Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.8

c11.8

The success of the new Indian leader has been immortalised by a grateful posterity. Fragments of the cycle of legends of which he is the hero survive even in the works of Latin historians. In our own country we have lauds, tales, plays, even philosophical dissertations in Sanskrit, Pali, and Prākrit in which writers eulogise the hero in whose arms the earth harassed by barbarians found a refuge, who nearly succeeded in bringing about the unification of “Jambudvipa”. Unfortunately very little is recorded about the life and career of this remarkable man, which bears the stamp of unassailable authenticity. One searches in vain for his very name in the inscriptions of his grandson. The Mahābhāshya of Patañjali has interesting references to *Chandraguptasabhā*³ and to Amitraghāta⁴, possibly the son of Chandragupta, but records nothing about the deeds of the earliest of the Mauryas. Much that is known about him belongs to the domain of folklore. A *Chandraguptakathā*—the nucleus of *Chāṇakya-Chandragupta-kathā* of mediaeval times—must have come into existence before the beginning of the Christian era, as is apparent from the marvellous episodes that have found her way into the narrative of Justin who abridged the Latin history of Pompeius Trogus, a contemporary of Augustus. Fragments of the story have also been preserved by the Buddhists in the *Milinda-Pañho* and the *Theragāthā Commentary*¹ and by the Jains in certain mediaeval epigraphs of Mysore besides other documents. Curiously enough Chandragupta is ignored in the *Aśokāvadāna* though we have notice of his son Bindusāra. The Tamilian reference to "Vamba Moriyār" may also have been connected with the Chandragupta saga. Fuller details are given in Hemachandra's *Pariśiṣṭaparvan*, the *Mahāvaṃśa Ṭīkā*, Burmese legends² and the Kashmiri an versions of the *Brihat-Kathā*. There is a dramatic rendering of one form of the legend by Viśākhadatta. The central theme of the story is hinted at in the *Caṇḍakausika*³. Certain additional details are found in the commentary on the *Viṣṇu Purāṇa* and that of Dhuṇḍirāja on the *Mudrārākshasa* of Viśākhadatta.