Chandragupta Maurya : (reigned c.321-c.298 BC), was the founder of the Maurya dynasty. According to tradition the title Maurya is derived from Murā, the mother or grandmother of Chandragupta, who was the wife of a Nanda king. Medieval epigraphs represent the Mauryas as Kshatriyas of the solar race. Buddhist writers of an early date knew them as members of a clan of Kshatriyas ruling the little republic of Pipphalivan, probably lying between Rummindel in the Nepalese Tarai & Kasai in the Gorakhpur district, in the days of the Buddha. The Maurya clan was reduced to great straits in the 4th century BC, & tradition avers that Chandragupta grew up among peacock-tamers, herdsmen, & hunters. According to the Puranas, he was the son of a Nanda king of Magadha born of a maid-servant named Mura, but the cognomen Vrishala applied to Chandragupta in the play Mudrārākshasa does not invariably mean a man of Shudra extraction. It can safely therefore be safely inferred that Mura was his mother’s nickname from her being from the Maurya clan of Pipphalivan & was kidnapped by the Nanda king’s raiders. While still a lad he is said to have encountered the megalomaniac invader Alexander in one of his camps in present Punjab. The Macedonian invader couldn’t countenance Chandragupta’s bold speech & condemned him to death, but the lad escaped before Alexander’s guard could capture him. In the place of his refuge he is said to have been joined by a Takshashilān Brahman, the famous Chāṇakya or Kauṭilya, who had prior to this gone to Pātaliputra to beg the Nanda emperor to throw out the murderous invaders but, being insulted by the reigning Nanda king, repaired to the Vindhya forest where he met Chandragupta. With the help of a buried treasure they unearthed, they recruited an army of mercenaries & overthrew Nanda king & established the Maurya rule over Magadha’s dominions. In the meantime Alexander had not only gone back from India, but also died, & taking advantage of the situation which thus arose in the present Punjab, Chandragupta overthrew the Greek rule there, probably between 324 & 321 BC. The army of Chandragupta, according to Pliny, included 600,000 infantry 30,000 cavalry, & 9,000 elephants, & a very large number of chariots. The protection of his person was entrusted to an Amazonian bodyguard of armed women. With this force he overran & conquered Mālwā, Gujarāt, & Saurāshtra, & extended his dominions to the Narmadā, if not beyond it. His power was challenged in 305 BC by the Greek general Seleukos who had become the sovereign of all the eastern dominions of Alexander. He was defeated & forced to conclude a humiliating peace by which he surrendered the satrapies of present Kabul, Herat, Qandahar, & Baluchistan, entered into a matrimonial alliance & received 500 elephants in return. This treaty, which has been dated 303, marked the culmination of the conquests of Chandragupta. In the course of 18 short years Chandragupta Maurya not only raised himself to the throne of Magadha, he expelled the Macedonian garrisons from present Punjab & Sindh, conquered Mālwā, Gujarāt, & Saurāshtra, & extended his dominion up to Narmadā. In 305 BC he defeated Seleukos & took over his satrapies of present Kabul, Herat, Qandahar, & Baluchistan. In the opinion of Megāsthenes, the Macedonian ambassador in Pātaliputra, Chandragupta’s palace excelled in splendour & magnificence the palaces of Susa & Ecbatana. “These achievements,” says Mccrindle’s Ancient India, “entitle him to rank among the greatest & most successful kings known to Western historians.” [Based on S. Bhattacharya: 223-24; Majumdar et al’s Advanced History, pp.92-93] ― Chandragupta fasted to death in sorrow for his famine¬-stricken people [Compare. Lytton’s reaction in Pax Britannica].
... have to be counted away from it on the west or north-west instead of making them cover foreign lands 1. Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, p. 334. 2. Ibid. 3."Chandragupta and the Maurya Empire", The Age of Imperial Unity, p. 67. 4.Mookerji, Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, p. 330. Page 288 both on that side and in the south, we still do not need... adventurous youth whom the Greeks reported as having met Alexander the Great during his invasion of India in 326 B.C. and as having become king not long after? We have sought a decision between Chandragupta Maurya, the candidate of modern historians, and Chandragupta I, founder of the Imperial Guptas, the choice of those who go by the traditional-Purānic chronology. After noting in some detail how... he mentions as the first Indian monarch. When, taking the help of F.E. Pargiter's collated lists from the Purānas as well as some Purānic genealogies found elsewhere, we count backward from Chandragupta Maurya through the Magadhan line and its predecessors, we do not come anywhere near Megasthenes's number - even though we count up to Manu Svayambhuva, the first traditional king. But going backward ...
... equivalent in the sixth or seventh century of that era." Rao, guided by the Jain reference, hazards the guess that the era might be linked with the current Jain dating of Chandragupta Maurya to 313-12 B.C., Chandragupta Maurya whom a late Jain tradition honours as the disciple of the famous patriarch Bhadra-bahu in the last part of his life. Thus Rao gets 532-33 A.D. for the record. "But, considering... There is also the first of the Imperial Guptas, Chandragupta I. Modern historians put him over 600 years after Sandrocottus and set forth many reasons for the identification of the latter with Chandragupta Maurya. These are claimed to be supported most impressively by several lines of evidence converging to place Chandragupta Maurya's grandson Aśoka around the middle of the 3rd century B.C. But the ancient... Sandrocottus became king of Palibothra not earlier than 326 B.C. and not later than 305 B.C., it is axiomatic that Purānically Sandrocottus must be the founder of the Imperial Guptas and cannot be Chandragupta Maurya. Whatever we may say, by way of criticism, about fixing the Kaliyuga in 3102 B.C., the Bhārata War in 3138 B.C., the coronation of Mahapādma Nanda in 1638 B.C. or, since the Nandas ...
... which we are presehted by the reports of Diodorus, Curtius and Plutarch taken together. Modern historians have identified Sandrocottus with Chandragupta Maurya and Xandrames with the last member of the dynasty of nine Nandas, which preceded Chandragupta Maurya on the throne of Māgadha. But, while the names "Sandrocottus" and "Chandragupta" can be equated, has an Indian equivalent of "Xandrames"... remaining argument is sought to be founded on some details in the reports by both Diodorus and Curtius. The former 1. The Political History of Ancient India (3rd ed.). p. 15. 2. Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, p. 32. 3. The Classical Accounts..., p. 198 (Plutarch's Life of Alexander LXI1). 4. Ibid., pp. 262, 270, 272 (Strabo's Geography, XV.1.36.53,57). Page... they are a father and eight sons. It is only the first, the father, who is called the son of a barber. Yet it is not he who can be deemed Xandrames. The ninth Nanda immediately preceding Chandragupta Maurya is our man. He is nowhere spoken of as a barber's son or stigmatized as belonging to a barber-family. Thus once more the Nandas are out. The Purānic evidence on their origin, it should ...
... period quite other than that of Aśoka's grandfather. That is to say, either several parts of Aśoka's empire beyond what was inherited from the Nandas need not have been acquired by Chandragupta Maurya or else Chandragupta Maurya was not Sandrocottus. There is also the question of the Ganges-delta, what is now called Lower Bengal. Did this part of India fall within the conquests of Chandragupta? We... remain quite unmolested." Majumdar, 1 taking Sandrocottus to be Chandragupta Maurya, expresses surprise: "The statement that 'famine has never visited India' is contradicted by Indian literature which refers to famine even in ancient days. Reference is made, for example, in Jain literature to a terrible famine at the time of Chandragupta Maurya." Majumdar's "example" is drawn, as his footnote shows, from... implication that Sandrocottus followed the Vedic Hindu religion and not Jainism. He could not have been Chandragupta Maurya. All in all, taking both facts and legends, nobody with an unprejudiced mind can fail to be impressed with the claim staked for Chandragupta I as against Chandragupta Maurya for identification with Sandrocottus. l. Op. tit., pp. 276-77. 2. Hamilton and Falconer's ...
... Page 68 Our task is to start, on the one hand, from Chandragupta Maurya and, on the other, from Chandragupta I of the Imperial Guptas and count backward from each in an attempt to see where the 153 preceding kings would lead us, ending with a figure identifiable with Dionysus. Before Chandragupta Maurya the Purānas name 4 Magadhan dynasties. The Nandas are his immediate pr... would be the accession-year obtained from the Purānas and Megasthenes for the modern historians' equivalent of Sandrocottus, Chandragupta Maurya whom we have substituted by Chandragupta I. Do Megasthenes and the Purānas Correspond in the Date for Chandragupta Maurya? The traditional-Purānic time-scheme starts from 3138 B.C. where the Bhārata War is placed. It counts the dy... information regarding the historical chronology of India from the native annalists of his day?" Such information is likely to throw sharp light on the problem whether "Sandrocottus" was Chandragupta Maurya, as modern historians hold, or the founder of the Imperial Guptas, Chandragupta I, as the traditional-Purānic chronology makes us conclude. The Chronological Clue from Megasthenes ...
... historical support. Unless the authorship were fully established, the concordances noted would only point to a date for the book in the last quarter of the fourth century B.C. without implying that Chandragupta Maurya was on the Magadhan throne at the time. But today the interpretative situation has strikingly changed. In 1970 A. L. Basham 1 observed about the Arthasatra: "Since its publication certain... Mookerji mean is both that the book carries signs of an epoch subsequent to Sandrocottus's and that it fails to match sufficiently the account left by Magasthenes whom they make a contemporary of Chandragupta Maurya. Beni Prasad 2 comments: "Many scholars now refuse to accept the view that the work was really composed by Kautilya or any statesman of the type, and they regard it as of a much later date.... note that the 1. The Political History..., p. 277. 2. Ibid., p. 10. 3. The Oxford History..., p. 95, fn. 4. The Political History..., p. 10. 5. Ibid. 6. Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, p. 112. 7. The Political History..., p. 277. 8. Ibid., p. 10. 9. Ibid. 10. Ibid., p. 277. Page 548 Kautilīya, which purports to be ...
... 1881), I & II Monier-Williams, W., Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Oxford, 1899) Mookerji, D. N., In Bhāratīya Vidyā, V. Miscellany Mookerji, R. K., Chandragupta Maurya and His Times (University of Mādras, 1943) The Gupta Empire (Hind Kitabs, Ltd., Bombay, 1947) "Rise of Megadhan Imperialism", "Foreign Invasions", "Chandragupta and the Maurya Empire"... 'Chandra' of Meherauli Iron Pillar, i, 215, 523-4, 532-9 Chandra-prakāsa, 405-06 Chandragiri (Kalbappa Hill), 219 Chandragupta, more than one, 1-2, 41, 467 Chandragupta Maurya, v, vi, viii, 1, 9, 27, 28, 61, 69, 71, 97, 147-9, 202, 216, 217-9, 219-20, 225, 473, 542, 543, 546, 558, 575, 591 Chandragupta I, viii, 13, 40, 61, 92, 97, 199, 206, 212, 214, 215, 226, ...
... books as a Māgadhan ernperor with his seat at Pātaliputra. We may add that the Classical accounts also do not speak of Xandrames being fought by Sandrocottus who is currently identified with Chandragupta Maurya, the overthrower of the last Nanda. Page 159 One point, however, calls out for settlement. We may be told: "If the Prasii in their specific role are inhabitants of... speaking of Alexander's decision to cry a halt to his invasion, referred to the eastern boundary of the Gangaridai and typified them as "a nation which possesses the greatest number of 1. Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, p. 36. 2. Ibid., p. 39. 3. Ibid., p. 42. Page 162 elephants and the largest in size". Arrian (Anabasis, V.25), 1 without mentioning the ...
... 207-208 original meaning of, 28-30,120, 177 perversion of, 119, 120·121 political use of, 18, 32 , 192(11) caturvarna caturvarnya, 90 , 120 Chaitanya, 204 Chandala, 29, 44 Chandernagore,71 Chandragupta Maurya, 178 charity, 102, 112, 129 see also altruism Charkha, 170,215,219,225 Charlemagne, 77 Chatterji, Bankim Chandra, 9, 21 , 155 China, 88 , 137, 202, 220 Communist China, 252 and India ...
... present framework of ancient Indian history —especially when it relates to the period of Alexander's invasion of India and the period immediately succeeding it, the time currently allotted to Chandragupta Maurya and to his grandson Asoka with his numerous informative inscriptions? Do we not have to tackle even Greek and Latin annals derived from the Indica of Magasthenes, the ambassador sent by ...
... occupy the Indian experimentation. Great experiments were conducted in democracy and democratic monarchy, and the first Page 52 imperial kingdom of India under the leadership of Chandragupta Maurya and his teacher and prime minister, Chanakya, came to be built up under the shock of the invasion of Alexander, the Great. Hinduism and Buddhism clashed and clasped each other, resulting in confusion ...
... the Mediterranean world. In India in 350 Be Buddhism was flourishing. At the time of Alexander's death, the Mauryan dynasty was established (322 BC) and the first King of that dynasty, Chandragupta Maurya (322- 298 BC), came closer to uniting India than had any earlier ruler. Only the extreme South escaped his domination. What happened after Alexander Alexander's sudden death meant ...
... the whole subcontinent might become Buddhist. The future of Buddhism seemed especially bright under the Mauryan dynasty, which lasted from 322 to about 184 BC. The first king of this dynasty, Chandragupta Maurya (322- 298 BC), came closer to uniting India than had any earlier ruler; only the extreme south escaped his domination. The third Mauryan king, Asoka (ca. 273-ca. 232 BC), became a Buddhist, and ...
... that the Indian adventurer named by the Greek historians Sandrocottus, who was a contemporary of Alexander the Great and flourished as a king in the immediate post-Alexandrine epoch was not Chandragupta Maurya but Chandragupta I, founder of the Imperial Gupta dynasty. Then Chandragupta II Vikramaditya would mount the throne around 260 B.C. and Shankara, along with Kumarila Bhatta, might have lived ...
... Purānic chronology which is absolutely certain, and regarded with near-certainty the history of a little over 6 centuries preceding this event. Aśoka for us stands at 950 B.C. and his grandfather Chandragupta Maurya at 999 B.C., with his intervening reign of 24 years and Bindusāra's of 25 according to the Purānas, or slightly earlier if the numbers from the Ceylonese Chronicles are adopted. Aśoka's age ...
... Vasistha, Vishwamtira, Lopamudra, Yajnavalkya, Maitreyi Part II (i) Buddha and Mahavira (ii) Buddhism and Jainism (iii) Invasion of Alexander the Great (iv) Chandragupta Maurya (v) Ashoka III (i) Kushans and Kanishka (ii) Chandragupta, Samundragupta and Vikramaditya (iii) Gupta Period: the Golden Age of India (iv) Kalidasa, Varahamihira ...
... In India in 350 B.C. Buddhism was flourishing. At the time of Page 91 Alexander's death, the Mauryan dynasty was established (322 B.C.) and the first King of that dynasty, Chandragupta Maurya (322-298 B.C.), came closer to uniting India than had any earlier ruler. Only the extreme South escaped his domination. What happened after Alexander Alexander's sudden death ...
... Buddha, 83 Buddhi, 28 Buddhism, 8,46,59,84 Bull, 73 Caste, 54 Casteism, 62 Charanavyuha, 91 Chaturvarna, 53 Chaldea, 1 Chaitanya, 44,59,85 Chandragupta Maurya, 84 Charvaka, 46, 59 Chemistry, 44 Chhandas, 101,102 Chhandogya Upanishad, 68,75,78, 79, 80,81, 82 Cow, 3,13,14 Consciousness, mental, 41 Cosmic-terrestrial, ...
... restored through eight or nine centuries, in spite of periods of weakness and disintegration. Thus began the age of empires in India. All the empires that followed the Mauryan empire of Chandragupta Maurya, the Gupta empire and the Harsha empire, withstood foreign invasions and served the purpose for which they had been created - the saving of the Indian soil and Indian civilization from that immense ...
... political unity also India has tried to realize and manifest in her life. This is the significance of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana; it is also the truth behind the unification attempt of Chandragupta Maurya, the later Gupta emperors like Harshavardhan and even some of the Mogul emperors. In addition to all this is the religious diversity that makes India the only place in the world where all the ...
... new elements came to occupy the Indian experimentation. Great experiments were conducted in democracy and democratic monarchy, and the first imperial kingdom of India under the leadership of Chandragupta Maurya and his teacher and prime minister, Chanakya, came to be built up under the shock of the invasion of Alexander, the Great. Hinduism and Buddhism clashed and clasped each other resulting in confusion ...
... from 560 B.C. to 200 B.C. This period witnesses the remarkable life and work of the Buddha, the invasion of Alexander the great, the establishment of the Mauryan empire under the lead of Chandragupta Maurya and his adviser, Kautilya (or Chanakya), the life and work of Ashoka, who provided royal sanction to Buddhism and gave a great impetus to the spread of Buddhism not only in India but even in ...
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