The Mauryan Empire-Chandragupta Maurya

In the history of India, Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Mauryan dynasty, contributed to freeing India from maladministration of the wicked rulers as well as from the foreign dominators. After the death of his father, Chandragupta Maurya was raised by his maternal uncle, and later by a cowherd, who sold him to a hunter. However, the life of Chandragupta Maurya was totally changed when Chandragupta Maurya come in contact with the great politician of that time Kautilya better known as Chanakya. Under the mastery of Chanakya, Chandragupta Maurya became capable of war against the “Nanda dynasty”.

Origin

Although Puran describes the Mauryan as Shudras, there is some indirect evidence, that represents Mauryan as Vaisya. However, to glorify the Mauryan dynasty, most Buddhists link the origin of Mauryan with the Sakya Kshatriya and describe that, as Mauryan had come from that region of where there was full of peacocks or “Mor”, hence the Moriya’s name came from. Therefore, it can be said that Mauryan appended to the Moriya tribe.

Mauryan literacy

Chandragupta Maurya was called Sandrokottos by the Greek intelligentsia. The Kautilya Arthasastra the most valuable literacy source of Mauryan history provided the detailing about Chandragupta Maurya and his ruling tactics. Moreover, this Kautilya Arthasastra has been based on the government and political concern of that era, with a detailed analysis of economic and political status in the Mauryan period. In addition, a classical text Indica, written by a Greek writer Megasthenese also described the Mauryan administration along with the seven cast system, absences of slavery, usury in India, and so on. Furthermore, Mudra Rakshasa wrote by Visakha Dutta in the Gupta period, also describes how Chandragupta Maurya destroyed the Nanda dynasty with the assistance of Chanakya and held up the socio-economic condition of Ancient India. 

Expansion of Kingdom by Chandragupta Maurya

In Takshila, under the guidance of Kautilya, he took his education and learned all the tactics regarding politics, economy, and war. On the other hand, after the death of Alexander the Great”, when Seleucus was trying to take over the administration of entire India, Chandragupta Maurya defeated him. On the other hand, he became successful in throwing Dhana Nanda from his throne and establishing the Mauryan dynasty by demolishing the Nanda dynasty. The people of Pataliputra became very angry with Dhana Nanda as he was a very oppressive king. Moreover, during this time Alexander invaded India, crossed the Hindu Kush Mountains, crossed the Indus Valley, and entered Takshila of India in 327 BC. However, Chandragupta Maurya seeks Greek help from Alexander to overthrow Nanda Raja, nevertheless, when Alexander executed Chandragupta, for his arrogant behavior, he escaped from the camp and took refuge in the deep forest of Bindhya Parbat. Here Chandragupta introduced Chanakya and established a team against Dhana Nanda”. 

Chandragupta then waged war against Nanda Raja and although Chandragupta was defeated in the first two battles, he won the third battle. Many historians believe that after Alexander’s departure from India, troops ruled the northwestern part of India, helping Chandragupta in this war. From about 324 to 323 BC, Chandragupta defeated Nanda Raja and gained the entire kingdom, and gained control of the Punjab and the Ganges-Yamuna valley. Furthermore, he then proceeded to overthrow the Greek troops from northern India. He led a campaign against the Greeks, defeated the Greek general Seleucus, and brought a vast territory from Alexander’s empire to the Indus Valley. He was then able to capture the Manav and Saurashtra of western India with about six lakh troops.

Although there is disagreement over how much of the South India part he was able to annex, he became able to extend the kingdom from the Persian border to Mysore in South India and from Saurashtra to Bengal. In 323 BC, after the death of Alexander the Great, his commander-in-chief, Seleucus, ruled most of the Asia countries, which was defeated by Chandragupta Maurya in 305 BC. Therefore, most parts of Afghanistan were forced to submit to Chandragupta Maurya, and later these two dynasties were connected by marriage, as Chandragupta Maurya married the daughter of Seleucus, Helena. In addition, Chandragupta Maurya not only annexed Bihar and most of Bengal but also occupied the western, north-western, and southern parts of the state.

Conclusion

Therefore, it has been concluded that Chandragupta Maurya was one of the greatest kings in ancient history. He not only established the new regime for India, by uniting different territories under one ruler but also demolished the evil regime of Dhana Nanda. Moreover, Chandragupta Maurya establishes a new era, named the Maurya Period, where India has experienced excellent growth in the economy, politics, and fine arts. However, from 322 BC to 185 BC, the “Maurya Period” and their regime lasted for, during which Chandragupta Maurya ruled from 322 BC to 298 BC.