Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/213

SUCCESSORS OF ASOKA 175 peace and war, the capable ruler of an immense empire, a great man, and a great king. Asoka, like all Oriental monarchs, was a polygamist, and had at least two consorts, who ranked as queens. The name of the second of these ladies, Karuvaki, is preserved in a brief edict signifying the royal pleasure that her charitable donations should be regarded by all officials concerned as her act and deed, redounding to her accumulation of merit. She is described as the mother of Tivara, who may be considered as a favourite child of the aged emperor at the time the edict was issued, late in his reign. Tradition avers that his faithful chief queen for many years was named Asandhimitra, and that when she died, and Asoka was old, he married a dissolute young woman named Tishyarakshita, concerning whom and her stepson Kunala, the old folk-lore tale, known to the Greeks as that of Phaedra and Hippolytus, is related with much imaginative embellishment. But folk-lore is not history, and the pathetic story of the blinded Kunala must not be read or criticized as mat- ter-of-fact narrative. The legend appears in diverse forms with various names. Another son of Asoka, named Jalauka, who plays a large part in Kashmir tradition, although rather a shadowy personage, has more appearance of reality than Kunala. He was reputed to have been an active and vigorous King of Kashmir, who expelled certain intrusive foreigners, and conquered the plains as far as Kanauj. He was hostile to Buddhism and devoted