Political History Of Ancient India

SR No.: 032292
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hemchandra Raychaudhari
Publisher: University of Calcutta
Publication Year: 1950
Total Pages: 714
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

Page 402

MAGADHAN ANTAGONIST OF KHARAVELA 373
The Malavikagnimitram says that when Kumāra Madhavasena, a cousin of Yajñasena and a partisan of Agnimitra, was secretly on his way to Vidiśa, he was captured by an Antapala (Warden of the Marches) of Yajnasena and kept in custody. Agnimitra demanded his surrender. The Vidarbha king promised to give him up on condition that his brother-in-law, the Maurya minister, should be released. This enraged the ruler of Vidisa who ordered Virasena to march against Vidarbha. Yajuasena was defeated. Madhavasena was released and the kingdom of Vidarbha was divided between the two cousins, the river Varadā (Wardha) forming the boundary between the two states. Both the rulers seem to have accepted the suzerainty of the House of Pushyamitra.
In the opinion of several scholars an enemy more formidable than Yajnasena threatened Pushyamitra's dominions from Kalinga (Orissa). In his Oxford History of India1 Dr. Smith accepts the view that Khāravela, king of Kalinga, defeated Pushyamitra who is identified with Bahapatimita or Bahasatimita, a prince supposed to be mentioned in the Hathīgumpha Inscription of the Kalinga inonarch. Prof. Dubreuil also seems to endorse the view that Khāravela was an antagonist of Pushyamitra, and that the Hathigumpha Inscription is dated the 165th year of Raja-Muriya-kala (era of king Maurya) which corresponds to the 13th year of the reign of Khāravela.
Dr. R. C. Majumdar, however, points out that of the six letters of the Hathigumpha Inscription which have been read as Bahasati-mitam, the second letter seems to have a clear u sign attached to it, and the third and fourth letters look like pa and sa. Even if the reading
1 Additions and corrections. and p. 58n.. Cf. also S. Konow in Acta Orientalia, I. 29. S. Konow accepts Jayaswal's identification, Bahasatimita = Pushyamitra.
2 Ind. Ant., 1919, p. 189. Cf. Allan CICAI, p. xcviii,