10 Eajendralala Mitra — On the Early Life of ASoka. [Jan. 



7. Darbhaka. 7. Kalasoko. 



8. Udayasva. 8. Ten sons of the last, no 



9. Nandivardhana. name given. 



10. Mahanandi. 9. Chandagutto. 



11. Sumalya &c., the nine Nandas. 10. Bindusaro. 



12. Chandragupta. 



13. Vindusara. 



The other Puranas give many different versions of the names above 

 noted, (see Mr. Hall's Notes in loeo cit.). The Pali names are obviously 

 not so authentic as the Buddhist ones from Nepal. The latter were very 

 early translated into the Chinese, and have therefore better claim to confi- 

 dence. At the same time it should be observed that the omission of the 

 name of Chandragupta from the latter is significant. Coupled with the 

 fact mentioned by the Nepalese writer that Vindusara came to Pataliputra 

 from Rajagriha, it suggests the idea that Chundragupta was the sole king of 

 his race, and that the Mauriya line commenced and ended with him. The Pali 

 annals make Vindusara the son of Chandragupta. If so, he could not have 

 come from Rajagriha to take possession of his ancestral capital of Pataliputra. 

 This is, however, not the place to enter into a discussion on the subject. 



According to the work under notice, Vindusara of Rajagriha became 

 the king of Pataliputra, and his eldest son was Susima. When Vindusara 

 was reigning at Pataliputra, a Brahman of Champapuri presented him 

 a daughter named Subhadraiigi. The damsel was extraordinarily beauti- 

 ful, and, a soothsayer having foretold that she would be the wife of a great 

 king and mother of a universal monarch, the father made the present with 

 a view to help the prophecy. The immediate fruit of this presentation did 

 not, however, prove satisfactory to Subhadrangi. Immured in the palace, 

 she was, through the jealousy of the princesses of the zenana, doomed to 

 menial service. Among other low occupations she was ordered to acquire 

 the art of a barber, whereby, she was told, she would gain the goodwill of 

 the king. When well proficient in the art, she was ordered by the princess* 

 as to go and shave the king. She did so, and acquitted herself so well that 

 the king offered to grant her any boon she wished. She prayed for his 

 society ; but the king denounced her on account of her being of the low 

 caste of a barber. She explained that she was only acting the part of a 

 barber by order of the princesses of the palace, but that she was a Brah- 

 mani by birth, and had been presented to the king expressly with a view to 

 his marrying her. The king, thus reminded of her history, granted her 

 wish, and made her the chief queen of the palace. Asoka was the first fruit 

 of this union. IJe was so named because the mother emancipated herself 

 from her sufferings by his birth, the word meaning '* griefless." The lady 

 Ijad a second son named Vitasoka or Vigatasoka, which word has a similar 



