Chandragupta Maurya (321-297 BCE)
Mahavamsa refers to the early life of Chandragupta
Maurya. His mother, after the death of her husband sought shelter in
Pushpapura (Kusumpura-Pataliputra) where she gave birth to him. He was brought
up first by a cowherd and then by a hunter in a village. The child showed
promise right from his childhood. He towered over his friends when he played
the role of the king with them. This attracted the notice of Chanakya, i.e.,
Kautilya, who once happened to pass through that village. The latter took him
away to the city of Taxila. The new mentor gave him a thorough grounding in
certain aims and objectives and, the most important was that he must rid the
country of the hated rule and tyranny of the Nanda king, who had insulted
Chanakya.
The Nanda ascendancy was not
only regarded as 'unlawful' and 'irreligious because of their origin, but also
it was equally despised for the wickedness of the disposition of its rulers and
the forcible exactions levied by them on their subjects. The 'unlawfully'
amassed wealth of the Nandas had become almost proverbial. Its notoriety had
reached as far south as the Tamil Country. The Punjab and the north-western
India lay exposed to Alexander's invasion. These areas were being constantly
squeezed and hurried by his prefects. Chandragupta had thus a dou- ble-fold
task to accomplish. He must rid the country of foreign domination and liquidate
the oppressive rule of the Nandas. These tasks with which Chanakya had
entrusted Chandragupta were indeed very difficult yet the latter achieved both
these aims with resounding success. Thus well equipped, he began the task with
utmost determination which proved eminently successful and resulted in bringing
about a political unity in the country which was envied by many successive
rulers of India and which India had never witnessed before. He sought to
accomplish a part of his mission by including Alexander, when he was in Punjab
in 326 BCE to attack the Nandas. But Alexander was greatly offended by the tone
and boldness of Chandragupta and gave order to kill him. According to another
account, he was caught spying in Alexander's camps where he had gone to study
the Greek military strategy. He, however, escaped. Encouraged by various
visions, he was determined to claim the sovereignty of India.
Chanakya
both set out according to the Pali work Mahavamsatika, to collect a huge army
from different sources, Justin describes these soldiers as mercenaries, hunters
as well as robbers. According to Arthashastra, a treatise on policy whose
authorship is attributed to Kautilya, the army is to be recruited from the
Choras, i.e., thieves, Mlechchhas, choraganas (organized gangs of robbers),
Atavikas or foresters, and Sastropajivi or warrior clans. Such elements were found
in great abundance in the Punjab after the defeat and disintegration of the
large number of repubisan people. The Covek rations abesti Mail Oxydrakai
Astaken Chemo who had fought Alexander hecally but had ssly weagether these
lone elements in a rage and sormidable army. His personal want of cohesion and
leadership Chandragupta-e um and magnetic personality provided the sequined
leadership, Hev an alliance to Mudrarakshasa and Jain werk Paristaparvan) This
alliance with the Himala the Himalayan Kang Parvataka of doubtful identity
accordi yan king gave Chundragupta as stated in the Modrarakshasa a compete any
formed with the Sakas, Yaranas, Kirathan Kabibejas, Oarsikas and Babilik
Cendragupta sapped all the available sources and armed with a huge compou amy
attempted to overthrow the existing Nanda Empire.
With
regard to the conquest of Magadha by Chandragupta, the details are n preserved
but the related erodes can be gleaned from the different traditions The
Maharamsa-tika talks about the initial mistakes of his campaign in attacking on
the centre without conquering the frontier regions. The Jain tradition
similarly compares the middle hot pie dhist traditions men Chandragupta to a
child who puts his thumb into the ad of starting from the edge which was cool.
But the Bud his preliminary failure to consolidate the frontier rashtras and
Janapadas rute to Pataliputra.
The
different stories peint to the fact that Chandragupta had to make re peated
attempts on Pataliputra before he could wrest it from the Nandas .The
Milindapanhas gives an exaggerated account of the slaughter from the
destruction of the Narula army led by Bhaddasala (Bhadrasala)
The
Brahmanical tradition, however, gives credit for the overthrow of the Nandas to
Kautilya. The Puranas, Arthashastra and the Mudrarakshasa all of them cast the
figure of Chandragupta into shade in this heroic fight and give full credit to
Chanakya (Kautilya) for bringing about the dynastic change in Maga dha by his
diplomacy and appointing Chandragupta as king.
The
aforesaid conflicting views can be easily reconciled by stating that the mij
itary skill and bravery of Chandragupta in the battlefield were ably seconded
by the astute diplomacy of Chanakya, The two together brought about the
downfall of the Nandas. The estensive Nanda empire comprising the entire
Gangetic Valley and eastern India along with the considerable portion of the
Deccan, passed into the hands of Chandragupta who thus, heralded the foundation
of the Mauryan Empire.
According
to Plutarch, this event took place 'not long after Chandragupta's meeting with
Alexander in the Punjab in 326-325 nce. The Buddhist tradition dates the
accession of Chandragupta 162 years after the Mahaparinirvana of the Buddha
which according to the Ceylonese tradition took place in 486 ncs thus assigning
Chandragupta a period of 24 years rule, ie, from 324 BCE to 300 BCE A the first
Mauryan empire. However, the inscriptions suggest Chandragupta's rule between
321 ecx and 297 BCE.
After
accomplishing his first task. Ise turned his attention towards the second viz.
freeing his country from foreign domination. This became easier owing to the
growing difficulty of the Greek position in the Punjab, by many uprisings of
the indians, against the Greek Satraps and the outbreak of jealousy between the
Greek and Macedonean elements of the occupying forces. Above all, there came
the death of Alexander himself in 323 ace. This led to the disruption of his
empire and letting loose of the centrifugal tendencies. At the first partition
of Alexander's empire at Babylon in 323 ace, no change was affected in the term
of Indian post tion. Both Porus and Ambhi were left free in their respective
domains which were greatly increased Greek authority was limited Eudemus, in
charge of the Greek garrisons in India and Pithon, son of Agenor, as the Greek
Satrap of Sind were the two important officials left in India. But during the
second partition of Alexanders empire that took place at Triparadisus in 321
CE. lithon, was transferred by the North West without appointing any substitute
The quiet withdrawal of the Grks from India in 321 ner was most probably due to
the fact that Chandragup had already started war of the liberation in Sind by
then He carried further north where Eudemus after testing the blood of
Chandragupta's sword discreetly reftrest from India in 317 at Pithon who was in
the north was also left in 316 nc to participate in the Greek war of
succession. The achievements of Chandragupta are thus summed up by Justin India
after the death of Alexander had shaken off the yoke of servitude and put his
governors to death. The author of this liberation was Sandrocottus. This
Sandrocottus was obviously Chandragupta. The task of liberating the Punjab and
Sind was not an easy one. It invited hard fighting which lasted for almost a
decade from about 323 BCE to 316 BCE.
While
Chandragupta was engaged in emancipating his country and consolidating his
conquest, the Greek King, Seleucus of Syria, who had succeeded Alexander in the
eastern part of his empire was moving towards India to recover the list
provinces. The river Indus formed the boundary between his dominion and that of
Chandragupta, before the two kings came to wage conflict. The former. according
to another classical writer, is said to have 'crossed the Indus and war with
Sandrocotus, king of the Indians who dwelt on the banks of the streams. Neither
the date of the war, nor its duration is known for certain reasons. Justin
however, dates Seleucus's treaty or understanding with Chandragupta and settlement
of affairs in the East prior to the former's return home to prosecute the war
with Antigonus who died in 301 BCE. The conflict between the two is generally
assumed to have taken place in 305 BCE. The Greek writers who were painstakingly
meticulous about Alexander's campaigns were abnormally reticent about the
details of Seleucus's invasion of India. Reasons are quite obvious. This was
indeed a very humiliating treaty for the Westerners. According to another clas-
sical writer, Strabo, Seleucus ceded to Chandragupta territories then known as
Aria (Le, Herat), Arachosia (ie., Kandhar), Propanisade (ie., Kabul) and part
of Gedrosia (ie., Baluchistan) in return for 500 elephants, and a matrimonial
alliance, the exact nature of which is not clear. The incorporation of these
three areas into the Mauryan realm is clearly evident from the availability of
Ashoka's Greek and Aramaic edicts precisely from these areas, which were not
conquered, but inherit- ed by Ashoka. The diplomatic relations were also
established between the two as Strabo refers to the sending of
Megasthenes--Seleucus's ambassador to the court of Chandragupta in Pataliputra
where he wrote his famous book called Indica." These terms of the treaty
leave no doubt that Seleucus fared badly at the hands of Chandragupta who
thereby secured a scientific frontier by acquiring Afghanistan and Baluchistan
for his newly founded empire.
About
the subsequent career of Chandragupta, we have to rely on the stray
inscriptional and written notices. In a vague statement, Plutarch asserts that
with an army of 6,00,000 men Chandragupta overran and subdued all India. Justin
also refers to mastery over the entire country. The conquest and inclusion of
one important province that is of Saurashtra in the empire of Chandragupta is
clearly attested to by the testimony of Junagadha inscriptions of Rudradaman of
150 CB (72 Saka Era) where it is mentioned that Saurashtra-Kathiawar was
governed by Chandragupta's Rashtria, Vaishya Pushyagupta, who constructed the
famous Su- darshan Lake there.
- According to Brahmin traditions/sources, Chandragupta Maurya's belonged to a humble origin and lived in Nanda king's palace (Ranawas).
- Chandragupta, with the help of Kautilya (Chanakya) overthrew the Nanda ruler Dhanananda and established Mauryan dynasty.
- According to a Greek historian Justin, in order to establish his dominance, Chandragupta started a military campaign with six lakh soldiers in whole India.
- Chandragupta Maurya also fought war with Indo-Greek ruler Seleucus Nicator in which the Chandragupta emerged victorious. Seleucus married his daughter Helena to Chandragupta Maurya.
- Seleucus Nicator also sent his ambassador Megasthenes to the Mauryan court. Megasthenes book Indica is a very important source of Mauryan Empire.
- During the time of Chandragupta, the Mauryan rule was spread in the whole of Indian subcontinent except Tamil Nadu and North-East parts of India.
- In the last phase of his life, Chandragupta Maurya left the throne, embrassed Jainism from Jain Sage Bhadrabahu and died performing Sallekhana (Fasting Into death) at Shravanabelagola (Mysore).
Kautilya's Arthashastra
- Arthashastra is considered as the greatest piece of work in the history of the Mauryas. Kautilya composed the book in Sanskrit. It is the most significant text to know about contemporary Mauryan administrative system.
- In general, Arthashastra is an authoritative book on polity and public administration. It is divided into 15 parts, 180 chapters and 6000 shlokas.
- It is in both prose and verse style, which is commonly called Mahabharata style.
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