The Maurya Empire was founded by Chandragupta Maurya, with help from Chanakya, a Brahmin teacher at Takshashila. According to several legends, Chanakya traveled to Magadha, a kingdom that was large and militarily powerful and feared by its neighbors, but was insulted by its king Dhana Nanda, of the Nanda Dynasty. Chanakya swore revenge and vowed to destroy the Nanda Empire. Meanwhile, the conquering armies of Alexander the Great refused to cross the Beas River and advance further eastward, deterred by the prospect of battling Magadha. Alexander returned to Babylon and re-deployed most of his troops west of the Indus river. Soon after Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BCE, his empire fragmented, and local kings declared their independence, leaving several smaller disunited satraps.
Ashoka:
We may pass over the next twenty kings whose names but no deeds, have been preserved, and come down to Ashoka. In spite of a number of surmises to the contrary, there is a consensus of opinion among historians that Ashoka of Kashmir history was the Emperor Ashoka of Magadha, who reigned from 272 B.C. to 231 B.C., and whose dominions extended eastward to Bengal and westward to the Hindukush. Ashoka was a Buddhist who erected many viharas or monasteries, and stupas or sacred cupolas. He acted on the policy of religious toleration and patronized all religions. One of the greatest lessons that he taught to his people was to “overcome all lassitude,”and he never spared himself any pains.This description of the Emperor Ashoka agrees entirely with that given by Kalhana, though the latter’s chronology was so vague that he dates the Kashmir Ashoka a thousand years before the great Indian emperor of the same name.
The Emperor Ashoka’s rule in kashmir is the first great landmark in the history of the country which was then governed through a deputy who had his seat of government at Taxila(Pali-Takkasila or Takshacila). This is about the time when Rome and Carthage were beginning to grapple together in the Punic wars. Ashoka built the original town of Srinagar, at a site about four miles above the existing capital and which is now occupied by a small village called Puranadhisthana (old capital) or Pandrethan. “He had broken through the fetter of Brahmanism and established friendly intercourse with Greece and Egypt, and it is to this connexion that the introduction of stone architecture and sculpture in Kashmir is due.”Buddhism, offering a higher morality and persuasive argument at the same time, disarmed Brahman opposition and spread rapidly. It very deeply affected the Kashmiri character. The extraordinary patience that the Kashmiri shows under the severest visitations of nature such as cholera and earthquake is clearly traceable to this early Buddhist influence. The outside appearance of most of the present day Muslim Shrines is not unlike that of Buddhist Pagoda. Buddhism lingered on in the valley right up to the times of Kalhana who was himself an admirer of Buddha though he was a Civaite. The pond in which the temple of Pandrethan was erected has now been drained and the plinth excavated. The doomed roof is a fine piece of sculpture. The temple is about 18 feet square with projecting porticos. It was erected in 921 A.C. by King Partha.
Ashoka’s successors:
Ashoka was succeeded by Jaloka or Jalauka, whom, perhaps-from the phonetic similarity of names or from the close succession of one by the other, Kalhana states to be the son of the former. His name, however is quite unknown to Indian history. He may have been a native king of Kashmir. He may have come to the throne by a coup de main, similar to that by which Chandragupta Maurya, took advantage of the utter confusion and anarchy that prevailed in western India on the return of Alexander the Great, and established the Maurya empire on the ruins of the small states shattered by the great Macedonian conqueror. During Ashoka’s later years the country was harassed by Mlecchas, probably the restless Mongolian hordes from the steppes of central Asia who were always on the move in search of new pastures and new homes. The strong hand of the Emperor was soon after removed by death. The difficult nature of the surrounding country and the cares of an already unwieldy empire may have kept his successor from any attempt at its recovery. At any rate, there was anarchy and confusion in Kashmir, and the time was ripe for the native adventurer, Jaloka or Jalauka, to try conclusions with the foreign depredators, in which he was successful. Jalauka was a popular hero and a worshipper of Civa. The first religious edifice on the isolated hill, rising to about 1,000 feet above the plains, and known as Takht-i-Sulaiman and called by Hindus Sankaracharya, was built by Jaloka about 200 B.C. The temple is supposed to have been rebuilt in the 6th century A.c. by Raja Gopaditya. At first an opponent of Buddhists, Jaloka finally became friendly to them. He is said to have conquered Qannauj and Gandhara and brought lawyers and other people from those parts to settle in the country. Kalhana give useful information concerning the administration of the country. It appears that up to the time of Jaloka, government consisted of seven main state officials-the premier, the Judge, the Revenue Superintendent, the Treasurer, the Commander of the army, the Purohita and the Astrologer.
Damodara:
Jalauka was succeeded by Damodara II whose stories cluster round the Damodara Udar, an alluvial plateau some eight miles south of Srinagar that served as a dam to bring water to his town of Gudasuth, now a small village of 476 souls, situated on the Plateau. There is an aerodrome at Damodara Udar.
Reference:
Sufi,G.M.D (1996). Kashmir Under The Mughals. Kashir: Being A History Of Kashmir(pp.37-40) Delhi:Capital Publishing House.
