________________
146 POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA
mentions five branches of the Haihayas, namely Vitihotras Bhojas, Avantis, Kuņdikeras or Tuņdikeras and the Tālajanghæs. When the Vītihotras and Avantis (or the Vītihotras in Avanti) passed away, an amātya, minister or governor, named Pulika (Puņika), is said to have killed his master and anointed his own son Pradyota in the very sight of the Kshatriyas. In the fourth century B.C., Avanti formed an integral part of the Magadhan Empire. 3 The kingdom of Gandhāra included within its boundaries the vale of Kaśmira and the ancient metropolis of Takshasilā, which lay 2,000 leagues from Benares, but nevertheless attracted students and enquirers from the most distant provinces...
The Purānas représent the Gandbāra princes as the descendants of Druhýu. This king and his people are mentioned several times in the ḥig-Veda and apparently belonged to the north-west, a fact that accords with the Purāṇic tradition. Mention has already been made of the early king, Nagnajit who is reported to have been a con=1 temporary of Nimi, king of Videha, Durmukha, king of Pañchāla, Bhima, king of Vidarbha, and "Karakandu,"
143. 48-49.
2 We need not infer from this statement that the family of Punika sprang from one of the lower orders of society (e. g., cowherds). The point in the Purāņic account is that the dynastic change was brought about by an amātya, a civil functionary (not a genapati like Pushyamitra), and that the army (Kshatriyas) looked on, i.e., treated the matter with indifference or silent approval. In the time of Megasthenes soldiers ( kshatriya, khattiya-kula) and councillors (amātyas, amachcha-kula) were distinct orders of society (cf. also Fick, Ch. VI). The Tibetans, style Pradyota's father' Anantanemi. Essay on Gunādhya, p. 173. *** 3 Jataka no. 406; Telapatta Jātaka, No. 96; Susima Jātaka, No. 163.
4 Matsya, 48. 6; Vayu, 99. 9, 5 Vedic Index, I. 385.
6 Kumbhabara Jataka ; Ait. Br., VII. 34 ; Sat. Br. VIII. 1, 4, 10 ; Uttaradhyayana Sutra. A Nagnajit also appears in the Mahābharata as the Gandharian contemporary of Krishņa (V. 48. 75). But the same epic mentions Sakuni as the King of Gandhāra in the time of Krishna and the Pāndavas,
