dilip Coomer Ghose, General Secretary, The Asiatic Society, Kolkata, 2002
  20. ^ Rocher, Ludo (1986). The Purāṇas. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 253–254. ISBN 9783447025225.
  21. ^ "Megasthenes: Indika". Project South Asia. Archived from the original on 10 December 2008. The greatest city in India is that which is called Palimbothra, in the dominions of the Prasians [...] Megasthenes informs us that this city stretched in the inhabited quarters to an extreme length on each side of eighty stadia, and that its breadth was fifteen stadia, and that a ditch encompassed it all round, which was six hundred feet in breadth and thirty cubits in depth, and that the wall was crowned with 570 towers and had four-and-sixty gates. (Arr. Ind. 10. 'Of Pataliputra and the Manners of the Indians')
  22. ^ Indian History Allied Publishers
  23. ^ The Malavikágnimitra : a Sanskrit play by Kālidāsa; Tawney, C. H. p.91
  24. ^ "Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian coins in the Smithsonian institution", Bopearachchi, p16. Also: "Kalidasa recounts in his Mālavikāgnimitra (5.15.14–24) that Puṣpamitra appointed his grandson Vasumitra to guard his sacrificial horse, which wandered on the right bank of the Sindhu river and was seized by Yavana cavalrymen- the latter being thereafter defeated by Vasumitra. The "Sindhu" referred to in this context may refer the river Indus: but such an extension of Shunga power seems unlikely, and it is more probable that it denotes one of two rivers in central India -either the Sindhu river which is a tributary of the Yamuna, or the Kali-Sindhu river which is a tributary of the Chambal." The Yuga Purana, Mitchener, 2002.
  25. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference ancient was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ K.A. Nilkantha Shastri (1970), A Comprehensive History of India: Volume 2, p.108: "Soon after Agnimitra there was no 'Sunga empire'."
  27. ^ Michael Mitchiner (1978). The ancient & classical world, 600 B.C.-A.D. 650. Hawkins Publications; distributed by B. A. Seaby. p. 577. ISBN 978-0-904173-16-1.
  28. ^ Thapar 2013, p. 296.
  29. ^ Rao, B.V. (January 2012). World history from early times to A D 2000. Sterling Publishers. p. 97. ISBN 9788120731882.
    - Shankar, Rama (1967). History of Ancient India. Tripathi. p. 189. ISBN 9788120800182.
  30. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Symist was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  31. ^ a b c d e INDIA: Brief History Volume 3 (EBook). Symist. 3 March 2019. p. 34.
  32. ^ Kennedy Warder, Anthony (1989). Indian Kavya Literature. Vol. 2. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 114. ISBN 9788120804470.
  33. ^ Rao, B.V. (January 2012). World history from early times to A D 2000. Sterling Publishers. p. 97. ISBN 9788120731882.
    - Shankar, Rama (1967). History of Ancient India. Tripathi. p. 189. ISBN 9788120800182.
  34. ^ a b Mookerji 1988, p. 6.
  35. ^ Roy 2012, pp. 61–62.
  36. ^ Grant 2010, p. 49.
  37. ^ Habib & Jha 2004, p. 15.
  38. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 6–8, 31–33.
  39. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 36–37, 105.
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