Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c9.s1.t1.4

c9.s1.t1.4

There has been some difference of opinion as to whether "the present king" (Agrammes) of Curtius ruling in 326 B. C. refers to the first Nanda himself or to one of his sons. The classical testimony leaves no room for doubt on the point. Agrammes was born to the purple. His father had already usurped supreme authority and put the legitimate heirs to the throne to death. The description of "the present king" can hardly be applied to the first Nanda who was gaṇikākushi-janma (born of a courtesan) and whose father did not exercise sovereign power. We have therefore to conclude that Agrammes, or Xandrames as he is called by Diodorus, belonged to the second generation of the usurping family and his father was the first Nanda, the Mahāpadma-Ugrasena of Indian tradition.