Mauryan The Great Empires Part - 1

This is a 3 King of Patliputra

1. Chandragupta Maurya
2. Bindusara
3. Ashoka

Before this, let us talk a little about the Nanda dynasty.

But when Mahapadmananda, the ruler of the Nanda dynasty, took over the reins of Magadha, he tried to change this situation. His officials started the tradition of insulting Brahmins. King Dhanananda of the Nanda dynasty was a very cruel ruler. He imposed unfair taxes on his subjects to collect more wealth, due to which he earned a lot of fame. He was the last king of the Nanda dynasty. It is said that King Dhanananda had a huge treasure of 16 crore coins, which he collected by torturing his subjects. King Dhanananda was killed by Ashoka's grandfather Chandragupta Maurya. The story of the end of Dhanananda and his dynasty is very interesting and historical. King Dhanananda! He never stopped insulting Brahmins in some form or the other. A learned Brahmin Chanakya arrived in the court of a boss. Chanakya was not God. Seeing his ugly face and short stature, Dhanananda mocked him in his court. Chanakya's anger reached the seventh sky due to this insult. At that moment, he opened his Shikha and said in extreme anger, "I promise, O king, I will not give up my Shikha until I destroy the Nanda dynasty." Chanakya was a great personality of the Maurya era. His real name was Vishnu Gupta. Being the son of Chanak, he was named Chanakya. Chanakya was a cunning politician, due to which he also became famous by the name Kautilya. Chanakya was of short temper but was very intelligent. When Chanakya was coming to the court of King Dhanananda of the Magadh Empire with the desire of acquiring wealth to show his power, a thorn of the grass called Kush got stuck in his foot on the way and blood started flowing. He became very angry. Whatever the irritability had decided to do, he would He would not rest until he had completed the task. In a fit of rage, he uprooted a special person named Khus and destroyed him completely.

How did Chandragupta Maurya get his name?

When Vishnu Gupta (Chanakya) was returning after being insulted by King Dhanananda of the Nanda dynasty and taking an oath to destroy his dynasty, he saw some children playing on the way. One of the children was dressed as a king and the others were acting as soldiers, ministers and the subjects who had come for justice. The other children were calling the child dressed as king as Chandra. Chanakya hid to watch the game of those children. A boy named Chandra judged the match between the two children as a king. The way he delivered justice, Chanakya liked Chandra's method very much.

Chandra was an intelligent and clever child. Chanakya could clearly see the qualities of a king in him. He thought about it and went to his mother with Chandra. Chandra's mother's name was Mura. Chanakya asked for permission from Maurya to take Chandra with him. Chandra had no father. So Chanakya named him Chandragupta Maurya. Some scholars believe that Chandragupta was the son of King Mahapadmananda (Dhananand's father) of Magadha. Whatever may be the case, but it was true that he had some family connections. Chanakya brought up the child Chandra in a proper manner and along with education, he also progressed in the art of war. Actually, at the time when Chandrama was doing justice in the game, Chanakya had decided at that moment that he would prepare for the destruction of Dhanananda by giving proper education to Chandra.

Chandragupta Maurya and Alexander War

In those days, i.e. in 326 A.D., Alexander attacked India. India has been attacked by foreigners from time to time. The most important among them is the attack by Alexander. In those days, the political condition of India was not good. There was no powerful king in the country. There were many small republics and kingdoms which kept fighting among themselves. Due to this, they could not unite and face the foreign power. That powerful and prosperous Magadha empire was located to the east of the Sutlej river, but it had no interest in the political changes in the various kingdoms situated to its west. According to historians! When Alexander came to India, Chandragupta met him but till then he had not been able to conquer Magadha. Chandragupta wanted to conquer Magadha with the help of Alexander. So he advised Alexander to attack Magadha but for some reason Alexander got angry with him and ordered to kill Chandragupta. But Chandragupta somehow managed to escape. Alexander stayed in India for about 1 year and 7 months. Meanwhile he was conquering the states of India through war. While leaving from here he returned most of the conquered states to their rulers. They had accepted his subordination. Alexander could not attack the Magadha state. He wanted to conquer Magadha but his army refused to move ahead. According to Greek historians, Alexander's soldiers were very tired. It had been many years since they had left their homes. They were missing their homes. But Indian historians say that in that war with Porus, the Greek soldiers came to know about the bravery of the Indians. Across the river Vyas was the powerful state of Magadha. The Greek soldiers were scared to fight against it. So Alexander was forced to return. Alexander handed over all the conquered states to their rulers. Although he returned the Greeks, he still kept one state with himself, that state was Punjab. Alexander left his governor to look after his conquered state Punjab and left India. In this way, except a small part of India, the rest of India remained free from his influence. He died at the young age of 33 years. When Chandragupta got the news of Alexander's death, he took the help of Chanakya's diplomacy and organized a huge army. He had 6 lakh infantry, 30000 good horsemen, 9000 elephants and 8000 chariots in his service. The management of this army was in the hands of six committees of five members. Due to the untimely death of Alexander in 323, Chandragupta became dependent. He first attacked the kingdom of Magadha, but he had to face defeat in this war. After losing to Magadha, he moved towards Punjab. After the death of Alexander, the Greek commanders started fighting among themselves for succession. Chanakya took full advantage of their divisions. The Indians started getting infuriated against the Greeks. The power of the Greeks increased due to their divisions and the rebellion of the residents of Punjab. Taking advantage of this, Chandragupta attacked Punjab.    

Seleucus Nicator made friends with Chandragupta and Chanakya

Here, after the death of Alexander, his commander Seleucus took over the regions of Babylon and Afghanistan. His capital was Syria, therefore he was famous as the Emperor of Syria. He was the most powerful among Alexander's generals. That is why he is famous in history by the name of Nicator, meaning conqueror. Seleucus wanted to conquer all those regions which his master Alexander the Great had conquered. To fulfil this objective, he attacked India with a huge army in 305 A.D. Then he faced the army of the powerful Chandragupta Maurya. Chandragupta's army defeated Seleucus. He did not expect that now a lot of changes have taken place in the political field of India. Chandragupta faced him on the Indus river. In this war Seleucus was completely defeated. 

Badly defeated. Chanakya said to Seleucus, "Seleucus, your large Greek armies have proved to be weak in front of our capable and disciplined armies. Now it is in your best interest to enter into a treaty with Chandragupta." Seleucus did not delay in accepting Chanakya's proposal. He immediately said, "I am ready to enter into a treaty with Chandragupta Maurya, but I have a request for you." "What?" Chanakya looked at Seleucus with a questioning look. "I want to see Chandragupta as my son-in-law so that this doubt turns into our relationship. My daughter Helen is very beautiful and talented. "Chanakya thought for a while and said, "Along with marrying your daughter Helen to Chandragupta, you will have to give Kandhar, Kabul, Iran, Balochistan to Chandragupta." "I agree." Seleucus agreed to what Chanakya said, but Chandragupta hesitated to accept Helen. When he looked at Chanakya, Chanakya nodded his head and agreed. In this way, along with the treaty between Seleucus and Chandragupta, family relations were established. Later, both of them also became friends. Chandragupta gave 500 elephants to Seleucus as a gift and Seleucus sent his ambassador Megasthenes to Chandragupta Maurya's court. 

When Megasthenes met Chandragupta

Megasthenes was a Greek scholar who served as ambassador in the court of Chandragupta Maurya from 302 AD to 298 AD. He has described the administration of Chandragupta Maurya and the social condition of that time in his book 'Indica'. Although this book is not available now, but many parts of it are found in the book of Greek writings. Greek writers have written about Chandragupta's life, state management, military management and the society of the Maurya period. Megasthenes has written in his book that the king lived in beautiful palaces with great pomp and splendor. He never slept in the same room of the house. He used to change his room at night. He used to go out of the palace only for war, hunting, state work and religious rituals. He had women bodyguards. Whenever he went for hunting or for a tour, they used to go with him riding women and elephants. Once Megasthenes asked Chandragupta about his capital Pataliputra, then Chandragupta told, "This city of mine is situated on the bank of a river. That river is called the holy Ganga. The length of Pataliputra is 152 kilometers and the width is 28 kilometers. I have built a wooden wall all around for the security of my city, which has 64 doors and 570 towers." When Chandragupta became silent, Megasthenes said, Chandragupta asked, "Maharaj, what other measures have you taken for the security of the city?" Chandragupta said that security is right in front of you. Around the wooden wall, a 180 meter wide and 9 meter deep ditch has been dug. It is filled with plain water.

Decline and success of Chandragupta Maurya

In this way, Chandragupta had made security arrangements for Pataliputra. He had imposed many types of taxes on the people, of which land tax was the main one. Chandragupta took full care of the happiness and prosperity of his people. He had also established an intelligence department to know the news of the state. He arranged for a canal for irrigation. For the convenience of the travelers, he built stage bridges in the state and planted shady trees on both sides of them. He did not show any mercy in punishing the criminals. Chandragupta is considered one of the great rulers of India. He was born from the womb of a low caste woman and established a huge empire. At the age of just 18, Chandragupta freed Punjab and Singh from the clutches of foreigners. He established political unity in India by conquering small states. He was not only a conqueror but also a capable ruler. He took the help of his minister Chanakya. He also arranged for the best administration and took complete care of the happiness and prosperity of his kingdom. Chandragupta was a great conqueror, a skilled administrator and a kind ruler who was well-wisher of his subjects. Ashoka had inherited such a great legacy; the system of governance, military management, and justice management had started from the time of Chandragupta. According to Jain literature, Chandragupta accepted Jainism in the last days of his life. According to some references, after becoming a monk, Chandragupta became a Jain Muni. He handed over the kingdom to his son Bindusara and went to Mysore with his guru Bhadrabahu. There he fasted and renounced his province. This incident happened around 298 AD. Chandragupta had expanded his empire from Afghanistan, Bangladesh (as per present country) to Kashmir in the north and Mysore in the south.

2. Bindusara (297 to 273 BCE)

Bindusara had three sons named Sushim, Ashoka and Vitashoka . After Chandragupta, the Maurya dynasty had a huge empire! Chandragupta's son Bindusara took over. According to Greek writings, he was given the title of Abhidhan i.e. the slayer of the enemy. According to Vayu Purana, he was called Bhadrasar. According to Buddhist scriptures, Bindusara had 16 queens, but among them, Suddhrangi was the chief. Chandragupta's minister Chanakya had a long life. During Chandragupta's lifetime, he not only benefited him with his diplomacy, but he also guided Bindusara. Bindusara and Chanakya defeated the kings of about 16 cities and took over the entire region between the eastern and western seas. On this side, Bindusara also conquered southern India. Chanakya also played the role of a great conqueror like his father and supported him fully in this task. Once Chanakya advised Bindusara to make military arrangements. Since the time of Chandragupta, our army has 1,000 infantry, 1,000 horsemen, 9,000 elephants and 8,000 chariots. Bindusara, you should also command your army like Chandragupta. I told this to Parminder with decency that the awards which have been in place since father's time have been given by him. Chanakya replied, you know that the kings use poisonous girls to kill the kings, increase this in your service. A woman can do the work of a spy better than a man. Bindusara was very interested in philosophy. To fulfil this interest, he sent many gifts to the king of Syria, Anti Akers, and through a letter, he had asked for grape wine, dried figs and a philosopher. Anti Akers had sent all the goods through his servant to Bindusara, but he could not send the philosopher. He had apologised to Bindusara in this regard. Actually, he wanted to benefit his country India by getting the Greek philosopher. Bindusara had 101 sons, out of which he liked his son Ashoka the most. Ashoka was a very brave, courageous and ambitious warrior, while all his other brothers were meek and self-indulgent men. He loved his fun and entertainment more than his subjects. He considered it his birthright to use the inherited wealth to fulfill his desires. This was the reason why Bindeshwar loved Ashoka more than his 100 sons.