The Mauryan Polity c11.s2.t2.2

c11.s2.t2.2

Historical investigations have laid bare new materials to reconstruct the history of Ancient India though imagination still plays a significant role owing to the paucity of materials. In spite of a century and more of research we are not yet able to get at plain and reliable history, and one has need to seek the aid of imagination as well. Hence some possible and some probable theories and assumptions are set afloat in the wide sea of India's past. One such assumption is that Candragupta died a Jaina ascetic while Aśoka ended his career as a Buddhist monk. Among the old school of German historians, Lassen, who still holds the field as an acknowledged authority, gives it as his opinion that the Mauryan empire began with a Brahmanical reaction.¹ The Nandas had misused their authority and power so much that both the śāstra and śastra fell into desuetude, and king Dharma seemed transplanted from his exalted throne. Hence Cāṇakya, well-known as Kauṭalya, assisted Candragupta in effecting a revolution. The attempt proved fruitful. The Mauryan dynasty was established. There can be little doubt that Candragupta must have invoked further the assistance of Cāṇakya to guide him in the administration of the empire by awarding to him the office of Chancellorship. From the extant *Arthaśāstra*, of which he was the author, it is transparent that the public religion of the state as well as the personal religion of the Emperor were the same, namely the Brahmanical religion.