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THE AŚMAKAS
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the minister of the king of Assaka; and the four princesses were brought before the king who, acting on Nandisena's advice, made them his queen-consorts and sent a message to King Kalinga informing him of this. Keeping his threat, Kalinga set out for Assaka with a large army, and a great battle was fought. Through Nandisena's diplomacy, Assaka defeated Kalinga who fled to his own city. Assaka demanded from Kalinga a portion of the dowry of his daughters. King Kalinga sent a befitting dowry to Assaka, and thenceforth the two kings lived amicably. According to this story, the countries of the Assakas and the Kalingas bordered on each other. Evidently it is the southern Asmaka country, on the Godāvarī, that is here referred to.
The Vimānavatthu Commentary tells us that a king named Assaka, whose capital was Potananagara, reigned in the country of Assaka. In fulfilment of a promise to grant a boon to his younger wife, he reluctantly sent Sujāta, his son by his first wife, to the forest, so that his younger wife's son should succeed him on the throne. Whilst in the forest, Sujāta met the Elder Mahākaccāyana, was instructed in the Dhamma by him, and afterwards became a bhikkhu.
1 Vimānavatthu Commentary, pp. 259ff.
