Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c9.s1.t3.7

c9.s1.t3.7

While some of the Indian writers, notably the author of the Sanskrit play entitled the Mudrā-Rākshasa, are chiefly concerned with the battle of intrigue conducted by Kauṭilya, the Milinda Pañho affords us a glimpse of the clash of arms between the contending forces of the Nandas and the Mauryas. "There was Bhaddasāla (Bhadraśāla), the soldier in the service of the royal family of the Nandas, and he waged war against king Chandagutta ( Chandragupta ). Now in that war, there were eighty corpse dances. For they say that when one great head holocaust has taken place by which is meant the slaughter of ten thousand elephants, and a lac of horses, and five thousand charioteers, and a hundred koṭis of soldiers on foot, then the headless corpses arise and dance in frenzy over the battle field". The passage contains a good deal of mythical embellishment. But we have here reminiscence of the blood bath through which Chandragupta had to wade to the throne.