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KINGS AND PEOPLES
western people. In the Jātakas and the Epio, Gandhāra is described as a kingdom with Takkasilā (Sk. Takşasila) as its capital and Puşkalāvati or Puşkarāvatī or Utpalāyati as one among its other chief towns. The Kumbhakara Jātaka preserves the tradition of Naggaji (Sk. Nagnajit), a famous ancient king of Gandhāra, who was a contemporary of Nimi, king of Videha, Dummukha, king of Pañohāla,1 and Bhima, king of Vidabbha,. and Karandu or Karakandu, king of Kalinga. In a few other instances the rulers of Gandhāra are introduced simply as Gandhārarājā. Situated at a vulnerable point of attacks from the southeast, south-west and north-west, Gandhāra passed hands several times, retaining its independence from time to time. It was conquered once by king Janamojaya of Kuru, while in the latter half of the 6th century B.C., it became included in the empire of Darius, the Achaemenid king of Iran. We are told by Buddhaghosa that king Pukkusāti was reigning in Gandhāra as a contemporary of king Bimbisāra of Magadha, and that there was a friendly relation between them. At the time of Alexander's
1 Cf. Uttarddhyayana Sūtra, xviu, p. 46; Jätaka, iii, R. 377. % Astareya Br., vii, 34. 3 Jätaka, 1, p. 191; ii, p. 219; 111, p. 364; 1v, p. 98. 4 See Behustun inscmption of Darius. 6 Papancasüdani (Sinhalese ed.), u, 982.
