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

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