Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/214

 176 ASOKA MAUBYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS to the worship of Siva and the Divine Mothers, in whose honour he and his queen, Isanadevi, erected many tem- ples at places which can be identified. But the story of Jalauka, notwithstanding the topographical details, is essentially legendary, and no independent corrobora- tion of the Kashmir tradition has been discovered. Tivara, the son mentioned in the Queen's Edict, is not heard of again, and may have died before his father. Dasaratha, the grandson of Asoka, who is described in the Vishnu Purana as the son of Suyasas, or Su- parsva, was certainly a reality, being known from brief dedicatory inscriptions on the walls of cave-dwellings at the Nagarjuni hills, which he bestowed upon the Ajivikas, as his grandfather had done in the neighbour- ing Barabar hills. The script, language, and style of Dasaratha 's records prove that his date was very close to that of Asoka, whom probably he directly succeeded. Assuming this to be the fact, the accession of Dasaratha may be dated in 231 B. c. His reign appears to have been short, and is allotted (under other names) eight years in two of the Puranas. The whole duration of the Maurya dynasty accord- ing to Puranic authority was 137 years, and if this period be accepted and reckoned from the accession of Chandragupta in 321 B. c., the dynasty must have come to an end in 184 B. c., which date is certainly approximately correct. Four princes who succeeded Dasaratha, each of whom reigned for a few years, are mere names. The empire seems to have broken up very soon after Asoka 's death, his descendants, whose names