Durdhara
Durdhara | |||||
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Empress of the Maurya Empire | |||||
Born | 342 BCE Magadha | ||||
Died | 320 BCE Pataliputra, Magadha | ||||
Burial | 320 BCE | ||||
Spouse | Chandragupta Maurya | ||||
Issue | Keshnak Bindusara | ||||
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House | Mauryan dynasty | ||||
Father | Dhana Nanda ( pronounced as Dhanānandā) | ||||
Mother | Amitanita (pronounced as Amitānitā) | ||||
Religion | Jainism |
Maharani Durdhara (died 320 BCE) was Empress of the Maurya Empire as the consort of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya Empire. According to Jain texts, she was the mother of her husband's successor and the second Mauryan Emperor, Bindusara.[1] She was the daughter of Dhana Nand.[citation needed]. Her grandson was the third Mauryan Emperor, Ashoka the Great.
Death
Durdhara gave birth to 2 sons. Her eldest son was Keshnak who died 3 days after his birth. He was born in 322 BCE as said by some historians. Bindusara in 320 BC. According to a legend mentioned in Jain texts, her husband Chandragupta's advisor Chanakya used to feed the emperor with small doses of poison to build his immunity against possible poisoning attempts by enemies.[2] One day, Chandragupta not knowing about the poison, shared his food with the pregnant Durdhara who was just 7 days away from delivery. The empress, not immune to the poison collapsed, and died within a few minutes. Chanakya entered the room the very time she collapsed, and in order to save the child in the womb, he immediately cut open the dead empress' belly and took the baby out, by that time a drop of poison had already reached the baby and touched its head due to which the child got a permanent blueish spot (a "bindu") on his forehead. Thus, the newborn child was named "Bindusara".[3]
In popular culture
- Durdhara is played by Niddhi Tikoo in NDTV Imagine's Chandragupta Maurya (TV series).
References
- ^ Radha Kumud Mookerji (1966). Chandragupta Maurya and His Times: Madras University Sir William Meyer Lectures, 1940-41. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 234. ISBN 8120804058.
- ^ Wilhelm Geiger (1908). The Dipava?sa and Mahava?sa and their historical development in Ceylon. Translated by Ethel M. Coomaraswamy. H. C. Cottle, Government Printer, Ceylon. p. 40. OCLC 559688590.
- ^ M. Srinivasachariar (1989). History of classical Sanskrit literature (3 ed.). Motilal Banarsidass. p. 550. ISBN 978-81-208-0284-1.