The Mauryan Polity c6.s1.t1.3

c6.s1.t1.3

Lewis Rice draws our attention to a number of inscriptions at Śravaṇa Belgoḷa discovered by him in 1874 where Bhadrabāhu and Candragupta Munīndra are frequently and jointly mentioned,¹ adding that Candragupta attained such spiritual eminence as he was for a long time served by the forest deities. This, Mr. Rice, substantiates from literature. The Bṛhatkathākośa of Hariṣeṇa (10th century) refers to King Candragupta as a disciple of Bhadrabāhu. There is, besides, another work, Bhadrabāhucarita, attributed to Ratnānandi of the 15th century, where a similar account occurs. The same is found in another modern work Rājāvali-kathā by Devacandra, perhaps belonging to the earlier part of the 19th century. The migration was, according to the Bṛhatkathākośa, to the Punnāṭa, a province in the south-west of Mysore² famous for its beryl even in the second century A.D. according to Ptolemy who calls it Pounnāṭa.