Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.45

c11.45

Regarding the ancestry of Chandragupta Indian writers have not preserved any unanimous tradition. There is no doubt agreement in regard to the name of the the family to which he belonged, which is invariably given as Maurya. But the origin and derivation of the word present a problem which requires elucidation. The Brāhmanical commentators like Dhuṇḍirāja and the annotator of the *Viṣṇu Purāṇa* derived the expression from Murā, supposed to be the wife of a Nanda king, and grandmother or mother of the first Maurya. There is, however, no warrant for this view in early texts. The Purāṇas make no mention of Murā and do not refer to any dynastic connection between the Nandas, who were of Śūdra extraction, and the Mauryas. No doubt they say that after the extermination of all Kshatriyas by Mahāpadma Nanda, kings will be of Śūdra origin. This cannot however be taken to imply that all the post-Mahāpadman kings were Śūdras as some of them, e.g., the Kāṇvas, are distinctly styled *dvija*. In some Purāṇic texts the reading is *Śūdra-prāyāstu adhārmikāḥ*¹. *Śūdra*-like and irreligious are not an inapposite description of several members of the Maurya family who showed predilection for Jainism and Buddhism. One text, the *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa*, goes so far as to brand the Mauryas as *asuras*². *Suradvish*, it may be remembered, is used by the *Bhāgavata Purāṇa* in reference to people beguiled by the Buddha³. The earliest authorities to claim a Nanda origin for the first Maurya are the *Mudrārākshasa* and the mediaeval versions of the *Brihat-kathā*. It is, however, to be noted that the Greek accounts do not suggest any blood relationship between Chandragupta and Agrammes, the Nanda contemporary of Alexander. The former is mentioned by Justin as "born in humble life⁴." The reference, to our mind, points to the fact that Chandragupta was not born in the purple and was not a scion of the royal line which he overthrew. It is significant that Plutarch includes "Androkottos" among the persons who, according to several historians, disclosed to Alexander the meanness of the origin of the contemporary ruler of the Prasii, apparently the last Nanda king. It does not seem probable that people who sneered at the "barber" line of Magadha could themselves claim no higher status in society.