Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.75

c11.75

We have further embellishment in the *Mudrārākshasa* which competent critics are inclined to assign to the ninth century A.D³. Kauṭilya is now definitely the leading actor in the drama. The Nanda king who falls a victim to his wrath is named Sarvārthasiddhi, and the family is referred to as of noble birth (*abhijana*⁴). Mlechchha chieftains, Parvata, Parvataka, Parvateśvara or Śaileśvara, his brother Vairodhaka, son Malayaketu and Meghāksha or Meghanāda, king of the Persians, take part in the dynastic quarrel along with hordes of Śakas, Yavanas, Kirātas, Kambojas, Bālhikas, Khasas, Hūṇas and others. The barbarians appear at first as allies of Chandragupta. But when promises made to them are evaded, and Parvata and his brother fall victims to Chāṇakya's cunning, Malayaketu turns against the Mauryas and joins the Nanda minister Rākshasa. The storm that threatened to burst upon Chandragupta was averted by jealousies and quarrels among his enemies. The *Mlechchha* forces dispersed and the discomfiture of Malayaketu as well as Rākshasa was complete. In the play the battle of intrigue proves more efficacious than the arbitrament of the sword. None of the Mlechchha chieftains have names which can be regarded as standing for genuine Greek or Persian originals and the appearance of the Hūṇas in connection with the Magadhan conflict of the fourth century B.C. exposes the true character of several incidents narrated in the play. The identification of Parvataka with Porus, proposed by some writers,¹ has little to support it. Parvataka and his family are clearly branded as *Mlechchha* in the play, and their forces as *Mlechchha-bala*; on the other hand the Purus or Pauravas could claim an illustrious Vedic and epic ancestry. The territory over which Parvataka ruled is described by Jain writers as *Himavatkūṭa*,² while Porus ruled at first the country between the Jhelum and the Chenab to which were added territories stretching as far as the Hyphasis or Beas and the Indus. In the *Mudrārākshasa* one Sindhusena or Susheṇa appears as the prince of the Indus region. Lastly, Parvataka is slain by a poison maiden (*Vishakanyā*) as a result of Kauṭilya's intrigue, while Porus is killed by Eudamus, according to one reading of the text of Diodorus, and by Alexander himself according to Pseudo-Callisthenes.³