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Chandragupta Maurya
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Chandragupta Maurya (Sanskrit: चन्द्रगुप्त मौर्यः), (born c. 340 BCE, ruled c. 320 BCE,[2] – 298 BCE[3]) was the founder of the Maurya Empire. He succeeded in conquering almost all of the Indian subcontinent and is considered the first unifier of India as well as its first genuine emperor.[4] In foreign Greek and Latin accounts, Chandragupta is known as Sandrokyptos (Σανδρόκυπτος), Sandrokottos (Σανδρόκοττος) or Androcottus.[5]
Prior to Chandragupta's consolidation of power, small regional kingdoms dominated the northwestern subcontinent, while the Nanda Dynasty dominated the middle and lower basin of the Ganges.[6] After Chandragupta's conquests, the Maurya Empire extended from Bengal and Assam[7] in the east, to Afghanistan and Balochistan,some part of the eastern and south-east Iran in the west, to Kashmir and Nepal[8] in the north, and to the Deccan Plateau in the south.[9]
Tradition holds that Chandragupta abdicated his throne to become a Digambara Jain monk and led such an ascetic life that he starved himself to death. He was succeeded by his son Bindusara in 298 BC.
Chandragupta's achievements, which ranged from conquering Macedonian satrapies in the northwest and conquering the Nanda Empire by the time he was only about 20 years old, to achieving an alliance with Seleucus I Nicator and establishing centralized rule throughout the Indian Subcontinent, remain some of the most celebrated in the history of India. Over two thousand years later, the accomplishments of Chandragupta stand out in the history of India
Origins
Many Indian literary traditions connect him with the Nanda Dynasty of Magadha in modern day Bihar in eastern India. More than half a millennium later, the Sanskrit drama Mudrarakshasa calls him a "Nandanvaya" i.e. the descendant of Nanda (Act IV). Again more than a millennium later, Dhundiraja, a commentator of 18th century on Mudrarakshasa states that Chandragupta was the son of the Nanda king Sarvarthasiddhi by a wife named Mura, daughter of a Vrishala (Shudra). Mudrarakshasa uses terms like kula-hina and Vrishala for Chandragupta's lineage. This reinforces Justin's contention that Chandragupta had a humble origin.[10][11] On the other hand, the same play describes the Nandas as of Prathita-kula, i.e. illustrious, lineage. The medieval commentator on the Vishnu Purana informs us that Chandragupta was the son of a Nanda prince and a Hindi: dasi (English: maid) named Mura. The poets Kshmendra and Somadeva call him Purvananda-suta, son of the genuine Nanda, as opposed to Yoga-Nanda, i.e. pseudo-Nanda. The Nanda dynasty was started by Mahapadma Nanda, who is considered the first Shudra king of Magadha.
The Buddhist text the Mahavamsa calls Chandragupt a member of a division of the Khattiya (Kshatriya) clan called the Moriya (Maurya). Divyāvadāna calls Bindusara, son of Chandragupt, an anointed Kshatriya, Kshatriya Murdhabhishikata, and in the same work King Ashoka, son of Bindusara, is also styled a Kshatriya. The Mahaparinibbana Sutta states that the Moriyas (Mauryas) belonged to the Kshatriya community of Pippalivana. These traditions indicate that Chandragupt came from a Kshatriya lineage. The Mahavamshatika connects him with the Shakya clan of the Buddha, a clan which also belongs to the race of Ādityas.
A medieval inscription represents the Maurya clan as belonging to the solar race of Kshatriyas. It is stated that the Maurya line sprang from Suryavamsi Mandhatri, son of prince Yuvanashva of the solar race.[citation needed] chandragupt was a student of chankya.
Early life
Very little is known about Chandragupt's youth. What is known is gathered from later classical Sanskrit literature, as well as classical Greek and Latin sources which refer to Chandragupta by the names "Sandracottos" or "Andracottus".
Plutarch reports that he met with Alexander the Great, probably around Takshasila in the northwest, and that he viewed the ruling Nanda
Empire in a 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.