156 Description of some Ancient Gems and Seals, fye. [No. 110. 



than the reign of Asoka. Now it is almost certain that the successors 

 of Asoka were driven out of the country upon the Kabul river by the 

 Bactrian Greeks under Demetrius the son of Euthydemus, and it is 

 quite certain that from the period of the war between Eucratides and 

 Demetrius ■ King of the Indians,' until the decay of the Indo-Scythian 

 power about A. D. 220, no Hindu Prince ruled over the territory on the 

 banks of the Indus. We have thus two distinct proofs that Kunanda 

 cannot have flourished later than the era of Asoka, and since we cannot 

 identify him with that prince whose other name was Piya-dasi, we must 

 look earlier in the list for some king whose recorded history will agree 

 with the deductions made from our examination of his seal and coins. 

 The name given in the Grecian authors to Asoka's father is Amitrochates, 

 which can only be the corruption of some title assumed by Bindusara, 

 but notwithstanding the near coincidence of sound which Amitro-chates 

 bears to Amaya-bhuta or Amogha-bhuta, it is quite impossible to identi- 

 fy them, as the first was a Brahmanist, while Kunanda, as we have 

 shown, was a Buddist. It is equally impossible to identify him with 

 the Brahminical Chandra Gupta Maurya ; but amongst his immediate 

 predecessors, the nine Nandas, the only difficulty seems to be with 

 which of them he is to be identified. This is however a matter of little 

 consequence, as the elder Nanda Mahapadma, and his eight sons reign- 

 ed conjointly for one hundred years previous to the accession of Chan- 

 dra Gupta, in about B.C. 312. The nine Nandas were therefore contem- 

 poraries of Alexander the Great. 



Of the first Nanda Mahapadma it is said in the Vishnu and Bhagavut 

 Puranas ' he will bring the whole earth under one umbrella, his rule 

 being irresistible.' He was therefore a powerful monarch. That he 

 was a Buddhist however, I cannot affirm; although the following pas- 

 sage from Wilson's translation of the Mudra Rakshasa, would seem to 

 countenance the opinion that the Prince and even his councillors were 

 of that faith. See Hindu Theatre, vol. 2 pp. 159 60, where Chanakya the 

 Brahman says, 



There is a fellow of my studies, deep 



In planetary influence and policy, 



The Brahman Induserma ; him I sent, 



When first I vowed the death of Nanda, hither; 



And here repairing as a Bauddha mendicant, 



He speedily contrived to form acquaintance 



And friendship toith the royal councillors. 



Above them all does Rakshasa repose 



In him implicit confidence. 



It is hardly possible that King Nanda and his councillors would have 

 admitted a Bauddha mendicant to their friendship, had they been Bran- 



