Jainism Early Faith of Ashoka

Author(s): Edward Thomas
Publisher: Trubner and Company London

Page 59

THE EARLY FAITH OF AŞOKA.
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his son will be Şatadhanwan; and his successor will be Bșihadratha. These are the ten Mauryas, wbo will reign over the earth for 137, years."—Vishnu Puráņa, book iv. cap. xxiv.
The full list of the Kings of Magadhá, obtained from these sources, runs as follows: i. PRADYOTANA.
XV. MAHÁNANDIN. ii. PÁLAKA.
xvi. NANDA, Mahápadmą.3 iii. VISAKHAYÚPA.
xvii. SUMÁLYA & 7 BROTHERS iv. JANAKA.
("the Brahman Kautilya will
root out the 9 Nandas"). v. NANDIVARDHANA.
xviii. CHANDRA GUPTA. vi. ŞışUNÁGA.
xix. BINDUSARA. vii. KÁKAVARNA.
xx. AŞOKAVARDHANA. viii. KSHEMADHARMAN.
xxi. SUYAŞAS. ix. KSHATTRAUJAS.
xxii. DASARATHA. X. VIDMISÁRA (BIMBISÁRA). xxiii. SANGATA. xi. AJÁTAŞATRU.
xxiv. Ș.ALIŞÚKA. xii. DARBHAKA.
XXV. SOMASAKMAN. xiii. UDAYAŞWA.
xxvi. SATADHANWAN. xiv. NANDIVARDHANA. xxvii. BRIHADRATHA.
The inquiry might here be reasonably raised, as to how a Brahman, like Kautilya, came to select, for sovereignty, a man of a supposedly adverse faith. But though our Kingmaker was a Brahman, he was not necessarily, in the modern acceptation of the term, a “ Brahmanist." The fact of the Brahmanas being bracketed in equal gradation with the Sramanas of the Jainas and Buddhists, in the formal versions of Asoka's edicts, clearly demonstrates that the first-named class had not, as yet, succeeded to the exclusive charge of kings' consciences, or attained the leading place in the hierarchy of the land which they subsequently claimed. Moreover, in the full development of their power, the Brahmans, as a rule, recognized their proper métier of guiding and governing from within the palace, and but seldom sought to become ostensibly reigning kings. Thus, supposing Kautilya to have been, as is' affirmed in some passages, an hereditary minister, 4 he might well have sought to secure a submissive
1“ 5 Pradyota kings, 138 years." 2 “10 Şaişunaga kings, 362 years."
s“He will be the annihilator of the Kshatrya race; for, after him, the kings of the earth will be Sudras."
Hindu Theatre, p. 145. “Vishnu Gupta," son of Chanaka (hence Chanakya). He is described in the Vrihat-Katha as a "Brahman of mean appearance, in a meadow."-H.T.p. 140, and Wilson's Works, vol. iii. p. 177; see also vol. ii. p. 354, and the Mahawanso, p. 21, with the full list of references, pp. lxxvi, et seq.