________________
SECTION II. THE LATER MAURYAS AND THE DECLINE
OF THEIR POWER.
The Magadha Empire under Asoka extended from the foot of the Hindukush to the borders of the Tamil country. But the withdrawal of the strong arm of Piyadasi was perhaps the signal for the disintegration of this mighty monarchy. "His sceptre was the bow of Ulysses which could not be drawn by any weaker hand." The provinces fell off one by one. Foreign barbarians began to pour across the north-western gates of the empire, and a time came when the proud monarchs of Pataliputra and Rājagriha had to bend their knees before the despised provincials of 'Andhra' and Kalinga.
Unfortunately, no Megasthenes or Kautilya has left any account of the later Mauryas. It is impossible to reconstruct a detailed history of Aśoka's successors from the scanty data furnished by one or two inscriptions and a few Brāhmaṇical, Jaina and Buddhist works.
Asoka had many children. In Pillar Edict VII, he pays attention to the distribution of alms made by all his children, and in particular to those made by the "Princes, sons of the Queens". It is to this last category that belonged some of the Kumāras who represented the Imperial authority at Takshasilā, Ujjayini, and Tosali. Tivara the son of queen Kāruvāki, the only prince actually named in the inscriptions, does not appear to have mounted the imperial throne. Three other sons, namely, Mahendra, Kunāla (Dharma-vivardhana, Suyasas ?), and Jalauka are mentioned in literature. It is, however, uncertain whether Mahendra was a son of Asoka or his brother.
1 For Tivara as a Magadhan name see the Book of Kindred Sayings, II, pp. 128-30.
