________________
372 POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA
bhādā Vîraseno mūma, so bhattinā antav (P) ūladugge Nammadatirel thāvido).
Affairs in the Deccan. It appears from the Mālavikāgnimitram that the foundation of the dynasty of Pushyamitra almost synchronised with the establishment of a new kingdom in the Deccan, viz., Vidarbha or Berar. Agnimitra's Amātya (Minister) refers to the kingdom as "achirādhishthita" (established not long ago) and compares its king to a tree which is newly planted and, therefore, not firm (navasaṁropana-śithila-staruh). The king of Vidharbha is represented as a relation (sister's husband) of the Maurya minister (Sachiva) and a natural enemy (Prakrityamitra) of the family of Pushyamitra. It appears that during the reign of Brihadratha Maurya there were two parties or factions in the Magadha Empire, one headed by the king's Sachiva or minister, the other headed by his Senāpati or general. The minister's partisan Yajñasena got the rulership of Vidarbha, while the general's son Agnimitra obtained the viceroyalty of Vidišā. When the general organised his coup d'etat, killed the king, and imprisoned the minister, Yajñasena apparently declared his independence and commenced hostilities against the usurping family. This is why he is called achirădhishthita-rājya and prakrity-amitra by Agnimitra and his Amūtya.
1 Act I. Some manuscripts mention Mandakini as the name of the river (cf. IHQ. 1925, 214): A stream called Mandakini lies 5 miles south of the Tāpti (Ind. Ant., 1902, 254). Another Mandakini flowed near Chitrakuța (Rām. 92. 10-11)., Lüders' Inscriptions, Nos. 687-688, seem to suggest that Bharhut (in Baghelkhand) was governed by a Sunga feudatory. If Pushyamitra was a Sunga Baghelkhand must have formed part of the empire of his family. In the Monuments of Sanchi, I. iv. 271, the author does not agree with Bühler in assigning the ins. to the middle of the second century B.C. He prefers B.C. 100-75. Palaeographically the epigraphs are classed with the ins. of Indrāgnimitra, Brahmamitra and Vishnumitra.
