________________
THE NANDA RULE IN KALINGA
147
Tīrthankaras. The site yielded a large number of bricks of the Maurya style and the foundation of a square temple. There was also found a worn-out coin which has been attributed to an age earlier to tủe Maurya period and, hence, would point to the Nanda period.1
In social matters also the rise of the Nandas may be regarded as symptomatic of surging up of the lower classes. The puranic chroniclers represent the dynasty as harbingers of Śudra rule and as irreligious (adhārmika). Very little is known of the state of society in Kalinga during the period of the Nandas.
Further, the Nandas developed a fighting machine that was adopted by the later rulers of Magadha (and probably, by the people of Kalinga which might have been used during an attack by Asoka) with terrible effect in resisting the onslaught of foreign invaders and carrying on the policy of expansion.
As a matter of fact, the glamour of the Nandas has been dimmed by the greater splendour of the succeeding dynasty. But it is well to remember what the kings of the line bequeathed to their immediate successors and to posterity.
1. Jayaswal-JBORS, Vol. XXIII, 1937, pp. 130-32.
Jain Education International
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
