A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, so far as it illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans c8.s3.93

c8.s3.93

There are several other points on which the histories of Chandragupta and Sandracottus agree. Sandracottus founded a new empire at Palibothra. Chandragupta was the founder of a new dynasty, the Mauryas¹ at Pâṭaliputra. Sandracottus gained the throne by collecting bands of robbers. Chandragupta did the same. Sandracottus was called to royalty by the power of the gods and by prodigies. So was Chandragupta, although the prodigy related by Justin is not exactly the same as the prodigies related by Hindu authors. So far, therefore, there is nothing in the Greek accounts that is not confirmed by Hindu tradition. That there should be a great deal more in Hindu tradition than was known to the Greeks is but natural, particularly as many of the Hindu stories were evidently invented at a later time and with a certain object. As the grandson of Chandragupta was the great patron of the Buddhists, attempts were naturally made by Buddhist writers to prove that Chandragupta belonged to the same race as Buddha; while on the other hand the Brahmanic writers would be no less fertile in inventing fables that would throw discredit on the ancestor of the Buddhist sovereigns of India. Some extracts from the writings of these hostile parties will best show how this was achieved. In the Mahâvanso¹ we read: “Kâlâsoko had ten sons: these brothers (conjointly) ruled the empire righteously for twenty-two years. Subsequently there were nine brothers: they also according to their seniority reigned for twenty-two years. Thereafter the Brahman Chânakko, in gratification of an implacable hatred borne towards the ninth surviving brother, called Dhana-nando, having put him to death, installed in the sovereignty over the whole of Jambudîpo, a descendant of the dynasty of Moriyan sovereigns, endowed with illustrious and beneficent attributes, and surnamed Chandagutto. He reigned 24 (not 34) years.”