Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/62

36 bullion revenue of the Asiatic provinces. Although the exact limits of the Indian satrapy cannot be determined, we know that it was distinct from Aria (Herat), Arachosia (Kandahar), and Gandaria (Northwestern Panjab). It must have comprised, therefore, the course of the Indus from Kalabagh to the sea, including the whole of Sind, and perhaps included a considerable portion of the Panjab east of the Indus. But when Alexander invaded the country, nearly two centuries later, the Indus was the boundary between the Persian empire and India, and both the Panjab and Sind were governed by numerous native princes. In ancient times the courses of the rivers were quite different from what they now are, and vast tracts in Sind and the Panjab, now desolate, were then rich and prosperous. This fact largely explains the surprising value of the tribute paid by the twentieth satrapy.

When Ajatasatru's blood-stained life ended (cir. 459 ), he was succeeded, according to the Puranas, by a son named Darsaka or Harshaka, who was in turn succeeded by his son Udaya. The Buddhist books omit the intermediate name, and represent Udaya as the son and immediate successor of Ajatasatru. It is difficult to decide which version is correct, but on the whole the authority of the Puranas seems to be preferable in this case. If Darsaka, or Harshaka, was a reality, nothing is known about him.

The reign of Udaya may be assumed to have begun about 434 The tradition that he built Pataliputra is all that is known about him. His successors,