The evidence for the later Maurya is very little and whatever is there is in an
uncertain form rendering the re construction of their history very difficult.
The Puranas besides Buddhist and Jaina literature do provide us with some
information on the later Maurya but there is no agreement among them. Even among
the Puranas there is lot of variance between one Purana and another. But on one
point which all Puranas are in agreement is that the Mauryan dynasty lasted 137
years. Ashoka's death was followed by the division of the Mauryan Empire into
two parts-western and eastern. The western part was ruled by Kunala (son of
Ashoka) and then for a short time by Samprati. It was later threatened by the
Bactrian Greeks in the north-west and by the Satvahanas and others in the
Deccan.
The eastern part of the empire with Pataliputra as the capital came to be ruled
by Dasaratha. Dasaratha is also known as from the caves in the Nagarjuni hills
which he dedicated to Ajivikas. Three inscriptions ordered by Dasartha
Devanampriya state that the caves were dedicated immediately on his accession.
Samprati also mentioned in the Matsya Purana is referred to in both the Buddhist
and Jaina literature as the son of Kunala.
According to Jaina tradition he was a grandson of Ashoka and a patron of
Jainism. He is said to have been converted to Jainism by Suhastin after
which he gave the religion both his active support as a ruler and
encouragement in other ways. The western part including the
north-western province ,Gandhara and Kashmir was governed by Kunala. It
is possible that Kunala gradually extended his territory to include the
western province of the empire. According to the Puranas Dasaratha
reigned for eight years. Jaina sources mention that Samprati ruled from
Ujjain and Pataliputra.
This would suggest that the capital of the
western part of the empire was moved from the north to Ujjain. The
decade following was to see the conflict between Antiochus III of Syria
and Euthydemus of Bactria with Bactria emerging as a strong power ready
to threaten north-western India. A number of Principalities in the
trans-indus region broke away from the empire while Samprati was
occupied in establishing himself at Pataliputra. Gradually the
concentration of attention moved to Magadha and the main line of the
Mauryan dynasty lived out its years at Pataliputra unable to control or
prevent the breaking up of the empire in the more distant regions.
After the reign of nine years Samprati was followed by Salisuka who
ruled for thirteen years. The successor of Salisuka mentioned as
Somavarman or Devavarman ruled for seven years. The last two kings of
the Mauryan dynasty were Satadhanvan who is said to have ruled for 8
years and finally Brihadratha who ruled for seven years and was
assassinated by Pushyamitra Sunga.