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204 POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA
Sumsumaragiri to the troubles of imperial adventure. The kingdom, harassed by various wars, was at last over. come by its ambitious neighbour on the south-west, viz., Avanti, and was governed by a prince of the royal line of Ujjain.1
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The throne of Avanti was, in the days of Udayana, occupied by Chanda Pradyota Mahasena whose daughter, Vasavadatta, became the chief queen of the lord of the Vatsas. Regarding the character of Pradyota the Mahavagga says that he was cruel. The Puranas observe that he was "nayavarjita", i.e., destitute of good policy and add that he will indeed have the neighbouring kings subject to him-sa vai pranata-samantaḥ". He had at one time made the Vatsa king a captive and had a close relation on the throne of Mathura. The terror that he struck among his neighbours is apparent from a statement of the Majjhima Nikaya3 that Ajatasatru, son of Bimbisara, fortified Rajagriha because he was afraid of an invasion of his territories by Pradyota. He also waged war on Pushkarasarin, the king of Taxila.*
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1 Cf: story of Maniprabha from Avaśyaka-Kathanakas. Jacobi, parisishtaparvan, 2nd ed. xii, Tawney, Katha-sarit-sagara, II. p. 484. According to the Avasyaka-Kathanaka IV, reproduced by Bhadreśvara in his Kahāvali, Maniprabha, great-grandson of Pradyota ruled at Kausambi, while his brother Avantisena exercised sway at Ujjain (Avanti).
2 S.B.E., XVII, p. 187.
3 III. 7.
4 Pradyota was unsuccessful in this war and was only saved from disaster by the outbreak of hostilities between Pushkarasarin and the Pandavas (Essay on Gunadhya, 176).
