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366 POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA
The disintegration which set in before 206 B.C. was accelerated by the invasions led by the Yavanas referred to in the Gārgi Samhitā and the Mahābhāshya of Patañjali. The final coup de grace was given by Pushyamitra.
The royal hunt and jousts of arms in Samājas were abolished. The army seems to have been practically inactive during the last 29 years of Asoka's reign as the emperor himself declares with a feeling of exultation that 'the sound of the bheri had become the sound of the True Law, Dharma'. The Chinese Hou Hanshu (quoted by S. Konow, CII, Vol. II, p. lxvii) testifies to the fact that people of India "practise the religion of the Buddha ; it has become a habit with them not to kill and not to fight". The ease with which general Pushyamitra overthrew his king, in the very sight of the army, shows that unlike the earlier kings of the dynasty who took the field in person, the last of the Mauryas lost touch with his fighting forces, and ceased to command their affection. The largesses of gold lavished on the religieux must also have crippled the financial resources of the empire. The system of autonomous Rājākas instituted by Aśoka must have let loose centrifugal forces that his successors were unable to check.
