Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s1.2

c11.s1.2

Little is known about the early life of the new king. If Jain tradition is to be believed the name of his mother was Durdharā. History does not record if he was one of the young princes who, according to Aelian, amused themselves while fishing in the unruffled sheets of water within the palace grounds of the greatest of all the kings of India, and learning how to sail their boats. In later life he showed an aptitude for government and a taste for culture which in all possibility were acquired in boyhood. The name of Amitrochades (variants, Amitrachates and Allitrochades, the λ λ having arisen from a loosely formed cursive M)¹ by which he is known to the Greeks suggests not a weakling brought up amidst the pleasures of the harem, but a man of steel, fit to bear the weight of a great empire and defend it against all enemies. Fleet takes the Greek appellation as meaning "Amitrakhāda", 'devourer of enemies', which occurs as an epithet of Indra. Lassen and others prefer to equate it with the Sanskrit Amitraghāta, slayer of foes—a term that occurs in the *Mahābhāshya*² of Patañjali. *Amitrāṇāṃ hantā* is a well known title of royalty in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* and *Amitraghātin* is frequently used in the *Mahābhārata* as an epithet of princes and warriors.³