Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c8.3

c8.3

In marked contrast to the precise and detailed notices of Greek and Latin authors on Alexander and India, are the vague and contradictory legends which issue from various sources and constitute the only aid to our knowledge of Chandragupta and Chāṇakya. There is little reason to doubt the truth of the main story in its outline : an unusually valiant Kshatriya warrior and a Brahmin statesman of great learning and resourcefulness joined to bring about the downfall of an avaricious dynasty of hated rulers, and establish a new empire which made the good of the people the object of its chief concern; they freed the land from the foreign invader, and from internal tyranny, and established a state which in due course embraced practically the whole of India;