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TRIBES IN ANCIENT INDIA
implied by a passage in Kautilya's Arthaśāstra 1 according to which a Bhoja named Dāņdakya, or king of Daņdaka, tried to seduce a Brāhmaṇa girl, as a result of which he perished with his relations and his kingdom.
The Jaina sacred books speak of the Bhojas as Ksatriyas and descendants from those whom Rsabha acknowledged as persons deserving of honour.2 The Jaina Sūtras also tell us of a Bhoja princess, Rājimati who showed extraordinary religious zeal and strength of mind in overcoming all temptations.3
In the Pāli Buddhist literature also we find references to Bhoja. In the Samyutta Nikāya 4 there is a mention of a Rși named Rohitassa Bhojaputta, i.e. one belonging to the Bhoja family or tribe. One of the Jātaka stories 5 tells that the Bodhisattva was born once as a Nāga king named Sankhapāla. He always used to give in charities and observe the religious precepts. On a certain sabbath day, while observing the precepts, he resolved to give away his own body in charity, and he became an iguana. Sixteen Bhojaputtas saw this iguana, made it weak by beating it, and carrying it off when they were seen by a merchant of Mithilā who caused Sankhapāla to be released.
The Bhojas, along with the Andhras, Pulindas and Rāstrikas, were among the vassal tribes of Asoka.6 Scholars hold that the Bhojas and the Rāstrikas were evidently ancestors of the Mahābhojas and Mahārațhis of the Sātavāhana period.?
The next important mention of the Bhojas in the historical period is made in the Hāthigumphā Inscription of the Cheta king Khāravela (first century B.C.), which points out that Khāravela, the Mahārājā of Kalinga, defeated the Rathikas and Bhojakas in the fourth year of his reign and compelled them to do homage to him. The Rāthikas and Bhojakas are evidently the Rāstrikas and Bhojas of Asoka's Rock Edict.
The Khālimpur grant of the Emperor Dharmapāladeva of Gauda (c. 800 A.D.) speaks of the king of Bhoja along with kings of Matsya, Kuru, Yadu and Yavana as having uttered benedictions at the coronation ceremony of the king of Kānyakubja.8 R. D. Banerjee holds that the king of Bhoja was defeated by Dharmapāla, and compelled to accept Cakrāyudha instead of Indrarāja as lord
1 1919 Edn., p. II. 2 Jaina Sūtras, S.B.E., Pt. II, p. 71, n. 2. 3 Pt. II, pp. 115-8. 4 P.T.S. Ed., Pt. I, pp. 61-62. 5 Vol. V, 164ff. 6 Rock Edicts, V and XIII. 7 Cf. Ray Chaudhuri, P.H.A.I., 4th Ed., p. 259. 8 Gaudalekhamālā, p. 14.
