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248 POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA
"In B. C. 327 the Taxilian throne was occupied by a hyparch, or basileus, whom the Greeks called Taxiles. When Alexander of Macedon arrived in the Kābul valley he sent a herald to the king of Taxila to bid him come and meet him. Taxiles accordingly did come to meet the conqueror, bringing valuable gifts. When he died his son Mopbis or Omphis (Sanskrit Āmbhi) succeeded to the government. Curiously enough, the reprited anthor of the Kautilīya Arthaśāstra, himself a native of Taxila according to the Mahāvamsa Tikā, refers to 4 school of political philosopher's called Ambhiyas, and Dr. F. W. Thomas connects them with Taxila.
7. The kingdom of Arsakes :
The name of the principality represents the Sanskrit Uraśā, which formed part of the modern Hazāra District. It adjoined the realm of Abisares, and was probably, like the latter, an offshoot of the old kingdom of Kamboja. Uraśā is mentioned in several Kharoshthi inscriptions, and, in the time of the geographer Ptolemy, absorbed the neighbouring realm of Taxila.
8. Abhisāra :
Strabo observes2 that the kingdom was situated among the mountains above the Taxila country. The position of this state was correctly defined by Stein who pointed out that Dārvābhisāras included the whole tract of the lower and middle hills lying between the Jhelum and the Chenāb. Roughly speaking, it corresponded to the Punch and some adjoining districts in Kaśmīra with a part at least of the Hazāra District of the North-West Frontier Province. It was probably an offshoot of the old kingdom of Kamboja. Abisares, the contemporary of Alexander,
1 Būrhaspatya Arthaśāstra. Introduction, p. 15. 2 H. & F.'s tr., III, p. 90. 3 Cf. Mbh. VII. 91., 43.
