Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.153

c11.153

Among the inmates of the palace the consorts of the great king claim special attention. One of them, if we accept the traditional interpretation of the treaty between Chandragupta and Seleucus, must have been a Seleucid princess.⁴ Jain tradition refers to the name of another lady called Durdharā, represented as the mother of Binduasāra.⁵ Burmese legends do not mention the name, but assign to the mother of Chandragupta's successor a Maurya lineage and the chief place among the queens.⁶ The queens of the first Maurya are rather shadowy figures, and we do not know whether like the wives of Chandragupta's Hellenistic contemporaries they played any conspicuous part in public life, court ceremonial, and policy. The sons of the king find mention in a passage of Aelian noted above as engaged in fishing, playing and swimming in ponds within the palace grounds. We do not know if these youngsters included the famous Bindusāra whose name and that of Simhasena among those of the sons of Chandragupta have been transmitted by tradition.¹