HISTORY

NANDAS.

NANDAS. (Pre-Mauryan Period) .

The Nandas held sway over this part of the Deccan. The conquest of this territory was probably effected in the days of Bimbisara and Ajatshatru and was maintained by their successors. When, however, the Nanda dynasty was overthrown by the Mauryas, this country passed into the hands of the Mauryas [Moreas, the Kadamba-kula, 3, 9; Chitgupi, Western Chalukyas of Vatapi, 24.].

MAURYAS. (4th century B.C. to 3rd century B.C.).

From the inscription of Ashoka, we learn that his empire extended far into the south and certainly included Maharashtra and Aparantha [Bakhle, Satavahanas and the contemporary ksatraps, 44. Nilkanta Sastri, 84.]. The headquarters of Ashoka's southernmost province was a place of the name Suvarnagiri and that his representative there was a royal prince (Arya putra). Brahmagiri and Sindhupura belonged to a district called Isila, which was subordinate to the viceroy at Suvarnagiri [Nilkanta Sastri, A History of South India. Chitgupi, Western Chalukyas of Vatapi, 25.].

By B.C. 246, when Ashoka determined to spread Buddhism over India, Yona (i.e. the Bactrian) Dharmarakshita Thara was sent to Aparantha and Mahadharma was, likewise, sent to Maharashtra. In addition to the legends in the Mahavamsha and Dipavamsha, the Samantapasadika adds that it was by the Aggi-khandopama Sutta that 37,000 people were converted in Aparantaka by Yonaka Dharmarakshita. In Maharashtra it was the Mahakasga-Nariha Jataka that was preached by Mahadharma Rakshita Thara [Dikshit, 5 (Anguttara, IV 128-135); Chitgupi, 26.]. The fragment of the eighth edict of Ashok, found in April 1882, in Sopara in the adjoining district of Thana, seems to show that Ratnagiri district formed part of a kingdom in B.C. 250 (Aparantha), the Capital of which was Sopara, the seat from which the Yavana Dharmarakshita preached law to all the people. The flourishing state of Buddhism in the second and the third centuries and the close trade connections between Egypt and the Konkan at that time made it probable that much of the European knowledge of Buddhism was gained from the monks of these caves. On account of these close connections even during the first and the second christian centuries, the observer of the early relations between Buddhism and Christianity may find along this frequented route greater evidence of mutual influence than along the relatively obstructed overland routes through Parthia to Antioch and Ephesus. By the third century, with the decline of growth of Antioch and Byzanteion and the fall of the Arsacid dynasty, the tendency would be the other way [Schoff, the Periplus of the Erythraen Sea, 65. Nilkanta Sastri, History of South India, 77.]. However, in the beginning of the fifth century (420 A. D.), Fa Hian described from hearsay a monastery in the Deccan, in a hilly barren land whose people were heretics, knowing neither the Buddhism nor the Brahman religion. Later, Hiuan Tsan, proceeding to North-West from the Canara (Koung kirn na pou Lo) country and passing through thick forest, came to the country of the Marathas (Ma ha la tho), the inhabitants of which lived by the maritime commerce. Proceeding to the South-West, he embarked at Bankot [Sykes, Political State of Ancient India, U. R. A. S., VI, 329. Chitgupi, Western Chalukyas of Vatapi,3.]. Lao-Lun, whose Indian name was Silaprabha, was yet another monk, who travelled through this part [Dikshit, 58.]. He is stated to have studied the Vedidharma Piteka. However, Buddhism lingered in this part after eighth century [Ibid, 74, 75, 81.].

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