In the oppressive heat of the monsoon season and with alarming reports pouring in each day about the fast-advancing cavalry of Kendras, the inhabitants of Sagal felt weary, dejected and hopeless. The streets, lanes and marketplaces lost their bustle and liveliness. The fear of invasion became all the more oppressive because of the manner in which the officers of state went about extorting taxes for the war.

People had no strong inclination to resist the enemy; rather terror reigned in their hearts. An uncanny suspense pervaded the atmosphere. What would happen when Kendras arrived? Would there be any respite from the terrors of the nobility in this dynastic republic, from the ever-increasing war taxes, from the conscription of citizens, craftsmen and peasants by the soldiers of the feudatory chiefs? Or would there be worse repression, massacre and looting by the soldiers of Kendras? In the drinking booths and market squares, greatly exaggerated reports of the awful might of tyrant Kendras, as also of his kindness and his love for the people, were spreading. There was a feeling of helplessness and of submission to the inevitability of fate.

Out of sheer panic, bankers, transport contractors and traders were transferring their money to the nearby states of Malla and Katha, and towards Shursen and Magadh. In the palaces of the feudatory chiefs, Sarvarth, Kartavir and Acharya Pravardhan, discussions went on till late in the night. Acharya Pravardhan had sent a number of secret messages to Shursen and Magadh. These nobles were hoping that the great Brahmin commander Pushya Mitra, the saviour of the caste system, by sending an army for the defence of Madra against Kendras, would not only crush Buddhism in Madra but also reinstate the caste system. They wanted to discuss this strategy in the Council, but refrained from doing so as they feared opposition from the Greek nobles, the President who was drawn towards the Buddhist faith, from the feudatory chief, Indrasen, and from Dev Sharma, the Chief Justice of the Republic.

The feudatory chiefs, Sarvarth and Kartavir, had begun to raise an army so that, while defending the state against Kendras, they might at the same time install on the throne some survivor of the Paurav family, and thus establish once again the rule of the Paurav dynasty. The magnates, merchants and traders were minting money by supplying foodstuffs, clothing, chariots, horses and other goods to the army at exorbitant rates, and were sending it out into the hinterland to such markets as Taxila, Pushpapur and Mathurapuri.¹

In Sagal, inhabited as it was by people of different generations, only a few aged persons, like Dev Sharma, the Chief Justice; Mithrodus, the President of the Republic; and Prestha, the magnate, had any memories of war. The President’s memories were those of a victor, while the memories of the Chief Justice were of one who had suffered defeat. The news of the advance of Kendras brought to the mind of the Chief Justice pictures of disaster, of elegant mansions falling to the ground in raging fires, of clouds of smoke hovering over the town making it impossible to breathe, of streams of blood coagulating in the lanes and alleys, of the wailing of women, of the humiliation of the nobles treated as prisoners. Time and again, the Chief Justice would ask the President—who had not been able to overcome the shock of his son’s death and was lost in the pursuit of detachment from worldly things—to convene a meeting of the Council, so that matters relating to the defence of the state might be discussed. And every time such a meeting was called, it would end in pointless wrangling and debate.