Tribes in Ancient India c60.13

c60.13

Moreover, the *Mahāvaṃsa Commentary* traces the origin of the Maurya rulers of Magadha to the Moriyas of Pipphalivana. According to this account, Candragupta, the founder of the Maurya dynasty, was born of the chief queen of the Moriyan king of Pipphalivana. This conflicts with the evidence of Viśākhadatta’s *Mudrārākṣasa*, where Candragupta is represented as a Vṛṣala,¹ a person of low birth, an illegitimate son of the last Nanda king by a Śūdra woman named Murā. How far Viśākhadatta’s account represents the true state of things is a controversial point. But there are many instances of a misconception of history resulting from a conjectural etymology of personal and dynastic names. It appears, however, that the royal family of the Naṇdas was connected by matrimonial alliance with the Moriyas of Pipphalivana; and Aśoka’s mother, Dhammā, was also a Moriyan princess.²