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

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...?