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THE SELEUKIDAN WAR
Commissioner, Pushyagupta, the Vaisya, who constructed the famous Sudarsana Lake.1
271
Reference has already been made to an Aramaic Inscription from Taxila which mentions the form Priyadarśana, a well-known epithet of Aśoka Maurya. But it is well to remember that in the Mudrarakshasa Piadamsana is used as a designation of Chandasiri or Chandragupta himself. Further, in Rock Edict VIII of Asoka, his ancestors, equally with himself, are styled Devanampiya. It is, therefore, not unreasonable to conclude that, like his famous grandson, Chandragupta, too, was known as 'Devanampiya Piyadasi' (or 'Priyadarśana'), and it is not always safe to ascribe all epigraphs that make mention of Priyadarsana, irrespective of their contents, to Asoka the Great.
The Seleukidan War.
We learn from Justin that when Chandragupta acquired his throne in India Seleukos (Seleucus), a general of Alexander, was laying the foundations of his future greatness. Seleukos was the son of Antiochos, a distinguished general of Philip of Macedon, and his wife Laodike. After the division of the Macedonian Empire among the followers of Alexander he carried on several. wars in the east. He first took Babylon, and then his
1 The subjugation of the whole of Northern India (Udichi) from the Himalayas to the sea is probably suggested by the following passage of the Kauṭiliya Arthaśāstra (IX, 1) traditionally ascribed to a minister of Chandragupta, "Deśaḥ Prithivi; tasyam Himavat Samudrāntaram Udichinam yojanasahasra parimanam atiryak Chakravarti-Kshetram." Cf. Mudrarakshasa, Act III.
Verse 19.
2 Act VI.
3
Watson's tr., p. 143.
4 Seleukos obtained the satrapy of Babylon first after the agreement of Triparadeisos (321 B.C.) and afterwards in 312 B.C. from which year his era is dated. In 306 B.C., he assumed the title of king (Camb. Anc. His., VII, 161 Camb. Hist. Ind., I, 433).
