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150
AN EARLY HISTORY OF ORISSA
and continued as a minister (Mantrin) of Bindusāra. We are told by Tārānātha that Bindusāra, with the help of Chāņakya, destroyed kings and nobles of sixteen cities, and reduced to submission all the territory between the eastern and the western seas. In view of the late date of the author, it is difficult to determine as to what element of truth is contained in his narrative. The vanquished monarchs, between the eastern and the western oceans, have been taken to refer to the petty sovereigns of the Southern Peninsula. This is not a necessary inference however, as Northern India itself, extending right from Saurashtra upto Bengal, may also be said to extend from sea to sea. To quote an example, the Junagadh Inscription of Rudradāmana 13 describes Saurashtra—the country lying on the Western Sea, as forming a province of Chandragupta's empire, while Rock Edict XIII* records that eight years after his consecration, Asoka conquered Kalinga--the country situated on the Eastern Sea. The statement of Târānātha, if based on any authentic tradition, need mean nothing more than the suppression of the revolts of the type alluded to in the Divyāvadāna" in the vast stretch of territory between Saurashtra and the Gangetic delta. But no Greek or Indian record of
I. Parisishtha Parvan, VIII, 446f. Kathāsarit Sāgara, Kathā. pīthalambaka, Traiga V, verse 115 ; I.A., 1875 ; K. A. N. Sastri, The Nanda & Maurya, p. 167; Raychaudhari, PHAI, 296. Subandhu, the author of Vāgavadattā Nātyadbārā was a rival of Chanakya (Parisishļa. Parvan, VIII, 447, and Proceedings of the Second Oriental Conference, pp. 208-11). The post of Chief Minister (agrāmatya) eventually went to Khallataka and later on to Rādhāgupta (Divyāvadāna, p. 372 ; K.A.N. Sastri, Nanda & Maurya, p. 167; Raychaudhari, PHAI, p. 296).
2. JBORS, Vol. II, pp. 79f; JRAS, 1919, p. 698; EHI, III Edition, p. 149.
3. Sircar, Select lngs, Vol. I, pp. 169-74. 4. Ibid, pp. 35-40. 5. It refers to the revolt of Taxila (Cowell & Neil's Edition. p. 371).
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