Jump to content

Chandragupta Maurya

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chandragupta Maurya
A modern statue depicting Chandragupta Maurya, Laxminarayan Temple, Delhi
A modern statue depicting Chandragupta Maurya, Laxminarayan Temple, Delhi
1st Mauryan Emperor
Reignc. 322 – c. 297 BCE[1][2]
Coronationc. 322 BCE
PredecessorPosition established
SuccessorBindusara[3]
Bornpossibly c. 350–340 BCE
Pataliputra, Magadha, Nanda Empire
(near present-day Patna)
Diedafter c. 297 BCE
Kalbappu (Chandragiri)
(present-day Karnataka, India) (According to Jain tradition)
SpouseDurdhara
A Seleucid princess (name unknown)
IssueBindusara
DynastyMaurya
There are no contemporary records of Chandragupta's military conquests and the reach of his empire. The extent is deduced from Greek and Roman historians and religious Indian texts, all written centuries after his death. Based on these, Chandragupta's empire was extensive,[1][4][5] here conceptualized at c. 303 BCE as a network of core areas and trade- and communication-networks.[a][b]
Traditional representation of extent of Chandragupta Maurya's empire c. 303 BCE, as a solid mass of territory.[c][b]

Chandragupta Maurya[d] (reigned c. 320 – c. 298 BCE)[e] was the founder of the Maurya Empire, based in Magadha (present-day Bihar), and expanding its reach into (possibly)[6] eastern Afghanistan,[b] Gujarat, the northern Deccan, and Bengal.[f]

Historical facts about Chandragupta's origins and early life are obscure and shrouded in legends, while the expansion of his reign is mainly deduced from Greek-Roman sources written centuries after his death. Chandragupta founded his empire by defeating and conquering the Nanda Empire at ca. 322-320 BCE, and extended his reign westward into Greek (Alexandrian) territory through the assassination of Greek governors in ca. 316 BCE and a dynastic marriage marriage alliance with Seleucus I Nicator in ca. 305-303 BCE, controlling a geographically-extensive network of cities and trade-routes which also included Gujarat.[a][b]

The prevailing levels of technology and infrastructure limited the extent of Chandragupta's rule,[g] and the administration was decentralised, with provinces and local governments,[7][h] and large autonomous regions within its limits.[i] Chandragupta's reign, and the Maurya Empire, which reached its peak under his grandson Ashoka the Great,[j] set an era of economic prosperity, reforms, infrastructure expansions. Buddhism, Jainism and Ājīvika prevailed over the non-Maghadian Vedic and Brahmanistic traditions,[8] inititiating, under Ashoka, the expansion of Buddhism, and the synthesis of Brahmanic and non-Brahmanic religious traditions which converged in Hinduism.

Historical sources

[edit]

Chandragupta's life and accomplishments are described in ancient and historical Greek, Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain texts, but they significantly vary in detail.[9] His main biographical sources in chronological order are:[10]

The Greek and Roman texts do not mention Chandragupta directly, except for a second-century text written by the Roman historian Justin. They predominantly mention the last Nanda emperor, who usurped the throne of the king before him. Justin states that Chandragupta was of humble origin, and includes stories of miraculous legends associated with him, such as a wild elephant appearing and submitting itself to him as a ride to him before a battle. Justin's text notes that Chandragupta and Chanakya defeated and removed Nanda from his throne.[13] Megasthenes' account, as it has survived in Greek texts that quote him, states that Alexander the Great and Chandragupta met, which, if true, would mean his rule started before 321 BCE. He is described as a great king, but not as great in power and influence as Porus in northwestern India or Agrammes (Dhana Nanda) in eastern India. As Alexander did not cross the Beas river, Chandragupta's territory probably included the Punjab region.[14]

The pre-4th century Hindu Puranic texts mostly mirror the Greek sources. These texts do not discuss the details of Chandragupta's ancestry, but rather cover the ancestry of the last Nanda king. The Nanda king is described to be cruel, against dharma and shastras, and born out of an illicit relationship followed by a coup.[15] The Chanakya's Arthasastra refers to the Nanda rule as against the spiritual, cultural, and military interests of the country, a period where intrigue and vice multiplied.[15] Chanakya states that Chandragupta returned dharma, nurtured diversity of views, and ruled virtuously that kindled love among the subjects for his rule.[15]

Buddhist texts such as Mahavamsa describe Chandragupta to be of Kshatriya origin.[16] These sources, written about seven centuries after his dynasty ended, state that both Chandragupta and his grandson Ashoka – a patron of Buddhism – were Moriyas, a branch of Gautama Buddha's Shakya noble family.[17] These Buddhist sources attempt to link the dynasty of their patron Ashoka directly to the Buddha.[18] The sources claim that the family branched off to escape persecution from a King of Kosala and Chandragupta's ancestors moved into a secluded Himalayan kingdom known for its peacocks. The Buddhist sources explain the epithet maurya comes from these peacocks, or Mora in Pali (Sanskrit: Mayura).[17][1] The Buddhist texts are inconsistent; some offer other legends to explain his epithet. For example, they mention a city named "Moriya-nagara" where all buildings were made of bricks colored like the peacock's neck.[19] The Maha-bodhi-vasa states he hailed from Moriya-nagara, while the Digha-Nikaya states he came from the Maurya clan of Pipphalivana.[16] The Buddhist sources also mention that "Brahmin Chanakya" was his counselor and with whose support Chandragupta became the king at Patliputra.[19] He has also been variously identified with Shashigupta (which has same etymology as of Chandragupta) of Paropamisadae on the account of same life events.[20]

7th-century Bhadrabahu inscription at Shravanabelagola (Sanskrit, Purvahale Kannada script). This is the oldest inscription at the site, and it mentions Bhadrabahu and Prabhacandra. Lewis Rice and Digambara Jains interpret Prabhacandra to be Chandragupta Maurya, while others such as J F Fleet, V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar, and Svetambara Jains state this interpretation is wrong.[21][11][12]

The 12th-century Digambara text Parishishtaparvan by Hemachandra is the main and earliest Jain source of the complete legend of Chandragupta. It was written nearly 1,400 years after Chandragupta's death. Canto 8, verses 170 to 469, describes the legend of Chandragupta and Chanakya's influence on him.[16][22] Other Digambara Jain sources state he moved to Karnataka after renouncing his kingdom and performed Sallekhana – the Jain religious ritual of peacefully welcoming death by fasting.[23][4] The earliest mention of Chandragupta's ritual death is found in Harisena's Brhatkathakosa, a Sanskrit text of stories about Digambara Jains. The Brhatkathakosa describes the legend of Bhadrabahu and mentions Chandragupta in its 131st story.[24] However, the story makes no mention of the Maurya empire, and mentions that his disciple Chandragupta lived in and migrated from Ujjain – a kingdom (northwest Madhya Pradesh) about a thousand kilometers west of the Magadha and Patliputra (central Bihar). This has led to the proposal that Harisena's Chandragupta may be a later era, different person.[24][21][25]

Biographical info

[edit]

Date

[edit]

None of the ancient texts mention when Chandragupta was born. Plutarch claims that he was a young man when he met Alexander III during the latter's invasion of India (c. 326-325 BCE). Assuming the Plutarch account is true, Raychaudhuri proposed in 1923 that Chandragupta may have been born after 350 BCE.[26] According to other Greco-Roman texts, Chandragupta attacked the Greek-Indian governors after Alexander's death (c. 323 BCE) with Seleucus I Nicator entering into a treaty with Chandragupta years later.[27] Seleucus Nicator, under this treaty, gave up Arachosia (Kandahar), Gedrosia (Makran), and Paropamisadae (Kabul) to Chandragupta, in exchange for 500 war elephants.[14]

The texts do not include the start or end year of Chandragupta's reign.[28] According to some Hindu and Buddhist texts, Chandragupta ruled for 24 years.[29] The Buddhist sources state Chandragupta Maurya ruled 162 years after the death of the Buddha.[30] However, the Buddha's birth and death vary by source and all these lead to a chronology that is significantly different from the Greco-Roman records. Similarly, Jain sources composed give different gaps between Mahavira's death and his accession.[30] As with the Buddha's death, the date of Mahavira's death itself is also a matter of debate, and the inconsistencies and lack of unanimity among the Jain authors cast doubt on Jain sources. This Digambara Jain chronology, also, is not reconcilable with the chronology implied in other Indian and non-Indian sources.[30]

Historians such as Irfan Habib and Vivekanand Jha assign Chandragupta's reign to c. 322-298 BCE.[31] Upinder Singh dates his rule from 324 or 321 BCE to 297 BCE.[3] Kristi Wiley states he reigned between 320 and 293 BCE.[11]

The circumstances and year of Chandragupta's death are also unclear and disputed.[21][11][12] According to Roy, Chandragupta's abdication of throne may be dated to c. 298 BCE, and his death between 297 BCE and 293 BCE.[32]

Name

[edit]

Greek writer Phylarchus (c. third century BCE), who is quoted by Athenaeus, calls Chandragupta "Sandrokoptos". The later Greco-Roman writers Strabo, Arrian, and Justin (c. second century) call him "Sandrocottus".[33] In Greek and Latin accounts, Chandragupta is known as Sandrakottos (Greek: Σανδράκοττος) and Androcottus (Greek: Ανδροκόττος).[34][35]

British orientialist and philologist Sir William Jones (1746–1794) was the first to propose, in 1793, that Chandragupta Maurya known from the Sanskrit literature must be equivalent to the Indian king known as "Sandracottus" in Graeco-Roman historical sources. Jones' discovery "was of vital importance," states historian Sushma Jansari, because "it meant, for the first time, that Indian and Graeco-Roman history could be synchronised and dates assigned to this period of ancient Indian history." Consequently, Chandragupta's reign has been referred to as "the sheet anchor of Indian chronology."[36]

Titles

[edit]

The king's epithets mentioned in the Sanskrit play Mudrarakshasa include "Chanda-siri" (Chandra-shri), "Piadamsana" (Priya-darshana), and Vrishala.[33] Piadamsana is similar to Priyadasi, an epithet of his grandson Ashoka.[37] The word "Vrishala" is used in Indian epics and law books to refer to non-orthodox people. According to one theory, it may be derived from the Greek royal title Basileus, but there is no concrete evidence of this: the Indian sources apply it to several non-royals, especially wandering teachers and ascetics.[38]

Religion

[edit]

In contrast to the Jain legends which developed 900 years later,[39] contemporary Greek evidence states that Chandragupta did not give up performing the rites of sacrificing animals associated with Vedic Brahminism; he delighted in hunting and otherwise leading a life remote from the Jain practice of ahimsa or nonviolence towards living beings.[40][k]

Biography

[edit]

Historical background

[edit]
Late Vedic era map showing the boundaries of Āryāvarta with Janapadas in northern India. Beginning of Iron Age kingdoms in India— Kuru, Panchala, Kosala, Videha.

Around 350 BCE Magadha, ruled by the Nanda dynasty, emerged as the dominant power after a "process of internecine warfare" between the janapadas.[41]

Alexander the Great entered the Northwest Indian subcontinent in his Indian campaign, which he aborted in 325 BCE due to a mutiny caused by the prospect of facing another large empire, presumably the Nanda Empire, and before Chandragupta came into power. Alexander left India, and assigned the northwestern (Indus Valley) Indian subcontinent territories to Greek governors.[42][43]

Early life

[edit]

Family background

[edit]

One medieval commentator states Chandragupta to be the son of one of the Nanda's wives with the name Mura.[15] Other sources describe Mura as a concubine of the king.[44] Another Sanskrit dramatic text Mudrarakshasa uses the terms Vrishala and Kula-Hina (meaning - "not descending from a recognized clan or family") to describe Chandragupta.[45] The word Vrishala has two meanings: one is the son of a shudra; the other means the best of kings. A later commentator used the former interpretation to posit that Chandragupta had a Shudra background. However, historian Radha Kumud Mukherjee opposed this theory, and stated that the word should be interpreted as "the best of kings".[45] The same drama also refers to Chandragupta as someone of humble origin, like Justin.[45] According to the 11th-century texts of the Kashmiri Hindu tradition – Kathasaritsagara and Brihat-Katha-Manjari – the Nanda lineage was very short. Chandragupta was a son of Purva-Nanda, the older Nanda based in Ayodhya.[46][47][l] The common theme in the Hindu sources is that Chandragupta came from a humble background and with Chanakya, he emerged as a dharmic king loved by his subjects.[48]

According to the Digambara legend by Hemachandra, Chanakya was a Jain layperson and a Brahmin. When Chanakya was born, Jain monks prophesied that Chanakya will one day grow up to help make someone an emperor and will be the power behind the throne.[49][22] Chanakya believed in the prophecy and fulfilled it by agreeing to help the daughter of a peacock-breeding community chief deliver a baby boy. In exchange, he asked the mother to give up the boy and let him adopt him at a later date.[16][22] The Jain Brahmin then went about making money through magic, and returned later to claim young Chandragupta,[22] whom he taught and trained. Together, they recruited soldiers and attacked the Nanda Empire. Eventually, they won and proclaimed Patliputra as their capital.[22]

Influence of Chanakya

[edit]
Chanakya
Chandragupta's guru was Chanakya, with whom he studied as a child and with whose counsel he built the Empire. This image is a 1915 attempt at depicting Chanakya.

The Buddhist and Hindu legends present different versions of how Chandragupta met Chanakya. Broadly, they mention young Chandragupta creating a mock game of a royal court that he and his shepherd friends played near Vinjha forest. Chanakya saw him give orders to the others, bought him from the hunter, and adopted Chandragupta.[50] Chanakya taught and admitted him in Taxila to study the Vedas, military arts, law, and other shastras.[50][51]

After Taxila, Chandragupta and Chanakya moved to Pataliputra, the capital and a historic learning center in the eastern Magadha Kingdom of India. They met Nanda there according to Hindu sources, and Dhana Nanda according to Pali-language Buddhist sources.[52] Chandragupta became a commander of the Nanda Army, but according to Justin, Chandragupta offended the Nanda king ("Nandrum" or "Nandrus") who ordered his execution.[49] An alternative version states that it was the Nanda king who was publicly insulted by Chanakya.[53] Chandragupta and Chanakya escaped and became rebels who planned to remove the Nanda king from power.[54][m] The Mudrarakshasa also states that Chanakya swore to destroy the Nanda dynasty after he felt insulted by the king.[56][53]

The Roman text by Justin mentions a couple of miraculous incidents that involved Sandracottus (Chandragupta) and presents these legends as omens and portents of his fate. In the first incident, when Chandragupta was asleep after having escaped from Nandrum, a big lion came up to him, licked him, and then left. In the second incident, when Chandragupta was readying for war with Alexander's generals, a huge wild elephant approached him and offered itself to be his steed.[57]

Establishment of the Maurya dynasty

[edit]

Building an army

[edit]

According to the Buddhist text Mahavamsa Tika, Chandragupta and Chanakya raised an army by recruiting soldiers from many places after the former completed his education at Taxila. Chanakya made Chandragupta the leader of the army.[58] The Digambara Jain text Parishishtaparvan states that this army was raised by Chanakya with coins he minted and an alliance formed with Parvataka.[59][60] According to Justin, Chandragupta organized an army. Early translators interpreted Justin's original expression as "body of robbers", but states Raychaudhuri, the original expression used by Justin may mean mercenary soldier, hunter, or robber.[61]

Overthrow of the Nanda dynasty

[edit]
Nanda Empire, ca. 325 BCE.

Greco-Roman writer Plutarch stated, in his Life of Alexander, that the Nanda king was so unpopular that had Alexander tried, he could have easily conquered India.[54][62] After Alexander ended his campaign and left, Chandragupta's army conquered the Nanda capital Pataliputra around 322 BCE with Chanakya's counsel.[49]

Historically reliable details of Chandragupta's campaign into Pataliputra are unavailable and the legends written centuries later are inconsistent. Buddhist texts such as Milindapanha claim Magadha was ruled by the Nanda dynasty, which, with Chanakya's counsel, Chandragupta conquered to restore dhamma.[63][64] The army of Chandragupta and Chanakya first conquered the Nanda outer territories before invading Pataliputra. In contrast to the easy victory of Buddhist sources, the Hindu and Jain texts state that the campaign was bitterly fought because the Nanda dynasty had a powerful and well-trained army.[65][64]

The conquest was fictionalised in Mudrarakshasa, in which Chandragupta is said to have first acquired Punjab and allied with a local king named Parvatka under the Chanakya's advice before advancing on the Nanda Empire.[66]

Chandragupta laid siege to Patliputra (now Patna), the capital of Magadha around 322 B.C, by deploying guerrilla warfare methods with the help of mercenaries from conquered areas.[32][67] Historian P. K. Bhattacharyya states that the empire was built by a gradual conquest of provinces after the initial consolidation of Magadha.[68]

According to the Digambara Jain version by Hemachandra, the success of Chandragupta and his strategist Chanakya was stopped by a Nanda town that refused to surrender.[69] Chanakya disguised himself as a mendicant and found seven mother goddesses (saptamatrikas) inside. He concluded these goddesses were protecting the town people.[69] The townspeople sought the disguised mendicant's advice on how to end the blockade of the army surrounding their town. Hemacandra wrote Chanakya swindled them into removing the mother goddesses. The townspeople removed the protective goddesses and an easy victory over the town followed. Thereafter, the alliance of Chandragupta and Parvataka overran the Nanda empire and attacked Pataliputra with an "immeasurable army".[69] With a depleted treasury, exhausted merit, and insufficient intelligence, the Nanda emperor lost.[69]

These legends state that the Nanda emperor was defeated, but allowed to leave Pataliputra alive with a chariot full of items his family needed.[70] The Jain sources attest that his daughter fell in love at first sight with Chandragupta and married him.Though daughter is not named the source later name mother of Chandragupta's son as Durdhara.[69][16] With the defeat of Nanda, Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya Empire in ancient India.[1][71]

Confrontations with the Greeks

[edit]

Assasination of eastern Indus Valley Greek governors

[edit]
Greek territories acquired by Chandragupta. Kabul-Kandahar questioned by Tarn[72] and Coningham & Young.[73]

The Roman historian Justin (2nd c. CE) states that after Alexander's death, Chandragupta assasinated the Greek governors in India and took over power, establishing an oppressive regime:[74][n]

"India, after the death of Alexander, had assassinated his prefects, as if shaking the burden of servitude. The author of this liberation was Sandracottos [Chandragupta], but he had transformed liberation in servitude after victory, since, after taking the throne, he himself oppressed the very people he has liberated from foreign domination."

— Junianus Justinus, Histoires Philippiques Liber, XV.4.12-13 [75]

Dynastic marriage-alliance with Seleucus

[edit]
Malan Range and limit of ceded territory according to Tarn (1922).

According to Appian, Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander's Macedonian generals who in 312 BCE established the Seleucid Empire with its capital at Babylon, brought Persia and Bactria under his own authority, putting his eastern front facing the empire of Chandragupta.[76][77]

Somewhere between 305 and 303 BCE Seleucus and Chandragupta confronted each other, Seleucus intending to retake the former satrapies each of the Indus. Yet, Seleucus Nicator and Chandragupta formed a dynastic marriage-alliance, Seleucus receiving five hundred elephants, and Chandragupta gaining control over the regions bordering at the east on the Indus.[78][79] Strabo, in his Geographica, XV, 2.9 composed about 300 years after Chandragupta's death, describes a number of tribes living along the Indus, and then states that "The Indians occupy [in part] some of the countries situated along the Indus, which formerly belonged to the Persians."[80]

The geographical position of the tribes is as follows: along the Indus are the Paropamisadae, above whom lies the Paropamisus Mountains: then, towards the south, the Arachoti: then next, towards the south, the Gedroseni, with the other tribes that occupy the seaboard; and the Indus lies, latitudinally, alongside all these places; and of these places, in part, some that lie along the Indus are held by Indians, although they formerly belonged to the Persians. Alexander [III 'the Great' of Macedon] took these away from the Arians and established settlements of his own, but Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus [Chandragupta], upon terms of intermarriage and of receiving in exchange five hundred elephants.[81]

The exact extent of the acquired territories is unknown.[82][b] A modest interpretation limits the extension to the western Indus Valley, including eastern Gedrosia (Balochistan) up to the Malan mountain raing (Hingol river),[83][72] the Punjab,[72][84][o] and the eastern part of Paropamisadae (Gandhara). Arachosia (Kandahar, present-day Afganistan), is a possibility,[85][86][87] while Aria (present-day Herat, Afganistan) is also often mentioned, but rejected by contemporary scholarship.[p] Tarn, writing in 1922,[72] and Coningham & Young,[88] have questioned the inclusion of eastern Afghanistan (Kabul-Kandahar), Coningham & Young noting that "a growing number of of researchers would now agree that the Ashokan edicts may have represented 'an area of maximum contact rather than streamlined bureacratic control'."[89] Coningham & Young also question the extent of control over the lower Indus Valley, following Thapar, noting that this may have been an area of peripheral control.[89]

The details of the engagement treaty are also not known.[90] Since the extensive sources available on Seleucus never mention an Indian princess, it is thought that Chandragupta himself or his son Bindusara marrying a Seleucid princess, in accordance with contemporary Greek practices to form dynastic alliances. An Indian Puranic source, the Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purana, described the marriage of Chandragupta with a Greek ("Yavana") princess, daughter of Seleucus.[91]

Chandragupta sent 500 war elephants to Seleucus, which played a key role in Seleucus' victory at the Battle of Ipsus.[92][93][94] In addition to this treaty, Seleucus dispatched Megasthenes as an ambassador to Chandragupta's court, and later Antiochos sent Deimakos to his son Bindusara at the Maurya court at Patna.[95]

Megasthenes served as a Greek ambassador in his court for four years.[71]

Control of Gujarat

[edit]

In the south-west, Chandragupta's rule over present-day Gujarat is attested to by Ashoka's inscription in Junagadh. On the same rock, about 400 years later, Rudradaman inscribed a longer text sometime about the mid second–century.[96] Rudradaman's inscription states that the Sudarshana lake in the area was commissioned during the rule of Chandragupta through his governor Vaishya Pushyagupta and conduits were added during Ashoka's rule through Tushaspha. The Mauryan control of the region is further corroborated by the inscription on the rock, which suggests that Chandragupta controlled the Malwa region in Central India, located between Gujarat and Pataliputra.[97]

Jain accounts of renunciation and retirement in Karnakata

[edit]
Inscription
1,300 years Old Shravanabelagola relief shows death of Chandragupta after taking the vow of Sallekhana. Some consider it about the legend of his arrival with Bhadrabahu.[21][11][12]
A statue depicting Chandragupta Maurya (right) with his spiritual mentor Acharya Bhadrabahu at Shravanabelagola.
Chandragupta Maurya having 16 auspicious dreams in Jainism

According to Digambara Jain accounts Chandragupta abdicated at an early age and settled as a monk under Bhadrabāhu in Shravanabelagola, in present-day south Karnataka.[98] According to these accounts, Bhadrabāhu forecast a 12-year famine because of all the killing and violence during the conquests by Chandragupta Maurya. He led a group of Jain monks to south India, where Chandragupta Maurya joined him as a monk after abdicating his empire to his son Bindusara. Together, states a Digambara legend, Chandragupta and Bhadrabahu moved to Shravanabelagola, in present-day south Karnataka.[98] Chandragupta lived as an ascetic at Shravanabelagola for several years before fasting to death as per the practice of sallekhana, according to the Digambara legend.[99][23][100] In accordance with the Digambara tradition, the hill on which Chandragupta is stated to have performed asceticism is now known as Chandragiri hill, and Digambaras believe that Chandragupta Maurya erected an ancient temple that now survives as the Chandragupta basadi.[101]

The 12th-century Svetambara Jain legend by Hemachandra presents a different picture. The Hemachandra version includes stories about Jain monks who could become invisible to steal food from imperial storage and the Jain Brahmin Chanakya using violence and cunning tactics to expand Chandragupta's empire and increase imperial revenues.[22] It states in verses 8.415 to 8.435, that for 15 years as emperor, Chandragupta was a follower of non-Jain "ascetics with the wrong view of religion" and "lusted for women". Chanakya, who was a Jain convert himself, persuaded Chandragupta to convert to Jainism by showing that Jain ascetics avoided women and focused on their religion.[22] The legend mentions Chanakya aiding the premature birth of Bindusara,[22] It states in verse 8.444 that "Chandragupta died in meditation (can possibly be sallekhana.) and went to heaven".[102] According to Hemachandra's legend, Chanakya also performed sallekhana.[102]

Textual sources

[edit]

The Digambara Jain accounts are recorded in the Brihakathā kośa (931 CE) of Harishena, Bhadrabāhu charita (1450 CE) of Ratnanandi, Munivaṃsa bhyudaya (1680 CE) and Rajavali kathe,[103][104][105]

Regarding the inscriptions describing the relation of Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta Maurya, Radha Kumud Mookerji writes,

The oldest inscription of about 600 AD associated "the pair (yugma), Bhadrabahu along with Chandragupta Muni." Two inscriptions of about 900 AD on the Kaveri near Seringapatam describe the summit of a hill called Chandragiri as marked by the footprints of Bhadrabahu and Chandragupta munipati. A Shravanabelagola inscription of 1129 mentions Bhadrabahu "Shrutakevali", and Chandragupta who acquired such merit that he was worshipped by the forest deities. Another inscription of 1163 similarly couples and describes them. A third inscription of the year 1432 speaks of Yatindra Bhadrabahu, and his disciple Chandragupta, the fame of whose penance spread into other words.[106]

Along with texts, several Digambara Jain inscriptions dating from the 7th–15th century refer to Bhadrabahu and a Prabhacandra. Later Digambara tradition identified the Prabhacandra as Chandragupta, and some modern era scholars have accepted this Digambara tradition while others have not,[21][11][12] Several of the late Digambara inscriptions and texts in Karnataka state the journey started from Ujjain and not Patliputra (as stated in some Digambara texts).[11][12]

Analysis of the sources

[edit]
The Footprints of Chandragupta Maurya on Chandragiri Hill, where Chandragupta (the unifier of India and founder of the Maurya Dynasty) performed Sallekhana.

According to Jeffery D. Long, in one Digambara version it was Samprati Chandragupta who renounced, migrated and performed sallekhana in Shravanabelagola. Long notes that scholars attribute the disintegration of the Maurya empire to the times and actions of Samprati Chandragupta, the grandson of Ashoka and great-great-grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, concluding that the two Chandraguptas have been confused to be the same in some Digambara legends.[107]

Scholar of Jain studies and Sanskrit Paul Dundas says the Svetambara tradition of Jainism disputes the ancient Digambara legends. According to a fifth-century text of the Svetambara Jains, the Digambara sect of Jainism was founded 609 years after Mahavira's death, or in first-century CE.[108] Digambaras wrote their own versions and legends after the fifth-century, with their first expanded Digambara version of sectarian split within Jainism appearing in the tenth-century.[108] The Svetambaras texts describe Bhadrabahu was based near Nepalese foothills of the Himalayas in third-century BCE, who neither moved nor travelled with Chandragupta Maurya to the south; rather, he died near Patliputra, according to the Svetambara Jains.[11][109][110]

According to V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar – an Indologist and historian, several of the Digambara legends mention Prabhacandra, who had been misidentified as Chandragupta Maurya particularly after the original publication on Shravanabelagola epigraphy by B. Lewis Rice. The earliest and most important inscriptions mention Prabhacandra, which Rice presumed may have been the "clerical name assumed by Chadragupta Maurya" after he renounced and moved with Bhadrabahu from Patliputra. Dikshitar stated there is no evidence to support this and Prabhacandra was an important Jain monk scholar who migrated centuries after Chandragupta Maurya's death.[21]

According to historian Sushma Jansari, "A closer look at the evidence for Chandragupta's conversion to Jainism and his and Bhadrabāhu's association with Śravaṇa Beḷgoḷa reveals that it is both late and problematic. In addition, except for Jain sources, there is no evidence to support the view of Chandragupta's conversion and migration."[111] Jansari concludes, "Overall, therefore, the evidence as it currently stands suggests that the story of Chandragupta's conversion to Jainism and abdication (if, indeed, he did abdicate), his migration southwards and his association (or otherwise) with Bhadrabāhu and the site of Śravaṇa Beḷgoḷa developed after c.600 AD."[112]

Dikshitar has taken Rice's deduction of Chandragupta Maurya retiring and dying in Shravanabelagola as the working hypothesis, since no alternative historical information or evidence is available about Chandragupta's final years and death.[21]

Assumed control of Southern India

[edit]

There is uncertainty about the other conquests that Chandragupta may have achieved, especially in the Deccan region of southern India.[97] At the time of his grandson Ashoka's ascension in c. 268 BCE, the empire extended up to present-day Karnataka in the south, so the southern conquests may be attributed to either Chandragupta or his son Bindusara.

According to Mookerji, Chandragupta expanded his empire into the south,[113] referring to Plutarch, who stated that "Androcottus [...] with an army of six hundred thousand men overran and subdued all India."[114][95] Mookerji notes that details are lacking, but argues that "there is reliable evidence for it in the inscriptions of Ashoka."[95] Mookerji also refers to the Jain tradition that Chandragupta retired at Sravana Belgola, Karnakata,[115] and to references in Tamil records.[116]

According to Kulke and Rothermund, if the Jain tradition about Chandragupta ending his life as a renunciate in Karnakata is considered correct, it appears that Chandragupta initiated the southern conquest.[117]

Yet, the Digambara Jain accounts are problematic. His conversion and retirement at Śravaṇa Beḷgoḷa with Bhadrabāhu are only attested in Digambara Jain sources, which developed after 600 CE.[112] They may actually refer to Samprati Chandragupta the great-great-grandson of Chandragupta Maurya,[107] and are contradicted by Svetambaras Jain texts, who situate Bhadrabahunear the Nepalese foothills of the Himalayas in third-century BCE, neither moving nor travelling with Chandragupta Maurya to the south.[11][109][110] The Digambara legends may also have misidentified Prabhacandra, an important Jain monk scholar who migrated centuries after Chandragupta Maurya's death, as Chandragupta Maurya.[21]

Two poetic anthologies from the Tamil Sangam literature corpus – Akananuru and Purananuru – allude to the Nanda rule and Maurya empire. For example, poems 69, 281 and 375 mention the army and chariots of the Mauryas, while poems 251 and 265 may be alluding to the Nandas.[118] However, the poems dated between first-century BCE to fifth-century CE do not mention Chandragupta Maurya by name, and some of them could be referring to a different Moriya dynasty in the Deccan region in the fifth century CE.[119] According to Upinder Singh, these poems may be mentioning Mokur and Koshar kingdoms of Vadugars (northerners) in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, with one interpretation being that the Maurya Empire had an alliance with these at some point of time.[120]

Empire

[edit]

Administration

[edit]
Chandragupta Maurya period Karshapana coin, circa 315-310 B.C.[121]

After conquering nothern India, Chandragupta and Chanakya passed a series of major economic and political reforms.[citation needed] Chandragupta established a decentralised administration with provinces and local governments,[7] and a mantriparishad (council of advisers) advising the king.[122] While it is often thought that Chandragupta applied the statecraft and economic policies described in Arthashastra, which was earlierly thought to be written by his minister Chanakya[123][124] but it's now thought by most scholars that the Arthashastra is not of Mauryan origin, and contains prescriptions which are incompatible with Chandragupta's reign.[125][h]

The Maurya rule was a structured administration; Chandragupta had a council of ministers (amatya), with Chanakya was his chief minister.[126][127] The empire was organised into territories (janapada), centres of regional power were protected with forts (durga), and state operations were funded with treasury (kosa).[128] Strabo, in his Geographica composed about 300 years after Chandragupta's death, describes aspects of his rule in his chapter XV.46–69. He had councillors for matters of justice and assessors to collect taxes on commercial activity and trade goods. His officers inspected situations requiring law and order in the cities; the crime rate was low.[129]

According to Megasthenes, Chandragupta's rule was marked by three parallel administrative structures. One managed the affairs of villages, ensuring irrigation, recording land ownership, monitoring tools supply, enforcing hunting, wood products and forest-related laws, and settling disputes.[130] Another administrative structure managed city affairs, including all matters related to trade, merchant activity, visit of foreigners, harbors, roads, temples, markets, and industries. They also collected taxes and ensured standardized weights and measures.[130] The third administrative body overlooked the military, its training, its weapons supply, and the needs of the soldiers.[130]

Chanakya was concerned about Chandragupta's safety and developed elaborate techniques to prevent assassination attempts. Various sources report Chandragupta frequently changed bedrooms to confuse conspirators. He left his palace only for certain tasks: to go on military expeditions, to visit his court for dispensing justice, to offer sacrifices, for celebrations, and for hunting. During celebrations, he was well-guarded, and on hunts, he was surrounded by female guards who were presumed to be less likely to participate in a coup conspiracy. These strategies may have resulted from the historical context of the Nanda emperor who had come to power by assassinating the previous emperor.[131]

During Chandragupta's reign and that of his dynasty, many religions thrived in India, with Buddhism, Jainism and Ajivika gaining prominence along with other folk traditions.[132][133]

Infrastructure projects

[edit]
Coins
Silver punch mark coin (Karshapana) of the Maurya Empire, with symbols of wheel and elephant (3rd century BCE)

The empire built a strong economy from a solid infrastructure such as irrigation, temples, mines, and roads.[134][135] Ancient epigraphical evidence suggests Chandragupta, under counsel from Chanakya, started and completed many irrigation reservoirs and networks across the Indian subcontinent to ensure food supplies for the civilian population and the army, a practice continued by his dynastic successors.[41] Regional prosperity in agriculture was one of the required duties of his state officials.[136]

The strongest evidence of infrastructure development is found in the Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman in Gujarat, dated to about 150 CE. It states, among other things, that Rudradaman repaired and enlarged the reservoir and irrigation conduit infrastructure built by Chandragupta and enhanced by Asoka.[137] Chandragupta's empire also built mines, manufacturing centres, and networks for trading goods. His rule developed land routes to transport goods across the Indian subcontinent. Chandragupta expanded "roads suitable for carts" as he preferred those over narrow tracks suitable for only pack animals.[138]

According to Kaushik Roy, the Maurya dynasty rulers were "great road builders".[135] The Greek ambassador Megasthenes credited this tradition to Chandragupta after the completion of a thousand-mile-long highway connecting Chandragupta's capital Pataliputra in Bihar to Taxila in the north-west where he studied. The other major strategic road infrastructure credited to this tradition spread from Pataliputra in various directions, connecting it with Nepal, Kapilavastu, Dehradun, Mirzapur, Odisha, Andhra, and Karnataka.[135] Roy stated this network boosted trade and commerce, and helped move armies rapidly and efficiently.[135]

Chandragupta and Chanakya seeded weapon manufacturing centres, and kept them as a state monopoly of the state. The state, however, encouraged competing private parties to operate mines and supply these centres.[139] They considered economic prosperity essential to the pursuit of dharma (virtuous life) and adopted a policy of avoiding war with diplomacy yet continuously preparing the army for war to defend its interests and other ideas in the Arthashastra.[140][141]

Arts and architecture

[edit]

The evidence of arts and architecture during Chandragupta's time is mostly limited to texts such as those by Megasthenese and Kautilya. The edict inscriptions and carvings on monumental pillars are attributed to his grandson Ashoka. The texts imply the existence of cities, public works, and prosperous architecture but the historicity of these is in question.[142]

Archeological discoveries in the modern age, such as those Didarganj Yakshi discovered in 1917 buried beneath the banks of the Ganges suggest exceptional artisanal accomplishment.[143][144] The site was dated to third century BCE by many scholars[143][144] but later dates such as the Kushan era (1st-4th century CE) have also been proposed. The competing theories state that the art linked to Chandragupta Maurya's dynasty was learnt from the Greeks and West Asia in the years Alexander the Great waged war; or that these artifacts belong to an older indigenous Indian tradition.[145] Frederick Asher of the University of Minnesota says "we cannot pretend to have definitive answers; and perhaps, as with most art, we must recognize that there is no single answer or explanation".[146]

Religion

[edit]

Chandragupta sponsored Vedic sacrifices[147] and Brahmanical rituals,[148] and hosted major festivals marked by procession of elephants and horses.[129]

While many religions thrived within his realms and his descendants' empire, Buddhism, Jainism and Ājīvika gained prominence prevailing over Vedic and Brahmanistic traditions,[8] intitiating, under Ashoka, the expansion of Buddhism and the synthesis of Brahmanic and non-Brahmanic religious traditions which converged in Hinduism. Minority religions such as Zoroastrianism and the Greek pantheon were respected.

Legacy

[edit]
The stamp issued by Indian Postal Service commemorating Chandragupta Maurya in 2001

In the 20th century, diverging views on Chandragupta have developed between western academics and Indian scholars.[82] While westerners tend to take a reserved view on Chandragupta's accomplishments,[82] many Indian nationalists regard Chandragupta Maurya as first Emperor of United India and first king with a vision of uniting India.[149]

A memorial to Chandragupta Maurya exists on Chandragiri hill in Shravanabelagola, Karnataka.[150] The Indian Postal Service issued a commemorative postage stamp honouring Chandragupta Maurya in 2001.[151]

[edit]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b See also Maurya Empire, network model.
  2. ^ a b c d e The western extent is disputed.
    Gedrosia and Kandahar Parapamisadae (Kabul) and Arachosia (Kandahar)
    • Tarn (1922, p. 100) and Coningham & Young (2015, p. 452-453) have questioned the inclusion of eastern Afghanistan (Kabul-Kandahar). Coningham & Young (2015, p. 452) note that "a growing number of of researchers would now agree that the Ashokan edicts may have represented 'an area of maximum contact rather than streamlined bureacrayic control'."
    Gedrosia:
    • Smith (1914, p. 149): "The satrapy of Gedrosia (or Gadrosia) extended far to the west, and probably only the eastern part of it was annexed by Chandragupta. The Malin range of mountains,[c] which Alexander experienced such difficulty in crossing, would have furnished a natural boundary."
    • Tarn (1922, p. 100): "In Gedrosia the boundary is known: the country ceded was that between the Median Hydaspes (probably the Purali[e]) and the Indus."
    Aria (Herat)
    • Raychaudhuri & Mukherjee (1997, p. 594):"[Aria] has been wrongly included in the list of ceded satrapies by some scholars [...] on the basis of wrong assessments of the passage of Strabo [...] and a statement by Pliny."
    • Grainger (2014, p. 109): "Seleucus "must [...] have held Aria", and furthermore, his "son Antiochos was active there fifteen years later."
    • Sherwin-White & Kuhrt (1993, p. 79-80): "The region of Aria is definitely known to have been Seleucid under Seleucus I and Antiochus I as it definitely was after Antiochus III's great campaign in the east against the Parthians and Bactrians. [...] There is no evidence whatever that it did not remain Seleucid, like Drangiana, with which it is linked by easy routes."
    • "For more than a century, the Seleucids remained in control of the [Drangiana] region. [...] Drangiana was conquered by the Parthians." [1].
  3. ^ See also Mauryan Empire, solid mass.
  4. ^ Sanskrit: चन्द्रगुप्त मौर्य IAST: Candragupta Maurya) (Pali: चन्दगुत्त मोरीय, Chandagutta Moriya) (Ancient Greek: Σανδράκοπτος, Sandrákoptos Σανδράκοττος, Sandrákottos Ανδροκόττος, Androkóttos
  5. ^ Fisher (2018, p. 71): "Chandragupta (r. 320 – c. 298 BCE) led a rebellion that seized power in Magadha and founded the Maurya Dynasty. He located his capital Pataliputra (today’s Patna) at an especially strategic trading and defensive location, on the south bank of the Ganges where the Son River joined it. The actual origins of the Maurya family remain uncertain, but consensus holds that Chandragupta was low-born. One popular account asserts he was the previous king’s son by a low-ranked queen or concubine and overthrew his royal half-brothers. Maurya means “peacock,” and some Jain texts identify his family as low peacock herders, ranked by Brahmans as Shudra at best.
  6. ^ Chakrabarty (2010, p. 29): "We are assuming that the basic historical-geographical configuration of the Magadhan power was achieved before the beginning of the Maurya dynasty, whose founder Chandragupta Maurya simply added to it the stretch from the Indus valley to the southern foot of the Hindukush, giving the Mauryan India a strong foothold in the Oxus to the Indus interaction zone of Indian history. The evidence is in some cases, as in the cases of Gujarat, Bengal, and Assam, shadowy, but if Chandragupta had undertaken expeditions in these directions, there would have been echoes of these expeditions in the literary traditions."
  7. ^ Fisher (2018, p. 72): "Chandragupta’s many military and diplomatic conquests extended his overlordship further than any previous Indian ruler: from Afghanistan to Bengal and from the Himalayas down into the northern Deccan. But his administration lacked the technology and infrastructure to penetrate very deeply into society outside of Magadha."
  8. ^ a b Stein & Arnold (2010): "Around 270 bce, the first Indian documentary records, issued by the Buddhist king Ashoka, were added to the Greek source. Though Ashoka’s inscriptions were deciphered in the nineteenth century, we still cannot be sure about the political formation that existed under this Mauryan king, much less under the kingdom’s founder, Ashoka’s grandfather Chandragupta, who was possibly a contemporary of Alexander. Evidence in the form of a Sanskrit treatise called the Arthashastra – depicting a centralized, tyrannical, spy-ridden and compul sively controlling regime – probably does not pertain to Mauryan times. If its political world was not pure theory, it could only have been achieved within a small city-state, not a realm as vast as that defined by the distribution of Ashoka’s inscriptions, over some 1500 miles from Afghanistan to southern India."
  9. ^ Ludden (2013, p. 29–30): "The geography of the Mauryan Empire resembled a spider with a small dense body and long spindly legs. The highest echelons of imperial society lived in the inner circle composed of the ruler, his immediate family, other relatives, and close allies, who formed a dynastic core. Outside the core, empire travelled stringy routes dotted with armed cities. Outside the palace, in the capital cities, the highest ranks in the imperial elite were held by military commanders whose active loyalty and success in war determined imperial fortunes. Wherever these men failed or rebelled, dynastic power crumbled. ... Imperial society flourished where elites mingled; they were its backbone, its strength was theirs. Kautilya’s Arthasastra indicates that imperial power was concentrated in its original heartland, in old Magadha, where key institutions seem to have survived for about seven hundred years, down to the age of the Guptas. Here, Mauryan officials ruled local society, but not elsewhere. In provincial towns and cities, officials formed a top layer of royalty; under them, old conquered royal families were not removed, but rather subordinated. In most janapadas, the Mauryan Empire consisted of strategic urban sites connected loosely to vast hinterlands through lineages and local elites who were there when the Mauryas arrived and were still in control when they left."
  10. ^ At it's peak, the Mauryan Empire extended across North India, from modern day Bengal in the east, to as far westward as Afghanistan below the Hindu Kush, as well as making inroads into Central India and as far south as the northern Deccan:
    • Bose & Jalal, p. 39): "The political history of the centuries following the rise of Buddhism and Jainism saw the emergence and consolidation of powerful regional states in northern India. Among the strongest of these was the kingdom of Magadha, with its capital at Pataliputra (near the modern city of Patna). The Magadhan kingdom expanded under the Maurya dynasty in the fourth and fifth centuries BCE to become an empire embracing almost the whole of the subcontinent. Chandragupta Maurya founded the dynasty in 322 BCE, just a few years after Alexander the Great's brief foray into northwestern India. The Maurya empire reached its apogee under the reign of Ashoka (268–231 BCE)."
    • Ludden (2013, p. 47): "IMPERIAL BHARAT The Mauryas defined an ancient territory called Bharat. Marching along old trade routes, the empire acquired the geometrical shape of a tall triangle with a broad base, with its apex in Magadha. One long northern leg ran west up the Ganga, across Punjab, into the Hindu Kush; and one long leg ran south-west from Pataliputra, up the Son river valley, down the Narmada River into Berar, Maharashtra, and Gujarat. The broad base spanned Punjab, the Indus, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and western Maharashtra. The northwestern frontier revolved around Gandhara and Kashmir; the south-western frontier around Nasika, now Nasik, in Maharashtra. North of Kashmir and west of the Khyber Pass, Greek dynasties held sway. South of Nasika, the Mauryan presence consisted primarily of diplomatic missions."
  11. ^ The authors and their affiliations listed in the title page of An Advanced History of India are: R. C. Majumdar, M.A., Ph.D. Vice-Chancellor, Dacca University; H. C. Raychaudhuri, M.A., Ph.D., Carmichael Professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture, Calcutta University; and Kalikinkar Datta, M.A., Ph.D. Premchand Raychand Scholar, Mount Medallist, Griffith Prizeman, Professor and Head of the Department of History, Patna College, Patna
  12. ^ According to Roy (2012, pp. 61–62), Chandragupta Maurya was a Shudra lineage, king.
  13. ^ Some early printed editions of Justin's work wrongly mentioned "Alexandrum" instead of "Nandrum"; this error was corrected in philologist J. W. McCrindle's 1893 translation. In the 20th century, historians Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri and R. C. Majumdar believed "Alexandrum" to be correct reading, and theorized that Justin refers to a meeting between Chandragupta and Alexander the Great ("Alexandrum"). However, this is incorrect: research by historian Alfred von Gutschmid in the preceding century had clearly established that "Nandrum" is the correct reading supported by multiple manuscripts: only a single defective manuscript mentions "Alexandrum" in the margin.[55]
  14. ^ Boesche (2003), referring to Radha Kumud Mookerji, Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, 4th ed. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1988 [1966]), 31, 28-33: "Just after Alexander's death in 323 B.C.E., Chandragupta and Kautilya began their conquest of India by stopping the Greek invaders. In this effort they assassinated two Greek governors, Nicanor and Philip, a strategy to keep in mind when I later examine Kautilya's approval of assassination. "The assassinations of the Greek governors," wrote Radha Kumud Mookerji, "are not to be looked upon as mere accidents.""
  15. ^ Boesche (2003): "taking much of western India (the Punjab and the Sindh) from the Greeks and concluding a treaty with Seleucus"
  16. ^ According to Grainger, Seleucus "must ... have held Aria" (Herat), and furthermore, his "son Antiochos was active there fifteen years later". (Grainger, John D. 1990, 2014. Seleukos Nikator: Constructing a Hellenistic Kingdom. Routledge. p. 109).

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Chandragupta Maurya, Emperor of India Archived 10 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopædia Britannica
  2. ^ Upinder Singh 2016, p. 330.
  3. ^ a b Upinder Singh 2016, p. 331.
  4. ^ a b Kulke & Rothermund 2004, p. 59-65.
  5. ^ Boesche 2003, p. 7-18.
  6. ^ Coningham & Young 2015, p. 452-453.
  7. ^ a b Mookerji 1988, pp. 47, 52–53.
  8. ^ a b Bronkhorst 2007.
  9. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 2–14, 229–235.
  10. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 3–14.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiley 2009, pp. 50–52.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Fleet 1892, pp. 156–162.
  13. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 5–7.
  14. ^ a b Upinder Singh 2017, pp. 264–265.
  15. ^ a b c d Mookerji 1988, pp. 7–9.
  16. ^ a b c d e Mookerji 1988, p. 14.
  17. ^ a b Mookerji 1988, pp. 13–15.
  18. ^ Thapar 1961, p. 12.
  19. ^ a b Mookerji 1988, pp. 13–14.
  20. ^ Seth, H. C. (1937). "Did Candragupta Maurya belong to North-Western India?". Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. 18 (2): 158–165. ISSN 0378-1143. JSTOR 41688339.
  21. ^ a b c d e f g h Dikshitar 1993, pp. 264–266.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g h Hemacandra 1998, pp. 155–157, 168–188.
  23. ^ a b Jones & Ryan 2006, p. xxviii.
  24. ^ a b Jaini 1991, pp. 43–44.
  25. ^ Upādhye 1977, pp. 272–273.
  26. ^ Raychaudhuri 1923, p. 142.
  27. ^ Raychaudhuri 1923, p. 137.
  28. ^ Raychaudhuri 1923, p. 138.
  29. ^ Thapar 1961, p. 13.
  30. ^ a b c Raychaudhuri 1967, pp. 134–142.
  31. ^ Habib & Jha 2004, p. 15.
  32. ^ a b c Roy 2012, pp. 61–62.
  33. ^ a b Raychaudhuri 1967, p. 139.
  34. ^ Thapar 2004, p. 177.
  35. ^ Arora, U. P. (1991). "The Indika of Megasthenes — an Appraisal". Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. 72/73 (1/4): 307–329. JSTOR 41694901.
  36. ^ Jansari 2023, pp. 69–70.
  37. ^ Raychaudhuri 1967, pp. 139–140.
  38. ^ Raychaudhuri 1967, p. 140.
  39. ^ Jansari 2023, pp. 20–22.
  40. ^ Majumdar, Raychauduhuri & Datta 1960.
  41. ^ a b Allchin & Erdosy 1995, pp. 187–194.
  42. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 2, 25–29.
  43. ^ Sastri 1988, p. 26.
  44. ^ Edward James Rapson; Wolseley Haig; Richard Burn; Henry Dodwell; Mortimer Wheeler, eds. (1968). The Cambridge History of India. Vol. 4. p. 470. "His surname Maurya is explained by Indian authorities as mean 'son of Mura,' who is described as a concubine of the king.
  45. ^ a b c Mookerji 1988, pp. 9–11.
  46. ^ Mookerji 1988, p. 13.
  47. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 15–18.
  48. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 7–13.
  49. ^ a b c Mookerji 1988, p. 6.
  50. ^ a b Mookerji 1988, pp. 15–17.
  51. ^ Modelski, George (1964). "Kautilya: Foreign Policy and International System in the Ancient Hindu World". American Political Science Review. 58 (3). Cambridge University Press: 549–560. doi:10.2307/1953131. JSTOR 1953131. S2CID 144135587.; Quote: "Kautilya is believed to have been Chanakya, a Brahmin who served as prime Minister to Chandragupta (321–296 B.C.), the founder of the Mauryan Empire."
  52. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 19–20.
  53. ^ a b Mookerji 1988, p. 18.
  54. ^ a b Habib & Jha 2004, p. 14.
  55. ^ Trautmann 1970, pp. 240–241.
  56. ^ "History: Biography of Chandragupta Maurya and His Maurya Empire". Md. Mizanur Rahaman Mizan. 4 August 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  57. ^ Mookerji 1988, p. 32.
  58. ^ Mookerji 1988, p. 22.
  59. ^ Hemacandra 1998, pp. 175–188.
  60. ^ Raychaudhuri 1967, pp. 144–145.
  61. ^ Raychaudhuri 1967, p. 144.
  62. ^ Stoneman 2019, p. 155.
  63. ^ Thapar 2013, pp. 362–364.
  64. ^ a b Sen 1895, pp. 26–32.
  65. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 28–33.
  66. ^ Roy 2012, pp. 27, 61–62.
  67. ^ Grant 2010, p. 49.
  68. ^ Bhattacharyya 1977, p. 8.
  69. ^ a b c d e Hemacandra 1998, pp. 176–177.
  70. ^ Mookerji 1988, p. 34.
  71. ^ a b Roy 2012, p. 62.
  72. ^ a b c d Tarn 1922, p. 100.
  73. ^ Coningham & Young 2015, p. 453.
  74. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 6–8, 31–33.
  75. ^ Justin XV.4.12-13[usurped]
  76. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 2–3, 35–38.
  77. ^ Appian, p. 55.
  78. ^ Jansari 2023, p. 34.
  79. ^ "Strabo 15.2.1(9)". Archived from the original on 3 February 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  80. ^ Strabo, Geography, XV, 2, 9
  81. ^ Strabo, Geography, xv.2.9
  82. ^ a b c Jansari 2023.
  83. ^ Smith 1914, p. 149.
  84. ^ Boesche 2003.
  85. ^ Kosmin 2014, p. 33.
  86. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 36–37, 105.
  87. ^ Clark 1919.
  88. ^ Coningham & Young, p. 452-453.
  89. ^ a b Coningham & Young, p. 452.
  90. ^ Barua 2005, pp. 13–15.
  91. ^ Sagar, Chandra (1992). Foreign Influence on Ancient India. Northern Book Centre. p. 83.
  92. ^ India, the Ancient Past, Burjor Avari, p. 106-107
  93. ^ Majumdar 2003, p. 105.
  94. ^ Tarn, W. W. (1940). "Two Notes on Seleucid History: 1. Seleucus' 500 Elephants, 2. Tarmita". The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 60: 84–94. doi:10.2307/626263. JSTOR 626263. S2CID 163980490.
  95. ^ a b c Mookerji 1988, p. 38.
  96. ^ Salomon 1998, pp. 194, 199–200 with footnote 2.
  97. ^ a b Habib & Jha 2004, p. 19.
  98. ^ a b Habib & Jha 2004, p. 20.
  99. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 39–41, 60–64.
  100. ^ Bentley 1993, pp. 44–46.
  101. ^ Mookerji 1988, p. 40.
  102. ^ a b Hemacandra 1998, pp. 185–188.
  103. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 39–40.
  104. ^ Samuel 2010, pp. 60.
  105. ^ Thapar 2004, p. 178.
  106. ^ Mookerji, Radhakumud (1966). Chandragupta Maurya and His Times. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. ISBN 978-81-208-0405-0.
  107. ^ a b Long 2013, pp. 60–61.
  108. ^ a b Dundas 2003, pp. 46–49.
  109. ^ a b Dundas 2003, pp. 46–49, 67–69.
  110. ^ a b Jyoti Prasad Jain 2005, pp. 65–67.
  111. ^ Jansari 2023, pp. 20.
  112. ^ a b Jansari 2023, pp. 22.
  113. ^ Mookerji 1988, p. 38-42.
  114. ^ Plutrach, Alexander62
  115. ^ Mookerji 1988, p. 39-41.
  116. ^ Mookerji 1988, p. 41-42.
  117. ^ Kulke & Rothermund 2004, p. 64.
  118. ^ Zvelebil 1973, pp. 53–54.
  119. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 41–42.
  120. ^ Upinder Singh 2016, pp. 330–331.
  121. ^ "Auction 396. INDIA, Mauryan Empire , Karshapana (14mm, 3.32 g). circa 315-310 BC". www.cngcoins.com. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  122. ^ Mookerji 1988, pp. 80.
  123. ^ Boesche 2003, pp. 7–18.
  124. ^ MV Krishna Rao (1958, Reprinted 1979), Studies in Kautilya, 2nd Edition, OCLC 551238868, ISBN 978-8121502429, pages 13–14, 231–233
  125. ^ Olivelle 2013, pp. 26.
  126. ^ Modelski, George (1964). "Kautilya: Foreign Policy and International System in the Ancient Hindu World". American Political Science Review. 58 (3): 549–560. doi:10.2307/1953131. JSTOR 1953131. S2CID 144135587.; Quote: "Kautilya is believed to have been Chanakya, a Brahmin who served as Chief Minister to Chandragupta (321–296 B.C.), the founder of the Mauryan Empire."
  127. ^ Upinder Singh 2017, p. 220.
  128. ^ Allchin & Erdosy 1995, pp. 189–192.
  129. ^ a b Mookerji 1988, pp. 62–63, 79–80, 90, 159–160.
  130. ^ a b c Sastri 1988, pp. 120–122.
  131. ^ Allan 1958, pp. 25–28.
  132. ^ Obeyesekere 1980, pp. 137–139 with footnote 3.
  133. ^ Albinski 1958, pp. 62–75.
  134. ^ Allchin & Erdosy 1995, pp. 187–195.
  135. ^ a b c d Roy 2012, pp. 62–63.
  136. ^ Allchin & Erdosy 1995, pp. 192–194.
  137. ^ Allchin & Erdosy 1995, p. 189.
  138. ^ Allchin & Erdosy 1995, pp. 194–195.
  139. ^ Roy 2012, pp. 63–64.
  140. ^ Roy 2012, pp. 64–68.
  141. ^ Olivelle 2013, pp. 49–51, 99–108, 277–294, 349–356, 373–382.
  142. ^ Harrison 2009, pp. 234–235.
  143. ^ a b Guha-Thakurta 2006, pp. 51–53, 58–59.
  144. ^ a b Varadpande 2006, pp. 32–34 with Figure 11.
  145. ^ Guha-Thakurta 2006, pp. 58–61.
  146. ^ Asher 2015, pp. 421–423.
  147. ^ Eraly 2002, pp. 414–415.
  148. ^ Sastri 1988, pp. 163–164.
  149. ^ Mookerji,Radhakumud.Chandragupta Maurya and his times.Motilal Banarasidass Publ.,1966.p1-6
  150. ^ Vallely 2018, pp. 182–183.
  151. ^ Commemorative postage stamp on Chandragupta Maurya Archived 27 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Press Information Bureau, Govt. of India
  152. ^ Ghosh 2001, pp. 44–46.
  153. ^ The Courtesan and the Sadhu, A Novel about Maya, Dharma, and God, October 2008, Dharma Vision LLC., ISBN 978-0-9818237-0-6, Library of Congress Control Number: 2008934274
  154. ^ Bhagwan Das Garga (1996). So Many Cinemas: The Motion Picture in India. Eminence Designs. p. 43. ISBN 978-81-900602-1-9.
  155. ^ Screen World Publication's 75 Glorious Years of Indian Cinema: Complete Filmography of All Films (silent & Hindi) Produced Between 1913-1988. Screen World Publication. 1988. p. 109.
  156. ^ Hervé Dumont (2009). L'Antiquité au cinéma: vérités, légendes et manipulations. Nouveau Monde. ISBN 978-2-84736-476-7.
  157. ^ "Chanakya Chandragupta (1977)". IMDb. 25 August 1977. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  158. ^ "Television". The Indian Express. 8 September 1991. Archived from the original on 11 May 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  159. ^ "Chandragupta Maurya comes to small screen". Zee News. 13 January 2011. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  160. ^ "Chandragupta Maurya on Sony TV?". The Times of India. 5 May 2012. Archived from the original on 4 January 2016.
  161. ^ TV, Imagine. "Channel". TV Channel. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011.
  162. ^ "Real truth behind Chandragupta's birth, his first love Durdhara and journey to becoming the Mauryan King". 17 October 2016. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017.
  163. ^ "Civilization® VI – the Official Site | News | CIVILIZATION VI: RISE AND FALL - CHANDRAGUPTA LEADS INDIA".
  164. ^ "'Chandraguta Maurya' to launch in November on Sony TV". Archived from the original on 13 November 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2018.

Sources

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Chandragupta Maurya
Maurya dynasty
Preceded by
Dhana Nanda
(as king of the Magadha Empire)
Emperor of the Maurya Empire
322–297 BCE
Succeeded by