भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

of the Buddhistic ‘total Ahimsa’, it was also declared unlawful to hunt wild
beasts like lions and tigers, which very often broke upon human habitations
and caused great distress by carrying away men and animals. If practised
sincerely and without making any exceptions, these principles prove utterly
harmful to mankind. While he was, thus, tyrannically overriding the
religious practices of the Brahmin-Kshatriya and Vedic people, Ashoka
went on erecting great pillars and inscribed thereon his famous edicts,
enjoining on his subjects to be tolerant to all religionists, to give respect to
the Shramanas (ascetics) and Brahmins alike. It is really strange that an
emperor, calm, cool, composed and considerate like Ashoka, should not be
able to realize the inconsistency between his precept and practice.
154. Nearly fifty years before Ashoka, Chanakya had already visualized
the inevitable, horriblle effect of some of the teachings of the Buddhist cult
on the national strength and the foundation of the society as a whole. As
such in his famous political treatise, “Arthashastra”, on which was erected
the whole edifice of the Maurya empire, he had laid down certain
restrictions that were essential from the national point of view on those,
who thought of leaving the wordly life and become ‘bhikksu’. For instance,
one of the Chanakyan rules forbade a minor girl to enter the Buddha
‘Sangham’ without the express permission of her parents and the
government. Another of his rules prohibited every man from becoming a
‘bhikksu’, unless and until he had provided amply for the dependants, his
wife and children.
But during the reign of Ashoka and later also, these restrictions
disappeared, and every man or woman, young or old, became absolutely
free to renounce the worldly ways to enter the Buddhistic Sanghas.
Thousands of these ‘bhikksus’ in the ‘Sanghas’ were allowed free food,
clothing, beddings and abodes as charities, at the cost of the state. Ashoka
spent crores of rupees from the imperial treasury on building gigantic
viharas and on the maintenance of millions of such bhikksus living in them.
The major part of the revenue collection of the imperial treasury was made
from the estates of the Vedic Hindus, yet it was spent on the universal
propaganda of the Buddhistic sect, which antagonised them. This
squandering away of their wealth for the growth of their antagonists,
naturally bred great discontent among the Vedic populace.
A blow to the Imperial Might!

155. This excessive propaganda for unrestricted 'ahimsa', which Ashoka
     carried on by the use of his political authority throughout his empire and the
     countries beyond it, cut at the very root of the Indian empire, and was even
     more harmful than any other acts of his for the national existence and
     national independence! Thousands of bhikksus, appointed and maintained
     by Ashoka, preached everywhere that armed strength of every sort was
     violent and sinful, and that all those who followed the life of a Kshatriya,
     were violent and so irreligious! Everyone who vowed to practise 'ahimsa',
     everyone who renounced the use of weapons and his family life and lived
     the life of a 'bhikksu' in the viharas according to the Buddhistic principles
     was greater, holier and so more praiseworthy than the brave Kshatriya
     soldier, who fought and bled and died in the defence of his nation.
     Naturally, the common people too came to think that any and every
     wandering parasite of a 'bhikksu' was more respectable and religious-
     minded, than the brave armed warrior.
156. Ashoka had precepts, commonly preached by other religions also,
     inscribed on his 'pillars': "Religious victory is more valuable than the one
     gained by means of arms." But was this religious victory possible in the
     earthly life? Was it practical? A draught of nectar is said to make a man
     immortal, maybe! But can anybody tell the whereabouts of the shop where
     that nectar is available?
     156A. Whoever can satisfy his hunger by eating the rice and curry made
     of words?
     बोलाचीच कढी बोलाचाचभात। जेवूनिया तृप्त कोण झाला॥
157. Was not the empire of Ashoka with the unlimited resources, power
     and wealth, with which he could carry out, throughout the whole of India
     and abroad, a vigorous propaganda 'that religious victory was superior to
     victory on the battlefield', itself gained on the strength of the mighty and
     invincible four-fold army built up by Chandragupta and Chanakya? Had all
     that army forsworn arms and lived the idle parasitic life of the 'bhikksu' in
     the 'Viharas' embracing Buddhism, as soon as Ashoka ascended his
     ancestral throne, would it have been possible for him to sit there securely
     as an emperor even for a moment? Even at that time, the Greek states
     beyond the Indian border and farther off than these the more ferocious wild
     tribes of the Saka-Kushan-Hun type, who recognized 'violence' as the only
     mean of achieving their objectives were anxiously waiting for an
     opportunity to pounce, like a lion, on India, but they feared the four-fold

invincible Indian army. Would they all not have taken this golden
opportunity to throttle the ‘bhikksu-ridden’ India and Ashoka’s religious
triumph without the use of arms, and drawn its blood?
158. But it is hardly necessary to indulge in these ‘ifs’ and ‘whens’. At
that very time, India had unfortunately to suffer the grievous consequences
of the preaching, not only of Ashoka but of the Buddha himself, as has been
shown in my play, ‘Sanyasta Khadga’. The miserable plight of the people
and the successful resistance, which the Vedic Hindus offered, will be
described hereafter.
159. While describing these sad consequences, I do not, at all, intend to
analyse the comparative merits and demerits of all religious principles,
practices or rituals of both the Vedic and the Buddhist religions like the
sacrifices, penances, sanyas and the like, from the ‘other worldly’ point of
view, nor do I wish to examine them thoroughly and comparatively from
‘this worldly’ outlook. To see how many of those principles are trustworthy
today, or how many of those rituals are worth following at the present time,
is also out of the scope of this book. So these points will not be raised. I,
however, wish to discuss in this book, the nation-wide consequence of
different religious principles and actions of their followers on political life
of India of those days. For without any such historical analysis, the different
currents and undercurrents of history of those times cannot be properly
shown.
After the Death of Ashoka
160. This pious emperor, Ashoka, who till his end, laboured hard
according to his own religious faith, for the ultimate good of mankind, died
in 232 B.C.
161. His death proved to be the beginning of the end of that magnificent
Maurya Empire!
162. During the last 25 years of his life, he had applied himself heart and
soul to the propagation of the Buddhistic cult. His descendants, who
succeeded him as emperors, were all honest Buddhists, and that is why, they
turned out to be nominal rulers, weak in armed strength. Because of the
criminal neglect of the imperial military might for these forty years or so by
the ‘extremists’ among the followers of the Buddhist principle of ‘non-
violence’ and their rulers, the whole military organization of the Maurya
empire right up to the frontiers, and espeicially the north-western frontier,
gradually went into complete disorder. This was allurement enough for the

foreign foes, who had been so far kept off through the awe of the Maurya
empire, to venture a fresh aggression on India hardly within thirty years or
so of Ashoka’s death.
The Aggression of Bactrian Greeks
163. Samrat Chandragupta had defeated Seleucos Nicator and driven
away the Greeks far beyond the Hindukush mountains round about 315
B.C. (of. paragraphs 130 to 140). Seleucos had established his independent
Greek kingdom in Bactria adjoining the western side of the Hindukush
mountains, which was then the extreme frontier of India. As it was
independent, it had lost every contact with the original distant European
Greek state. If, at all, there existed any contact between the two, it was that
of dire enmity. These Bactrian Greeks, therefore, were called Asian Greeks.
Because of the break in the continuity during the intervening hundred years
or so, these Bactrian Greeks had fallen off miserably in every respect from
the high standards of the original Greeks of Alexander’s time. They had
now nothing of the spirit and vigour of their Alexandrian ancestors.
Alexandrian ambition of conquering India, however, still goaded them on.
As soon as they saw the degeneration of the military strength of the Maurya
empire, these Bactrian Greeks were fired with the malicious ambition of
Indian conquest, as has already been told above, and Demetreos, their king
at that time, crossed the Hindukush and attacked India. As the Indian army
offered no resistance worth the name, Demetreos reduced Kamboj, Gandhar
and crossed the Indus, and conquering the whole of Panchnad, that
Yavanadhip (the Greek King) proceeded with his army to conquer Magadha
itself. The whole of the Greek army was inspired with the warlike spirit and
they began to declare that they were going to realize the dream of Indian
conquest of Alexander.
Why this Sudden Degeneration of Indian Bravery?
164. How very strange it is that hardly before a hundred years or so, the
provinces like Panchnad (Punjab) and others from the Hindukush to the
Indus in which the brave Indian Kshatriyas, their republics, and soldiers and
the common populace had all defeated and repulsed, with exceptional
valour the aggressive Greeks under Alexander and Seleucos and drove them
back, should now be overrun so very easily by the much too weaker and
degenerated Bactrian Greeks! Owing to the constant dread of the brave
fighting warriors of India, Alexander and Seleucos could not sleep soundly
in their military camps, while fighting in these provinces. But these second-

rate Bactrian Greek military leaders could sleep soundly in the royal palace
of Ayodhya (Saketa) in the confident safety of their triumph.
165. This Greek invasion of Demetreos took place within thirty to forty
years of Ashoka’s adoption of Buddhism. How did the Indian resisting
capacity and bravery in the valiant provinces of Gandhar, Panchnad and
others deteriorate so suddenly during those intervening years? What
particular event in those thirty to forty years necessitated this degeneracy in
the high standard of Indian heroism?
166. Was the Bactrian Greek invading army, under the leadership of
Demetreos, in any way superior to those of Alexander and Seleucos? Not at
all. They themeselves admitted that their forefathers, under the leadership
of Alexander and Seleucos were far superior to them, were endowed with
almost divine powers. It clearly means that the reason, why these inferior
and weaker Greeks should conquer the Indians so very easily, was not that
the Greek prowess had increased since the time of Alexander, but that the
Indian heroism and the Indian capacity to resist aggression must have
deteriorated to a horrible extent.
167. Now, during the hundred-and-twenty-seven years or so that elapsed
between the Alexandrian aggression in 327 B.C. and the one by Demetreos
about 200 B.C., there occurred only one significant event, which was likely
to bring about this grievous falling off in the high standard of Indian
material prowess and their ability to repulse the enemy. It must have been
the extremist propaganda of the non-resistant, non-violent principles of
Buddhism, which condemned the military might throughout these
provinces. For, no other event of such magnitude took place at that time.
We shall just consider here two points that throw some light on this issue.
Indian Mentality at the time of Alexander’s invasion and that at the
time of Demetreos!
168. At the time of Alexander, the Buddhist cult was never heard of in the
provinces of Kamboj, Gandhar, Panchnad straight to Sind (cf. para: 16).
The people there were hero worshippers of Vedic Hindus! States like the
Youdheyas were proud of their war-like spirit and bore the attribute
‘Nation-in-arms’ (आयुधजीवी) with evident exultation! (cf: para 38).
Not only the Kshatriyas there, but in some of the states, all the citizens, men
and women, young or old, took the field to face the aggressive foreign
enemy. Where, unfortunately, a certain republic got beaten, the brave Indian
ladies there leapt into the fire with the dauntless children (cf: paras 40 to 55)

at their breasts! One more thing can be adduced in support of the martial
spirit of the Vedic Indians of the time of Chandragupta-Chanakya, who
were ever prepared to protect the national boundaries.
169. It is interesting to note how martial prowess has been extolled in
glowing terms in the famous treatise, ‘Arthshastra’ of Chanakya, which
mainly guided the administration of the magnificent Indian empire of
Chandragupta. According to Chanakya’s treatise, all the varnas including
the Brahmins, had free access to the military service.
अमर्याद प्रवृत्तेच शत्रुभिस्स॑गरे कृते।
सर्वेवर्णाश्च दृश्येयुः शस्त्रवन्तो युधिष्ठिर॥
(In the event of an extensive war with the enemy, O Yudhisthir, all the
classes of people should be seen well-armed with weapons.)
This was the tradition of the Vedic Hindus! When such a large imperial
army entered the battlefield in order to face the enemy, the emperor, dictates
Chanakya, himself was to address the whole four-fold army in the following
way:
“वेदेष्वप्यनुश्रूयते समाप्तदक्षिणाम् यज्ञानामवभृतस्त्रानेषु या ता
गतिः
शूराणामिति। क्षपेन तामाप्यतियान्ति शूराः प्रणान् युयुध्येषु
परित्यजन्ति।
तुल्यभोगोस्मि भवद्भिः सहभोग्यमिंद राज्यम्। परान् हन्तव्यम्।”
(The brave warriors enjoy the same bliss as the one which is obtainable
through the final ceremonial bath after the completion of sacrifices—it is
vouchsafed by the Vedas! In the righteous war, the warriors sacrificing their
lives go instantly to the same blissful state (in heaven). This kingdom is to
be enjoyed by you as well as it is by me. Then, why wait. Fall upon the
enemy, and annihilate them!)
171. Who can tell, even Chandragupta himself might have thus inspired
his Indian fighting forces, when they marched upon Seleucos!
172. The war, which beats down unjustifiable aggression, protects the
virtuous people and destroys the wicked ones, is never considered ‘violent’
by the Vedic religion. It is called a religious war (a righteous war!).
173. At the time of Alexander, the Vedic propagandists had been going
round, kindling the fire of heroism and bravado in order to fight such a

righteous war of liberation against the Yavan (Greek) enemy throughout
that region, from Panchnad to Sindh. Many of such national propagandists,
mostly Brahmins, were being caught and hanged by Alexander! (cf: paras
32 and 69 for Plutarch’s citation).
174. After the valiant soldiers of Chandragupta, thus, routed the forces of
the Yavan emperor, Seleucos, Chandragupta and Chanakya built a strong
steel wall of the mightiest four-fold army in the world to protect the Indian
empire right up to the Hindukush mountain. The dread of that armed might
alone stopped the Bactrian Greeks beyond the Hindukush, from harbouring
any thought of enmity towards India for about 125 years. So long as Samrat
Ashoka called himself the follower of the Vedic religon, which means till
about 252 B.C., the north-western frontier guards of the Mauryan empire
remained well-equipped and invincible.
175. But as soon as Ashoka adopted Buddhism, this security of the empire
fell to pieces! Had Ashoka abdicated from the imperial throne of Magadha,
when he adopted Buddhism as Lord Gautam Buddha himself forsook the
Sakya nation before him, and had he travelled around as a bhikksu
propagating the faith, the Indian empire might have been spared a great
calamity and Ashoka’s loyalty to Buddhism, too, would have been truly
tested. But till his death, Ashoka could not bring himself to abdicate this
imperial throne. On the contrary, he turned his whole empire into a
Buddhistic monastery to carry on the propaganda. Evidently enough in
those frontier provinces, the dictums like ‘Religious victory excels martial
glory’, ‘Anger should be conquered by the negation of anger’, “Non-
violence is the supreme religious duty’, ‘Never kill any animal’ and such
others, which had their roots in the Vedic religion, and which were
beneficial to the society so long as they were practised with due regard to
place, time and person, began to be preached in the Buddhist way,
irrespective of any such consideration and in absolute terms without any
reservations, bands of ‘bhikksus’ brought up and maintained by the imperial
treasury of Ashoka began to preach in that region that armed might was a
sin! Only the followers of Buddhism were appointed to high offices of
Dharmamhamatra’ (धर्म महामात्र), provincial officers, and the faithful
government servants like the Rajjuks. All these were expected, according to
the orders from Ashoka, to render every sort of help at government level to
the precept and practice of the Buddhistic cult. Throughout the provinces
like Gandhar and Panchnad, Buddhism was preached not only amongst

civilians but also amongst the soldiers. Naturally, in those frontier provinces
of India, the warlike spirit and armed strength began to decrease as speedily
as the untrammelled propaganda about non-violence and other Buddhistic
principles gained momentum everywhere with the avowed royal support.
After carrying on such demilitarizing and anti-national propaganda for
twenty years, Ashoka breathed his last. His successors, the Buddhist
weaklings, surpassed Ashoka in the neglect of the invincible frontier
guards, which had been so scrupulously and assiduously maintained in
well-equipped military outposts since the time of Chandragupta. This was
ignored to such an extent that the whole defence-line collapsed as would a
whole turret, the base of which has sunk underground.
In Short
176. Because Ashoka and his descendants with their imperial support
carried throughout their empire, the incessant propaganda of the one-sided
extremist Buddhist principles, which derided martial prowess, and
criminally neglected the intrepidity and valour which fought for national
independence, and because they transformed the whole empire into a
gigantic Buddhistic monastery, and converted the fighting warriors into
saffron-clad Buddha bhikksu, the heroic spirit among the people of the
frontier provinces and their staunch patriotism suffered a horrible
debasement, and the military organization that had been the strongest in the
world since the time of Chandragupta wore out completely because of this
internal virus. And that is the reason why Demetreos' Greek forces, far
inferior to those of Alexander and Seleucos, could so easily reduce the
whole region from the Hindukush to Panchnad and could march proudly
towards Magadha.
177. With all the imperial authority and resources at the disposal of these
Buddhists, none of the provincial governors, nor any administrator, nor
even the Buddhist population, got excited and boldly came forward to fight
in the battlefield these Yavan foes, who dared snatch away the
independence of India and subjugate it. They were not enraged at this insult
of India, nor were they ashamed of it. The very descendant of Ashoka in
Magadha, who called himself emperor and was warming the imperial
throne, the Buddhist King Brihadrath, never took a step to resist the
advance of the Greek enemy!
178. Perhaps that Buddhist King was trying to win over the Greeks by his
unrestrained observance of the Buddhistic principle of ‘non- resistance’ and

the one that preached, “Anger should be conquered by the negation of
anger” and was trying to succeed in the application of the Buddhistic
doctrine by keeping indoors!
Wave of Nationwide rage among the vedic hindus: the Valiant
Kharvela, the king of Kalinga, Marches on the Greeks
179. Although the Buddhists were neither enraged nor disturbed, nor for
that matter, even ashamed of the fact that the Greek aggression was
undermining the national honour of India or that it endangered the nation’s
liberty, the Vedic Hindus, at least, were highly enraged at this national insult
and the imminent national calamity. Unfortunately, they had no political
power left in the north of India, which could immediately resist this national
calamity. But within a decade of Ashoka’s death, the provinces of Kalinga
and Andhra in south India had renounced the paramountcy of the Buddhist
Mauryas, and established their independent kingdom. The kings of both
these provinces were staunch followers of the Vedic religion and so equally
staunch Indian patriots. Both of them had built up mighty armies, well-
equipped with arms. The news that the Greeks had conquered northern
India, and that the Magadha king, a weak Buddhist, could not at all resist it,
caused a great furore amongst the Vedic population in South India. At last,
the king of the independent state of Kalinga, the valiant Kharvela, decided
to march himself at the head of an army against the Greek army of
Demetreos.
The Yavanas Routed: their Hasty Retreat!
180. First of all, with a mighty army, he conquered Magadha and joined
battle with the Greek forces somewhere near Ayodhya. The strong Indian
army of Kalinga dealt such a crushing defeat upon the Greeks, that
Demetreos immediately turned his face backwards, and marched off with
all his army back to his home beyond Panchnad.
181. After driving the Greeks beyond the frontiers of India, Kharvela did
not find much time either to pursue the fleeing enemy or to organize the
administration of the whole of that region. Political emergency drove him
back to Kalinga almost immediately. He did not dethrone the Maurya
emperor of Magadha, King Brihadrath. As soon as he returned to Kalinga,
Kharvela celebrated, according to the Vedic tradition, the horse ceremony to
commemorate the brilliant victory he had gained against the Greeks in
defence of the honour and liberty of India. This horse-sacrifice was
particularly known to have a national and political significance. Besides

owing to Ashoka’s ban, the Vedic Hindus had not been able to perform any
sacrifice whatsoever for the last forty or fifty years. But soon after the Vedic
states were established in Kalinga and Andhra, this horse-sacrifice, the first
of its kind, was celebrated in total defiance of all the injunctions of Ashoka
on the Vedic religious practices, immortalising the crushing defeat inflicted
on the Greeks, the national enemies of India.
Another Greek Invasion
182. Seeing that Kharvela had returned to the south, Menander, who had
so far stabilized his position in Kamboj and Gandhar, and who was furious
at the disaster met with by Demetreos on his march against Magadha, once
again invaded India within a period of four years. As at the time of the
invasion of Demetreos, so also at this time, the Greeks did not meet with
any opposition worth the name in Panchnad, which was dominated by the
Buddhists and, as such, had become pacifist, the weak descendant of
Ashoka on the throne of Magadha, too, offered no effective resistance.
The Buddhists Sympathize with the Greeks
183. On the contrary, Menander could enlist the sympathy of many of the
Buddhists in his campaign. For, he openly said that he approved of many
of the Buddhist principles and that he was soon going to become a convert
to it. So, many Buddhist preachers began to publicise that the Greeks had
come to fight with the Vedic Hindus alone, and that if they conquered
India, there would be a Buddhist rule! The Buddhists were not much
concerned with the alien nationality or the Greeks. Buddhism did not
recognize the differences of caste, race or nationality! This was the anti-
national and anti-Indian wicked way in which the Buddhist preachers
began to delude the people of India! As their sympathetic assistance was
so useful to Menander, he too began to circulate through his Greek agents,
that this campaign of his was directed solely to nip in the bud the
conspiracy of the Vedic Hindus to snatch away the imperial power from
the hands of the weak Buddhist rulers of Magadha. Menander came once
again, reducing Panchnad and other provinces right up to Ayodhya. In
order to avoid the repetition of the sad plight of Demetreos, who had made
undue haste at an inopportune time, Menander spent some time in
Ayodhya, consolidating the newly won territories and replenishing his
army before he launched an attack on Magadha and waited for the
auspicious moment.
But there in Pataliputra...?

184. The Vedic community and their leaders in North India had already
     experienced a surge of heroic spirit because of the victory of the brave
     Kharvela of Kalinga. To add to it, the news arrived of Menander’s
     menacing invasion! Besides, the Indian Buddhist populace showed clear
     signs of defection and betrayal of their co-nationalists to Menander. The
     nationalist Indian leaders, therefore, formed a revolutionary body with a
     view to dethroning the vacillating and weak Brihadrath Maurya from the
     royal seat of Magadha, and replace him with one of the Vedic sect, who was
     of proven mettle like Chandragupta Maurya. But everybody was confronted
     with the difficult question, as to who was there so bold and powerful, to
     take the lead in this national revolution and to destroy the Yavanas (the
     Greeks) completely.
     Pushyamitra
185. Amongst the remnants of the Magadhan warriors in the army of the
     above-named Brihadrath Maurya was one, named Pushyamitra. He was a
     Brahimin by birth. He was, moreover, a staunch supporter of the Vedic
     religion and Indian nationality, and a devotee of Lord Shiv. His family name
     was Shung. Even in the Magadhan army, he had attained so much
     importance because of his military exploits that Brihadrath Maurya himself
     had appointed him, not very willingly but only out of necessity, to the office
     of the Commander-in-Chief of the forces in the face of the deadly war with
     the invading Greeks. The moment he got the reins of the highest military
     authority, Pushyamitra began to enlarge and reorganize the army of
     Magadha, and equipped it with all the weapons. This focussed the attention
     of all the patriotic Vedic populace on Pushyamitra, the general of the army.
     Everybody anxiously hoped, if General Pushyamitra should lead the
     political coup...? Who else, they thought, was at that time fitter and abler
     than this valiant hero, to ascend the traditional imperial throne of the Indian
     empire?
186. From the historically established facts of this Magadhan political
     revolution, which are going to be related very shortly, it will be amply clear
     that General Pushyamitra must have accepted the leadership of the future
     conspiracy. It is very likely that he must have secured, in advance, at least
     tacit consent of his army and some of its leaders before he acted openly.
     Assassination of Brihadrath Maurya
187. While all these preparations were going on, one day it was decided to
     hold a grand military review in the vast courtyard of the royal palace in the

capital city of Pataliputra. Emperor Brihadrath Maurya was present there to
witness the march-past and receive the salute of the army. But while as per
Pushyamitra’s orders, the ceremonial movements of the four-fold army and
their different formations were going on with all pomp and show and noise
and bustle, for some reason, not known to history, some trouble arose near
the place where King Brihadrath was sitting. In the excitement of the
moment, General Pushyamitra marched on Brihadrath Maurya, who had
come to be merely the titular head of the empire, and beheaded him.
188. This chopping-off of the head of Brihadrath put a stop to the dynasty
of the Mauryas! The Buddhistic Mauryan Empire met its doom that day.
189. This unexpected and horrible turn of events caused a great furore in
the large crowd assembled there. But did any of the armed warriors or
anyone from those of the royal household, who were sitting near King
Brihadrath attack General Pushyamitra? No, not at all. On the contrary, the
whole army hailed him as their leader.
190. For, General Pushyamitra had done exactly what the soldiers
themselves and many others wanted to do but could not, as nobody in the
whole of India dared shoulder the responsibility for such an hazardous
deed. Pushyamitra had simply done the unavoidable national duty of killing
Ashoka’s descendant, Brihadrath Maurya, who had proved himself
thoroughly incompetent to defend the independence of the Indian empire.
Pushyamitra and Chandragupta
191. Chandragupta and Chanakya had to assassinate, as an unavoidable
national duty, Samrat Mahapadmananda, who had proved himself
thoroughly incapable of repulsing the Greeks for the protection of the
Indian empire and its independence, at the time of the first Greek invasion
of Alexander. Just for the same reason, Pushyamitra had to cut off the head
of Brihadrath Maurya, the nominal Buddhist emperor, simply as a national
duty.
Emperor Pushyamitra Shung
192. This momentous event took place round about 184 B.C., and with all
the Vedic rituals, Pushyamitra was appointed Emperor of India on the
throne of Ashoka in Pataliputra. It marked the end of the Maurya dynasty
and the beginning of the reign of the Shungas.
Emperor Pushyamitra’s Campaign Against the Greeks!
193. First of all, Pushyamitra stabilized the administrative set-up and
consolidated his position in his capital and the regions around it, and after

mobilizing a strong four-fold army, eager to fight, he fell upon Menander,
who had so far dug in his feet safe in Ayodhya. Finding it extremely
difficult to hold their ground before the mighty arms of the Indian army, the
Greek general Menander began to retreat. Earlier, Demetreos had not been
pursued, but this time, Pushyamitra was not going to be slack. He chased
and hunted down the Greek army. Inflicting defeat after defeat on the Greek
army and causing confusion in their ranks, Pushyamitra drove the dispirited
and vanquished Menander far beyond the Indus. The Indian empire right up
to the Indus was once again set free from the Greek political dominance.
The Greek sword was broken, the Greek shield shattered, the very
root of their Political power dug up and Destroyed!
194. This was the last of the Greek aggressions on India. This terrible
defeat inflicted on the Greeks by Pushyamitra consumed their strength so
much, that they never had the heart to strike again at Bharat any time in
future! Bharat, thus, annihilated this Greek enemy that had been a source of
constant trouble since the time of Alexander.
195. Pushyamitra annexed all the territory liberated from the Greek hands
to his own empire. He appointed at Ujjain his son, Agnimitra, as the viceroy
of the region. General Agnimitra was a brave and able commander like his
father. He forced the land up to Vidarbha in the South, to acknowledge his
overlordship. But later Vidarbha refused to do so. Hence, Agnimitra
attacked it. In the battle, Vidarbadhish (the lord of Vidarbha) was defeated.
Amidst all this confusion, Princess Malavika, the daughter of the
Vidarbharaj, was enamoured of the bravery and other virtues of Agnimitra,
and was very eager to marry him. So with the consent of Pushyamitra, the
King of Vidarbha celebrated her marriage with Agnimitra. This not only
created the bonds of friendship but also the bonds of blood-relation between
the two royal families. On this romantic theme itself, Kalidas composed his
famous play Malavikagnimitra.
A Horse-Sacrifice in the very Pataliputra of Ashoka!
196. Pushyamitra, who had completely destroyed the Greeks, the age-old
alien enemies of the nation, and rejuvenated the Indian empire, had acquired
with his own splendid victories, the right to perform a horse-sacrifice
according to the Vedic tradition. About this right of Samrat Pushyamitra,
Vincent Smith writes in his Early History of India (1924), “The Yavanas and
all other rivals having been disposed of in due course, Pushyamitra was
justified in his claim to reign as the paramount power of north India, and

straightaway proceeded to announce his success by a magnificent celebration
of the Ashvamedha sacrifice at his capital (p. 212).”
197. This declaration of celebrating a horse-sacrifice by Samrat
Pushyamitra thrilled the whole country, barring the minority community of
the Buddhist with national pride and martial triumph. In the very capital of
Ashoka, who had deprived the Vedic Hindus of their religious freedom by
means of his supreme political authority, was this Ashvamedha of Samrat
Pushyamitra to be performed. This horse-sacrifice of Pushyamitra was, in
fact, a public imperial proclamation of Samrat Pushyamitra, that all the
restrictions imposed by Ashoka on the religious freedom of the Vedic
Hindus were withdrawn.
198. Emperor Pushyamitra’s grandson, Vasumitra, was also a spirited
young prince, as his father, Pushyamitra’s son, Agnimitra was a veteran
army-leader and an efficient royal administrator. When Samrat Pushyamitra
let his sacrificial horse loose on its triumphal march throughout the land, the
task of protecting that horse with a strong army was entrusted to this brave
young grandson, General Vasumitra. The horse was not obstructed in his
free ramble right up to the banks of the Indus. But on the banks of the
Indus, he was opposed by a certain Yavan King which, according to the
conventions of the time, meant that the sovereignty of Pushyamitra was
challenged. So the young General Vasumitra fought with the ‘Yavan’ enemy
and after defeating him completely, got released the ceremonial horse. The
boundless joy that was universally felt in the capital, when after a year the
invincible and unconquered General Vasumitra tiumphantly marched into
the city, can very well be seen in the formal invitation sent by Pushyamitra
to his son, Agnimitra, which is still available to us in almost the very same
words of the Emperor. Kalidas has practically reproduced it verbatim et
literatim in his aforesaid play, ‘Malavikagnimitra.’ That letter in the drama
is so interesting, that everybody might read it with pleasure. It is a living
document of the thoughts of Samrat Pushyamitra and the common feelings
of the people of those triumphant days.
A National Festival
199. The festive occassion of the horse-ceremony was graced with the
presence of the great sages and ascetics of India, Brahmins, well-versed in
all the Vedic lore, the high-born Kshatriya kings and princes, the prominent
officers and administrators of the empire, eminent citizens and leaders in
towns. Patanjali, who was renowned as the greatest of the scholars, and who

has now come to be listed with universal approval, among the world’s
greatest scholars—including the western ones—was also present on that
glorious occasion. With the blessings and participation of such celebrities
the festival of that horse-sacrifice naturally came to acquire the dignity and
grandeur of the Indian national victory over the Mlenchchas.
Totally Annihilated Asian Greek Stock
200. After the Greeks were driven away beyond the Indus by Samrat
Pushyamitra round about 190 to 180 B.C. and India was rid of all Greek
dominance, the Greek race saw the beginning of their extinction. Beyond
the Indus in Gandhar and Bactria (Balhik), they had some small states
dragging on their uncertain existence. And about the beginning of the first
century of the Christian era, when a great tide of the fierce war-like race of
the Sakas from Central Asia dashed against Bactria, Persia and Gandhar, the
Greeks knew not where to flee in order to escape the terrible impact of
‘Sakas’ sharp swords. They fled with wives and children, the old and the
infant. At last, they crossed the Indus and entered India to save their lives.
But now they came as displaced persons seeking shelter! What a tragic
irony! This influx of theirs was a far cry from the triumphant entry of their
forefathers under Alexander and Seleucos! The latter rushed in crying
hoarse for war, while the present Greeks came in begging for shelter!!
201. But India gave them shelter very graciously in those most
unfortunate days, forgetting all enmity. These runaway Greeks settled
severally, wherever and whenever their separate batches could find any
shelter. Some of them became converts to Buddhism while some courted
Hinduism. But as Vedic Hindus alone had their states everywhere in India,
these Greeks, whether they were Buddhists or Vedic Hindus, were not able
to cause any sort of political trouble. They adopted the Indian languages,
Indian customs and swiftly, they were merged completely in the Indian
society. And because they had marital and other social relations with the
Indians, within a century or two, they completely lost the sense of their
separate existence as Greeks—the sense of their separate nationality! Just as
a lump of salt dissolves swiftly into the torrential current of the Ganges, in
the same way, their Greek extraction was totally merged into the tidal wave
of Indian life.
The Mlenchchas Merged into our Civilization
202. Most of the western historians, and our own too, have completely
missed one point in this connection, which, for that very reason, must be

made explicit here. It is this, whether it was the Greeks or other foreign
aggressors, whoever came flashing their swords, were ultimately conquered
and engulfed, and completely submerged in our society, leaving not a trace
of their separate existence behind. In every case, it has been amply proved
that it was only when the aggressor’s insolent sword was beaten down—it
was only when the aggressor was vanquished completely in the deadly
armed conflict on the battlefield—that those foreigners became so very
tame and pliable as to be easily overwhelmed and dissolved in our society.
This was achieved not by peaceful persuasion, but by the stronger and
deadlier weapons.
No Religious Persecution—but the most Appropriate Punishment for
Treason!
203. Some of the old Buddhist books, in the loquacious style of the
Puranas, enlarge upon the cruel treatment meted out by Pushyamitra to
Buddhist bhikksus, upon the outright massacre of some of them, and the
destruction of some of the Buddhist monasteries. Even the European
historians have set aside all these references as exaggerated ones! Still, some
of them have stated, that there should be some grain of truth at the root of
these exaggerated accounts that Pushyamitra might have been guilty of some
slight persecution of the Buddhists by way of revenge. We also feel that
Samrat Pushyamitra might have taken good many of the Buddhists to task,
but not for any philosophical or theological difference of opinion.
204. The Buddhists were not persecuted as a class simply because they
believed in nihilism or agnosticism, or because some of them were atheists
while others were non-violent on principle and condemned the Vedas, or
because their religious rituals were in many ways different from those of the
Vedic Hindus. Lord Buddha himself experienced no obstacle in the
propagation of his faith! Let that alone! The Buddhist faith had been more or
less three hundred years old by the time of Chandragupta’s succession to the
throne! In his undivided all-India Hindu empire and also during the tenure of
the ministerial office of the staunch Arya Chanakya, no Buddhist
persecution of any sort was reported by the Greek ambassador,
Megasthenes, who had stayed at the court of the first Maurya Emperor for
years together. Megasthenes does not refer to Buddhism even by name, for
they had not till then formed any anti-national and political alliances
detrimental to the interests of the nation, either with Alexander or with
Seleucos. It was not then possible for them! That is why, along with many

other religionists, the Buddhists also could observe their own rituals
according to their own beliefs and likings. Besides, they could openly
preach by sweet persuasion and discussion.
205. Subsequent to the invasions of Alexander and Seleucos, when the
Greeks came raiding for the second time under Demetreos and Menander,
and when advancing as far as Ayodhya, they were about to dethrone the
reigning king of Magadha and endanger the independence of the Indian
empire, the Indian Buddhists played a brazen-faced treacherous role, as is
seen from the fact that these Buddhists swore their loyalty to the Greek
Emperor, Menander, whom they called Milind. When the latter adopted the
Buddhist cult, they accepted him as the King of the region conquered by
him. The Buddhist scholars and 'bhikksus' proudly struted in the Indian
courts of those Greeks, as if they were moving in some national court. In
order to put down as sternly as possible these highly objectionable
treacherous acts of these Indian Buddhists, the plots hatched to undermine
the national independence, and the open instigation to do anti-national acts,
which went on incessantly through various Buddhist monasteries and
viharas, Pushyamitra and his generals were forced, by the exigency of time
when the war was actually going on, to hang Indian Buddhists, who were
guilty of seditious acts and to pull down the monasteries, that had become
the centres of sedition. It was a just punishment for high treason and for
joining hands with the enemy, in order that Indian independence and
empire might be protected. It was no religious persecution. As the supreme
authority in the imperial administrative structure of India, it was
Pushyamitra’s duty—a religious and kindly duty, according national legal
code—to chastise perfidy, whether it was on part of the Buddhists or on
that of the Vedic Hindus!
Ashoka and Pushyamitra
206. In traditional historical writings, mainly based on Buddhist myths,
Ashoka has been extolled as tolerant of different religious sects, while
Pushyamitra wholly conniving at his efforts to establish religious freedom,
is generally imputed with intolerence and persecution of the Budhists. This
false notion has to be corrected. If any body is at all guilty of religious
intolerance, it was Ashoka himself. For not only with verbal propaganda but
with the abuse of his regal authority, he declared illegal all the fundamental
religious rituals, such as sacrifice and hunting by the Vedic Hindus, who
formed the majority of his subjects. But Pushyamitra did not issue any royal

decree enforcing any performances of sacrifices in the Buddha Viharas or
the worship of Vaishvadeva in every Buddh household, even as a fitting
retort to Ashoka’s junctions. The Buddhists were as absolutely free as all
other religious sects, to perform their religious rites and enjoy religious
freedom, so long as they abstained from any anti-national foreign contact. It
is likely that in the troubled times of national war, the chastisement of the
disloyal Buddhists might have affected some of the innocent ones. But it
was not a rule—but an inevitable exception!
207. What Pushyamitra really did was to reinstate the religious freedom,
which was annulled by Ashoka. If anybody is to be called intolerant of
religious difference, it should be Ashoka and not Pushyamitra.
208. In this context, the words of Vincent Smith, who shows no particular
partiality for the Vedic Hindus, and yet writes judiciously, are worth
remembering.
209. However, Vincent Smith, too, like other historians, has not realized
that the main reason of the general animosity that the Vedic Hindus feel
towards the Buddhists, and the persecutions that the latter suffered at their
hands from time-to-time, culminating in the total annihilation of Buddhism
in India, is that the Buddhists, often times betrayed the cause of Indian
independence and Indian empire. In spite of the fact that Vincent Smith
never realized this main reason of the downfall of Buddhism, he has held
the Buddhists responsible for the religious persecution mentioned in various
Buddhist writings. An extract from his Early History of India (1924) (P.
213-14) will bear out the above remarks:
209A. “The memorable horse-sacrifice of Pushyamitra marked the
beginning of Brahmanical (Vedic?) reaction which was fully developed by
centuries later in the time of Samudragupta and his successors... if credit
may be given to semi-mythological stories of Buddhist writers, Pushyamitra
was not content with the peaceful revival of Hindu rites, but indulged in a
savage persecution of Buddhism.... it will be rash to reject this tale as
wholly baseless, although it may be exaggerated.... That such outbursts after
all should have occurred is not wonderful, if you consider the extreme
oppressiveness of the Jain and Buddhist prohibition, when ruthlessly
enforced, as they certainly were by some Rajas and probably by Ashoka.
The wonder rather is that the persecutions were so rare, and that as a rule,
the various sects managed to live together in harmony and in the enjoyment
of fairly impartial official favour.”

210. Pushyamitra who, with his armed might, completely exterminated the
     Greek intrusion, which from the time of Alexander had often caused great
     harm to India, and who, therefore, rightly deserves the title, ‘Yavan-
     destroyer’, protected ably for 36 years not only the independence of India,
     which he himself had won, but brought about the many sided development
     of his country, and then died peacefully in 149 B.C.
211. In the sense in which Chandragupta’s rout of the Greek pockets of
     influence in India is said to be the first glorious epoch of Hindu victories
     over aggressors, this total extinction of the greeks in India at the hands of
     Yavan-destroyer PUSHYAMITRA becomes necessarily, THE SECOND
     GLORIOUS EPOCH of Indian History.
     ❑
     .

3^RD^ GLORIOUS EPOCH
3.
Vikramaditya, the Annihilator of
Saka-Kushan Menace
212. After the total destruction of the Greeks, India saw another foreign
aggression, which has to be reckoned with in the Indian history rather
conspicuously, and which was in some respects more ominous and
extensive than those of the armies of Alexander or other Greek generals. I
mean the incursions of the Sakas and Kushans.
213. Although the Sakas and the Kushans in some respects differed very
widely and although they fought each other very furiously, from the Indian
point of view, they had such a striking similarity that they appeared almost
identical. Hence their hordes, which dashed against India, like tidal waves,
one after another, were generally called Sakas by the common Indian
people. At some places in the Indian literature, they are referred to as
‘Kushs’. For this very reason, in this book too, both of them are mentioned
as Sakas.
214. The Sakas lived in Central Asia beyond Bactria (Balhik) in large wild
gangs. The region beyond them was occupied by tribes, equally wild and
ferocious. Even beyond this region right in China, there were still wilder,
more ferocious, but braver nomadic tribes of the millions of Huns (Hsiung
Nus), which were always at war with one another. These Sakas, Kushans
and Huns entertained bitter enmity towards one another and were constantly
at war.
215. About a hundred-and-fifty years before Christ, tribal feuds amongst
these nomadic tribes flared up in such terrible manner as were never heard of
before. One of these tribes, the Huns or Hsiung Nus of China, who were the
most pertinacious desperados of all, fell with all their ferocity and might
upon the neighbouring tribe of the Kushans, driving them off completely out
of their homeland towards the west. So the Kushans in their turn, fell in
repeated violent tidal waves upon their next neighbours, the Sakas, who were
then happily ensconced to the north of Bactria (Balhik), and after
exterminating the latter from their abode, they founded there their own
kingdom, instead. The Sakas faithfully forwarded that kick to the adjoining