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Successors of Ashoka
Successors of Ashoka were weak as they had been reared in the tradition of non violence and Dharma Vijaya.

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Successors of AshokaSuccessors of Ashoka could not maintain the integrity of the previous rulers of the Mauryan Empire. An obscurity settles on the Mauryan Empire post reign of Ashoka. Tivara, the only son of Ashoka according to inscriptions, is not heard of again. The Puranas, the Avadanas, and the Jain accounts give different accounts. Similarly later writers like Kalhana of Kashmir and Taranath of Tibet give different stories of what happened post reign of Ashoka.

It is assumed that the empire was divided among the surviving sons of Ashoka. According to the Puranas altogether nine Mauryas ruled for a period of 137 years. Dasaratha is a name that has been confirmed who is ignored in the Buddhist and Jain accounts. Sampadi is well known both in Buddhist and jaina literature. He was the son of Kunala according to Divyadana and was established on the throne of Magadha by the ministers of state under strange circumstances. It is believed that Ashoka had promised hundred crores to the Sangha of which he had paid only ninety-six crores by the end of his reign. Therefore he handed the kingdom over to them instead of the balance of four crores. The ministers managed to raise the money and redeemed the kingdom over which they set Samprati. According to Jain accounts make Samprati the immediate successor of Asoka. It also says that after his conversion to Jainism by Suhastin he did everything for Jainism that Ashoka did for Buddhism like building temples and endowing liberally and spreading the faith in non-Aryan lands.

Kalhana, historian of Kashmir narrates the story of Jalauka, a son of Ashoka and his successor in Kashmir. IT is believed that he freed his country from Greek invasion. Salisuka is a name attested by the Vayu and Vishnu Puranas as well as by the `Yugapurana` section.

There is little definite knowledge of what actually happened after the close of Ashoka`s rule. Descendants of Mauryan family are heard of centuries after the fall of the Mauryan Empire. Hiuen Tsang has mentioned in his book Purnavarman as a descendant of Ashoka. The Mauryas of Konkan had their capital at Puri, situated on the Elephanta Island near Bombay. They were subjected to the Chalukyas of Badami in the sixth century A. D. The reminiscence of Mauryan rule persisted in Kuntala for quite time. It is alluded to in Kannada inscriptions of the eleventh century from Karnataka.


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