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DECLINE OF THE MAURYA EMPIRE 353
The last of the Imperial Mauryas of Magadha, Brihadratha, is mentioned not only in the Puranas but also in Bana's Harsha-charita. He was crushed by his general Pushyamitra who is perhaps wrongly described by the Divyāvadāna as of Maurya descent. A Maurya minister. is said to have been imprisoned by the regicide family.
Petty Maurya kings continued to rule in Western India as well as Magadha long after the extinction of the Imperial line. King Dhavala of the Maurya dynasty is referred to in the Kanaswa inscription of A. D. 738.1 Dr. D.R. Bhandarkar identifies him with Dhavalappadeva, the overlord of Dhanika, mentioned in the Dabok (Mewar) inscription of cir. A. D. 725. Maurya chiefs of the Konkan and Khandesh are referred to in Early Chalukya and Yadava epigraphs. A Maurya ruler of Magadha named Pūrṇavarman is mentioned by Hiuen Tsang.
3
There can be no doubt that during the sovereignty of the later Mauryas the Magadha Empire experienced a gradual decay. Aśoka died in or about the year 232 B. C. Within a quarter of a century after his death a Greek army crossed the Hindukush which was the Maurya frontier in the days of Chandragupta and his grandson. The Yuga Purana section of the Gargi Samhitā bears testimony to the decline of the Maurya power in the Madhyadeśa after the reign of Śāliśūka :
1 Ind. Ant., XIII, 163; Bomb. Gaz., I. Part 2, p. 284. Kapaswa is in the Kotah state, Rajputana. It is not unlikely that Dhavala was a descendant of some princely Viceroy of Ujjain. See also reference to the Mauryas in the Navasarikā grant Fleet, DKD, 375.
2 Ep. Ind., XII, p. 11. But see Ep. XX. 122. The date A. D. 725 is not accepted by other scholars who prefer A. D. 813.
3 Bomb. Gaz., I. Part 2. pp. 283, 284. Bühler suggests (Ep. Ind., III, p. 136) that these Maurya chieftains of the Konkan were probably descendants of the princely viceroy of the Deccan. He also draws our attention to the family name 'More' which is met with in the Mahratta country, and is apparently a corruption of 'Maurya.'
P. 90-45.
