Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.28

c11.28

⁴ Justin uses the words "having thus won the throne" once again after mentioning the fight with the prefects. This has led scholars including Tarn (Greeks in Bactria and India, p. 47 n2) to surmise that the acquisition of his kingdom by Chandragupta followed the war with Alexander's satraps, the last of whom, Pithon did not leave India till 316 B. C. But the words "having thus won the throne" are not to be construed merely with the preceding sentence describing incidents in connection with the war with the prefects. They refer also to the events that preceded the clash of arms with the Macedonian commanders, and in fact, sum up the whole episode relating to the rise of Chandragupta. For a similar summing up of the exploits of Seleucus, see Appian, Syrian Affairs, XI 9.55 referred to above. In the detailed account given by Justin we are expressly told that Chandragupta was stimulated to aspire to royalty by an incident that happend immediately after his flight from Alexander's camp in 326/25 B.C. The use of the term deinde (thereafter) after "new sovereignty" suggests that the Macedonia War came sometime after the change of government among Indians. In the Mudrārākshasa too the total destruction of Mlechchha chieftains and troops follows the dynastic revolution in Magadha (Indian Culture, II.. p. 561 f.)