The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c27.24

v1.c27.24

The abortive attempt must have preceded the invasion of Alexander, whom Chandragupta is said to have met in the Punjab⁶. At that time Nanda still reigned. The dating of the subsequent events depends upon the correctness of the account of them contained in the *Mudrārākshasa*. According to this authority it was as head of a confederacy, in which the chief ally was the king of the Himālayan districts in the Punjab, that Chandragupta invaded the Magadhan empire. The play dates from perhaps the seventh century A.D.; but we need not question its evidence, which we are justified by some analogies¹ in regarding as a genuine theatrical tradition: moreover there exists a Buddhist and Jain story which makes Chandragupta's second attempt begin with the frontiers. Further, a conquest of the Punjab by Chandragupta with forces from Eastern Hindustān has little inherent plausibility: before the British power the movement had been consistently in the opposite direction.