Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s13.t4.1

c12.s13.t4.1

The Sanskrit versions of the *Bṛhatkathā*, the Jaina *Bṛhatkathā Kośa* of Hariṣeṇa and the Buddhistic *Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa* speak of a Subandhu as a Brahman minister of Nanda, Chandragupta and Bindusāra. In Abhinavagupta's commentary on the *Nāṭya Śāstra*, *Abhinavabhāratī*, there is more than one reference to a Subandhu as a Mahākavi who composed a unique variety of dramatic composition, emboxing one act within another, and making the characters of each preceding act the spectators of its successor; the work was called the *Vāsavadattā Nātyadhārā* or the dramatic series of Vāsavadattā¹. This Vāsavadattā is the Ujjain princess figuring in Udayana's story², with which Subandhu wove one of Bindusāra himself. It is this drama of Subandhu that Vāmana quotes in his *Kāvyālaṅkārasūtravṛtti*, where we have the suggestion of Chandragupta's son having difficulties and being helped by wise ministers like Subandhu, a circumstance which is confirmed by the *Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa* referring to Bindusāra succeeding to the throne as a boy. A verse on poet Subandhu and his composition featuring Bindusāra and Vatsarāja, found in a manuscript of the *Avantisundarī* has reference only to this Subandhu whom we may take as the minister under the last Nanda and the first two Mauryan emperors.