Chandragupta Maurya
| ||
Allegiance: | Magadhan Empire | |
Rank: | Emperor | |
Succeeded by: | Bindusara Maurya | |
Reign: | 322 BC-298 BC | |
Place of birth: | India |
Chandragupta Maurya (Sanskrit: चन्द्रगुप्त मौर्य; Greek: Sandrakottos) (born c. 340 BCE, ruled c. 320 BCE[1] to 293 BCE[2]) was the founder of the Mauryan Empire.
Chandragupta succeeded in bringing together almost all of the Indian subcontinent. As a result, Chandragupta is considered the first unifier of India and the first genuine emperor of India.[3]
Prior to Chandragupta's consolidation of power, small regional kingdoms dominated Northern and Eastern India.
In Chandragupta's time, the Mauryan Empire spanned from Afghanistan and Balochistan in the West, Bengal in the East, the Deccan plateau in the South, and Kashmir in the North [2].
There are different theories regarding Chandragupta Maurya’s origins. Most regard Chandragupta to have originated from Magadha, possibly as the son of a Nanda prince.[4] A kshatriya people known as the "Mauryas" who had received the relics of the Buddha are also mentioned in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta of the Digha Nikaya[5]. There is however an alternative school of scholars[6] who also connect Chandragupta to Gandhara (in modern day Pakistan).[7] Claims that the Mauryas were the Muras or rather Mors and were jatt kshatriyas of Indo-Scythian origin have been proposed.[8] [9] [10] [11]Based on Plutarch's evidence, other historians state that Chandragupta Maurya belonged to the Ashvaka (q.v.) or Assakenoi clan of Swat/Kunar valley ( modern Mer-coh or Koh-I-Mor — the Meros of the classical writings).[12] Ashvakas were a section of the Kambojas who were exclusively engaged in horse-culture and were noted for renting out their cavalry services.[13]
Regardless, his achievements, which ranged from defeating Macedonian armies to establishing centralized rule throughout Northern India, remain some of the most celebrated in Indian history. Two thousand years later, the accomplishments of Chandragupta and his successors are objects of great study in the annals of South Asian and world history.
Uprising
Very little is known about Chandragupta's youth, but Plutarch reports that he met with Alexander the Great, probably around Taxila in the northwest, and that he viewed the ruling Nanda dynasty in a very negative light:
- "Androcottus, when he was a stripling, saw Alexander himself, and we are told that he often said in later times that Alexander narrowly missed making himself master of the country, since its king was hated and despised on account of his baseness and low birth." Plutarch 62-3 [14]
According to this tradition, the encounter would have happened around 326 BCE, suggesting a birth date for Chandragupta around 340 BCE.
Junianus Justinus describes the humble origins of Chandragupta, and explains how he later led a popular uprising against the Nanda king:
- "He was of humble origin, but was pushing to acquiring the throne by the superior power of the mind. When after having offended the king of Nanda by his insolence, he was condemned to death by the king, he was saved by the speed of his own feet... He gathered bandits and invited Indians to a change of rule." Justin XV.4.15 [15]
Foundation of the Empire
Chandragupta Maurya , with the help of Chanakya, started to lay the foundation of the Mauryan empire.
In all the forms of the Chanakya legend,[16] he is thrown out of the Nanda court by the king, whereupon he swears revenge.
Chanakya chance-met Chandragupta in whom he spotted great military and executive abilities [17]. Chanakya was impressed by the prince's personality and intelligence, and immediately took the young boy under his wing to fullfil his silent vow.
The shrewd Chanakya had trained Chandragupta under his expert guidance and together they planned the destruction of Dhana Nanda. The Mudrarakshasa of Visakhadutta as well as the Jaina work Parisishtaparvan talk of Chandragupta's alliance with the Himalayan king Parvatka, sometimes identified with Porus.[18] This Himalayan alliance gave Chandragupta a composite and powerful army made up of Yavanas (Greeks), Kambojas, Shakas (Scythians), Kiratas (Nepalese), Parasikas (Persians) and Bahlikas (Bactrians):
- "Kusumapura was besieged from every direction by the forces of Parvata and Chandragupta: Shakas, Yavanas, Kiratas, Kambojas, Parasikas, Bahlikas and others, assembled on the advice of Canakya" Mudrarakshasa 2 [19]
With the help of these frontier martial tribes from the Himalayas and Central Asia, Chandragupta was apparently able to defeat the Nanda/Nandin rulers of Magadha, and founded the powerful Maurya Empire in Eastern India as a result.
Expansion
When he took over Magadha, Chandragupta Maurya inherited a powerful army from the Nanda Empire which he continued to build upon as he conquered more territories in Southern Asia.
Reconquest of the Northwest
Chandragupta turned his attention to Northwestern India (modern Pakistan), where he fought the satrapies (described as "prefects" in classical Western sources) left in place by Alexander (Justin), and assassinated two of his governors, Nicanor and Philip.[3][20] The satrapies he fought may have included Eudemus, ruler in western Punjab until his departure in 317 BCE; Peithon, son of Agenor, ruler of the Greek colonies along the Indus until his departure for Babylon in 316 BCE; and possibly Sophytes, who may have ruled in the Punjab until around 294 BCE (although it is also conjectured he may have ruled in Bactria instead). The Roman historian Justin described how Sandrocottus (Greek version of Chandragupta's name) conquered the northwest:
- "India, after the death of Alexander, had assassinated his prefects, as if shaking the burden of servitude. The author of this liberation was Sandracottos, 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" Justin XV.4.12-13 [21]
- "He was of humble origin, but was pushing to acquiring the throne by the superior power of the mind. When after having offensed the king of Nanda by his insolence, he was comdemned to death by the king, he was saved by the speed of his own feet" Justin XV.4.15[22]
- "Later, as he was preparing war against the prefects of Alexander, a huge wild elephant went to him and took him on his back as if tame, and he became a remarkable fighter and war leader. Having thus acquired royal power, Sandracottos possessed India at the time Seleucos was preparing future glory." Justin XV.4.19[23]
Conquest of Northern and Central India
Following the conquest of the northwest, Chandragupta moved onto the lands east of the Indus River, then moving south, taking over much of what is now Central India. Chandragupta soon overran all of Northern India, establishing an empire from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea.
Conflict and alliance with Seleucus
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/SeleucusCoin.jpg/278px-SeleucusCoin.jpg)
Seleucus I Nicator, the Macedonian satrap of the Asian portion of Alexander's former empire, conquered and put under his own authority eastern territories as far as Bactria and the Indus (Appian, History of Rome, The Syrian Wars 55), until in 305 BCE he entered in a confrontation with Chandragupta:
- "Always lying in wait for the neighboring nations, strong in arms and persuasive in council, he [Seleucus] acquired Mesopotamia, Armenia, 'Seleucid' Cappadocia, Persis, Parthia, Bactria, Arabia, Tapouria, Sogdia, Arachosia, Hyrcania, and other adjacent peoples that had been subdued by Alexander, as far as the river Indus, so that the boundaries of his empire were the most extensive in Asia after that of Alexander. The whole region from Phrygia to the Indus was subject to Seleucus." Appian, History of Rome, The Syrian Wars 55 [24]
The exact details of engagement are not known. As noted by scholars such as R.C. Majumdar and D.D. Kosambi, Seleucus appears to have fared poorly, having ceded large tracts of lands west of the Indus to Chandragupta.
Seleucus and Chandragupta ultimately reached a settlement, and through a treaty sealed in 303 BC, Seleucus ceded the country around the river Indus, according to Strabo:
- "The Indians occupy [in part] some of the countries situated along the Indus, which formerly belonged to the Persians: Alexander deprived the Ariani of them, and established there settlements of his own. But Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus in consequence of a marriage contract, and received in return five hundred elephants." Strabo 15.2.1(9)
Mainstream scholarship asserts that Chandragupta received territory west of the Indus including southern Afghanistan and parts of Persia. Archaeologically, concrete indications of Mauryan rule, such as the inscriptions of the Edicts of Ashoka, are known as far as Kandhahar, in today's southern Afghanistan.
In exchange for this territory, Seleucus obtained five hundred war elephants, a military asset which would play a decisive role at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC. A matrimonial alliance was also agreed upon (called Epigamia in ancient sources, meaning either the recognition of marriage between Indians and Greeks, or a dynastic alliance):
- "He (Seleucus) crossed the Indus and waged war with Sandrocottus [Maurya], king of the Indians, who dwelt on the banks of that stream, until they came to an understanding with each other and contracted a marriage relationship." Appian, History of Rome, The Syrian Wars 55 [25]
- "After having made a treaty with him (Sandrakotos) and put in order the Orient situation, Seleucos went to war against Antigonus." Justin XV.4.15[26]
In addition to this treaty, Seleucus dispatched an ambassador, Megasthenes, to Chandragupta, and later Deimakos to his son Bindusara, at the Mauryan court at Pataliputra (Modern Patna in Bihar state). Later Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt and contemporary of Ashoka, is also recorded by Pliny the Elder as having sent an ambassador named Dionysius to the Mauryan court.[27]
Classical sources have also recorded that following their treaty, Chandragupta and Seleucus exchanged presents, such as when Chandragupta sent various aphrodisiacs to Seleucus:
- "And Theophrastus says that some contrivances are of wondrous efficacy in such matters [as to make people more amorous]. And Phylarchus confirms him, by reference to some of the presents which Sandrakottus, the king of the Indians, sent to Seleucus; which were to act like charms in producing a wonderful degree of affection, while some, on the contrary, were to banish love" Athenaeus of Naucratis, "The deipnosophists" Book I, chapter 32 [28]
Acquired army
After 303 BC, when Megasthenes recorded the size of the acquired army of Chandragupta, his army grew to 400,000 men according to Strabo:
- "Megasthenes was in the camp of Sandrocottus, which consisted of 400,000 men" Strabo 15-1-53.[29]
Pliny quotes Megasthenes giving even larger figures of 600,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, and 9,000 war elephants:
- "But the Prasii [the inhabitants of Magadha, of whom Sandracottos was king [30]] surpass in power and glory every other people, not only in this quarter, but one may say in all India, their capital Palibothra, a very large and wealthy city, after which some call the people itself the Palibothri,--nay even the whole tract along the Ganges. Their king has in his pay a standing army of 600,000 foot-soldiers, 30,000 cavalry, and 9,000 elephants: whence may be formed some conjecture as to the vastness of his resources." Megasthenes, quoted in Pliny.[31]
Jainism & death
Towards the end of his life, Chandragupta gave up his throne and became an ascetic under the Jain saint Bhadrabahu Swami, ending his days in self-starvation at Shravanabelagola, in present day Karnataka. A small temple marks the cave (called Bhadrabahu Cave) where he died [3].
Chanakya
Chandragupta's adviser[32] Chanakya was the architect of Chandragupta's rise to power.
Family
Chandragupta Maurya renounced his throne to his son, Bindusara, who became the new Mauryan Emperor. Bindusara would later become the father of Asoka the Great, who was one of the most influential kings of all time due to his patronage of the Buddhist religion.
Origin or ancestry
The ancestry of Chandragupta is still shrouded in mystery and not known for certain [33]. There are divergent views regarding the origin, and each view has its own set of adherents.
While some Indian historians hold the view that Chandragupta was from the Nanda dynasty of Magadha, other later literary traditions imply that Chandragupta was raised by peacock-tamers (Sanskrit: Mayura-Poshakha), which earned him the Maurya epithet. Both the Buddhist as well as Jaina traditions testify to the supposed connection between the Moriya (Maurya) and Mora or Mayura (Peacock).[34] Yet there are other literary traditions according to which Chandragupta belonged to Moriyas, a Kshatriya (warrior) clan of a little ancient republic of Pippalivana located between Rummindei in the Nepalese Tarai and Kasia in the Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
Trivia
- In the 9th century AD, Sanskrit author Vishakhadatta penned a seven-act play on Chandragupta's life called, Mudrarakshasa (Sanskrit: Signet Ring of the Rakshasa,the chief minister of the last Nanda king).
- In 2001, the Indian Postal Department issued a Rs. 4 stamp commemorating the rule of Chandragupta.
- A myth says, that after not being able to seize control in his first attempt, Chandragupta roamed the wilderness of India. Here, he watched through a window, a mother and a child. The child kept burning his hand while trying to eat a roti. The mother scolded the child and told him to eat from the edges, not the centre, because the centre will always be hotter. Chandragupta realized that the Nanda Empire could be considered as that roti. This caused him to change his tactics for seizing power. There is a similar myth in which the roti is replaced by khichdi.
In Legends of the Hidden Temple, one of the artifacts was the "Lion-Headed Bracelet of Chandragupta."
See also
- Magadhan Empire
- Mauryan dynasty
- Asoka Maurya
- Bindusara Maurya
- Dasaratha Maurya
- Chanakya
- Gupta
- Arthashastra
- History of India
- List of Indian monarchs
- List of people known as The Great
- Mauryan art
References
- ^ Kulke, Hermann (1998) [1986]. A History of India (Third Edition ed.). London: Routledge. p. 59. ISBN 0-415-15481-2.
{{cite book}}
:|edition=
has extra text (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Kulke and Rothermund 1998:62
- ^ a b Boesche, Roger (2003). "Kautilya's Arthaśāstra on War and Diplomacy in Ancient India". The Journal of Military History. 67 (1): 9–37. ISSN 0899-3718.
{{cite journal}}
: External link in
(help); Unknown parameter|title=
|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Biographies: Chandragupta Maurya
- ^ 41. Then the Moriyas of Pipphalivana came to know that at Kusinara the Blessed One had passed away. And they sent a message to the Mallas of Kusinara, saying: "The Blessed One was of the warrior caste, and we are too. We are worthy to receive a portion of the relics of the Blessed One. We will erect a stupa over the relics of the Blessed One and hold a festival in their honor."
- ^ Noted Buddhist scholar B.M. Barua and others like Dr J.W. McCrindle, Dr D.B. Spooner, Dr H. C. Seth, Dr Hari Ram Gupta, Dr Ranajit Pal and others.
- ^ 'To me Candragupta was a man of the Uttarapatha or Gandhara if not exactly of Taksashila' (Indian Culture, vol. X, p. 34, B. M. Barua).
- ^ Jats the Ancient rulers, Dahinam Publishers, Sonipat, Haryana, by B. S. Dahiya I.R.S
- ^ Ram Swarup Joon, History of the Jats, Rohtak, India (1938, 1967)
- ^ Mahavamsa :Geiger Trans p 27, Mahavamsa describes Chandragupta as coming of Kshatriya clan of Maurya: "Mauryanam Khattyanam vamsha jata". (Geiger Trans p 27). It means "Mauryas are Kshatriyas of Jat clan".
- ^ Dehiya on the Jat Iranic identity of Mauryas:History of Iran
- ^ Was Chandragupta Maurya a Punjabi? Article in Punjab History Conference, Second Session, Oct 28-30, 1966, Punjabi University Patiala, p 32-35; Invasion of India by Alexander the great, p. 405; See also: The Kambojas Through the Ages, 2005, pp 150-51, Kirpal Singh.
- ^ [1] The chronological establishment of Indian history has been a matter of academic contention for the past two centuries. The most difficult part of this study, until now, was to construct an agreeable framework of chronology. It is to the credit of Sir William Jones that a systematic study and examination of this problem was first initiated in the late 18th century. Western scholars have done commendable and untiring work in the field of oriental studies. It is however sometimes claimed that western indologists misinterpreted the historical data available, intentionally or by accident, and put forth theories based on speculation and preconceived beliefs. The result was that the antiquity of many events were highly underestimated and its continuity and greatness undermined. A result of these biases was that even scholars like Sir William Jones could not believe in the antiquity of the Bharata War. This may also be because of his Christian faith which told him that Creation took place at 9-00 a. m, on 23rd October 4004 BC. Similar were the impressions of other Britishers. They did not believe in the veracity of Indian history books. Their bias prohibited the Christians from accepting the antiquity of the Indian nation. Arthur A. McDonnell wrote, "Early India wrote no history because it never made any. The ancient Indians never went through a struggle for life like the Greeks, the Persians and the Romans. Secondly, the Brahmanas early embraced the doctrine that all action and existence are a positive evil and could therefore have felt but little inclination to chronicle historical events." Jones was not satisfied with the Indian sources. He tried to search the Greek and Roman accounts. These accounts supplied some information about India of the time of the Macedonian king Alexander. It mentioned seven names of three successive Indian kings. Attributing one name each for the three kings the names are Xandrammes, Sandrokottas and Sandrocyptus. Xandrammes of the previous dynasty was murdered by Sandrokottas whose son was Sandrocyptus. Jones picked up one of these three names, namely, Sandrokottas and found that it had a sort of phonetic similarity with the name Chandragupta of the Puranic accounts. According to the Greek accounts, Palibothra was the capital of Sandrokottas. Jones took Palibothra as a Greek pronunciation of Pataliputra, the Indian city and capital of Chandragupta. He, then, declared on 28-2-1793 that Sandrokottas of the Greek accounts is Chandragupta Maurya of the Puranas. Jones died on 27-4-1794, just a year after this declaration and possibly before his death, could not know that Puranas have another Chandragupta of the Gupta dynasty. Later scholars took this identity of Sandrokottas with Chandragupta Maurya as proved and carried on further research. James Princep, an employee of the East India Company, deciphered the Brahmi script and was able to read the inscriptions of Piyadassana. Turnour, another employee of the Company in Ceylon, found in the Ceylonese chronicles that Piyadassana was used as a surname of Asoka, the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya. The inscription bearing the name of Asoka was not found till the time of Turnour. In 1838, Princep found five names of the Yona kings in Asoka's inscriptions and identified them as the five Greek kings near Greece belonging to third century BC who were contemporary to Asoka. Also see Sandrokottas-Chandragupta Maurya Identity : Sheet anchor of Indian history
- ^ Plutarch 62-3
- ^ "Fuit hic humili quidem genere natus, sed ad regni potestatem maiestate numinis inpulsus. Quippe cum procacitate sua Nandrum regem offendisset, interfici a rege iussus salutem pedum ceieritate quaesierat. (Ex qua fatigatione cum somno captus iaceret, leo ingentis formae ad dormientem accessit sudoremque profluentem lingua ei detersit expergefactumque blande reliquit. Hoc prodigio primum ad spem regni inpulsus) contractis latronibus Indos ad nouitatem regni sollicitauit." Justin XV.4.15
- ^ Trautmann, Thomas R. (1971). "The Cāṇakya-Candragupta-Kathā". Kauṭilya and the Arthaśāstra: A Statistical Investigation of the Authorship and Evolution of the Text. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
- ^ Depending upon the interprettation of Justin's accounts, the second version of the above story is that Chandragupta had also accompanied Chanakya to Pataliputra and himself was insulted by Dhanna Nanda (Nandrum of Justin). If this version of Justin's accounts is accepted, then the view that Chanakya had purchased Chandragupta from Bihar, on his way to Taxila, becomes irrelevant.
- ^ John Marshall "Taxila", p18, and al.
- ^ Sanskrit original: "asti tava Shaka-Yavana-Kirata-Kamboja-Parasika-Bahlika parbhutibhih Chankyamatipragrahittaishcha Chandergupta Parvateshvara balairudidhibhiriva parchalitsalilaih samantaad uprudham Kusumpurama". From the French translation, in "Le Ministre et la marque de l'anneau", ISBN 2-7475-5135-0
- ^ Radha Kumud Mookerji, Chandragupta Maurya and His Times, 4th ed. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1988 [1966]), 31, 28–33.
- ^ ">"(Transitum deinde in Indiam fecit), quae post mortem Alexandri, ueluti ceruicibus iugo seruitutis excusso, praefectos eius occiderat. Auctor libertatis Sandrocottus fuerat, sed titulum libertatis post uictoriam in seruitutem uerterat ; 14 siquidem occupato regno populum quem ab externa dominatione uindicauerat ipse seruitio premebat." Justin XV.4.12-13
- ^ "Fuit hic humili quidem genere natus, sed ad regni potestatem maiestate numinis inpulsus. Quippe cum procacitate sua Nandrum regem offendisset, interfici a rege iussus salutem pedum ceieritate quaesierat." Justin XV.4.15
- ^ "Molienti deinde bellum aduersus praefectos Alexandri elephantus ferus infinitae magnitudinis ultro se obtulit et ueluti domita mansuetudine eum tergo excepit duxque belli et proeliator insignis fuit. Sic adquisito regno Sandrocottus ea tempestate, qua Seleucus futurae magnitudinis fundamenta iaciebat, Indiam possidebat." Justin XV.4.19
- ^ Appian, History of Rome, The Syrian Wars 55
- ^ Appian, History of Rome, The Syrian Wars 55
- ^ "cum quo facta pactione Seleucus conpositisque in Oriente rebus in bellum Antigoni descendit." Justin XV.4.15
- ^ Pliny the Elder, "The Natural History", Chap. 21
- ^ Ath. Deip. I.32
- ^ Strabo 15-1-53
- ^ "According to Megasthenes the mean breadth (of the Ganges) is 100 stadia, and its least depth 20 fathoms. At the meeting of this river and another is situated Palibothra, a city eighty stadia in length and fifteen in breadth. It is of the shape of a parallelogram, and is girded with a wooden wall, pierced with loopholes for the discharge of arrows. It has a ditch in front for defence and for receiving the sewage of the city. The people in whose country this city is situated is the most distinguished in all India, and is called the Prasii. The king, in addition to his family name, must adopt the surname of Palibothros, as Sandrakottos, for instance, did, to whom Megasthenes was sent on an embassy." Strab. XV. i. 35-36,--p. 702. Text
- ^ FRAGM. LVI. Plin. Hist. Nat. VI. 21. 8-23. 11.
- ^ Boesche, Roger (2003). "Kautilya's Arthaśāstra on War and Diplomacy in Ancient India". The Journal of Military History. 67 (1): 9–37. ISSN 0899-3718.
{{cite journal}}
: External link in
(help); Unknown parameter|title=
|month=
ignored (help) "Kautilya [is] sometimes called a chancellor or prime minister to Chandragupta, something like a Bismarck…" - ^ Political History of Ancient India, 1996, p 236, Dr H. C. raychaudhury, Dr B. N. Mukherjee; Ancient India, 2003, p 284, Dr V. D. Mahajan
- ^ Parisishtaparvan, p 56, VIII239f
Additional reading
- Kosambi,D.D. An Introduction to the Study of Indian History, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1985
- Bhargava, P.L. Chandragupta Maurya, New Delhi:D.K. Printworld, 160 pp., 2002.
- Habib, Irfan. and Jha, Vivekanand. Mauryan India: A People's History of India,New Delhi:Tulika Books, 2004; 189pp
- Vishakadatta, R.S. Pandit.Mudraraksasa (The Signet Ring of Rakshasa), New Delhi:Global Vision Publishing House, 2004, ISBN 81-8220-009-1, edited by Ramesh Chandra
- Swearer, Donald. Buddhism and Society in Southeast Asia (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania : Anima Books, 1981) ISBN 0-89012-023-4
- Nilakanta Sastri, K. A. Age of the Nandas and Mauryas (Delhi : Motilal Banarsidass, [1967] c1952) ISBN 0-89684-167-7
- Bongard-Levin, G. M. Mauryan India (Stosius Inc/Advent Books Division May 1986) ISBN 0-86590-826-5
- Chand Chauhan, Gian. Origin and Growth of Feudalism in Early India: From the Mauryas to AD 650 (Munshiram Manoharlal January 2004) ISBN 81-215-1028-7
- Keay, John. India: A History (Grove Press; 1 Grove Pr edition May 10, 2001) ISBN 0-8021-3797-0