Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/84

82 visit would fall in 237, on the assumption, sometimes made on plausible grounds, that Buddha died in  487. It is very remarkable that the Tibetan books alone have preserved an approximately accurate tradition of the dates of both Asoka and the death of Buddha. But, While duly noting that fact and admitting the probability of extensive intercourse between Asoka's dominions and Khotan, the evidence is hardly sufficient to justify the belief that the trans-Himalayan kingdom was subject to the political authority of the Indian monarch. It is admitted that Buddhism was not introduced into Khotan until a date considerably later. Asoka's propaganda in the Himalayan region seems to have been conﬁned to the southern side of the main range.

The materials available for a description of the organization and administration of the enormous empire deﬁned in the preceding pages are surprisingly copious. Megasthenes has recorded With the pen of an intelligent foreign observer a detailed account of the institutions of Chandragupta, and the assumption is warranted that the system of government developed by the genius of the ﬁrst emperor of India was maintained as a Whole by his grandson, although