Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c17: Appendix I: Chāṇakya and Chandragupta Traditions (From Buddhist Sources)
Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c17
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Appendix I: Chāṇakya and Chandragupta Traditions (From Buddhist Sources)
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Abridged references to these traditions are given in the body of the work but they may be given in greater detail in an Appendix. An easy access to these is furnished by Turnour in his translation of the *Mahāwanso* (1837) with an Introductory Essay upon which this Appendix is mainly based. Turnour's chief source is *Mahāvaṃsaṭīkā* composed by "Mahānāmo Thero." The *Ṭīkā* throws new light on the history of the Nandas. The Nandas were brothers numbering nine. The eldest brother is described as "a provincial person" who became a "confederate" of a band of bandits, finding their "mode of life" to be excellent. They did not believe in the "toils of tillage or cattle tending" but gave themselves to the more profitable pursuit of "pillaging towns and villages, and laying up stores of riches and grain, and providing themselves with fish and flesh, toddy and other beverage, passing their life thus jovially in feasting and drinking." The romance of this adventurous life made the eldest Nanda seek admission to this brotherhood of bandits. They elected him as their leader in place of the one slain in an unsuccessful attack upon a town. He "proclaimed himself to be Nanda" and "wandered about, pillaging the country", inducing his brothers also to join the gang. Very soon he thought that the career of marauders was not a fit one for valiant men but fit only for "base wretches", and so decided: "Let us aim at supreme sovereignty." Then, "attended by his troops, and equipped for war, he attacked a provincial town, calling upon its inhabitants either to acknowledge him sovereign, or to give him battle." By this means, "reducing under his authority the people of Jambudīpo in great numbers, he finally attacked Pātiliputta, and usurpring the sovereignty, died there a short time afterwards, while governing the empire. His brothers next succeeded to the empire in the order of their seniority. Their ninth youngest brother was called Dhana-Nando, from his being addicted to hoarding treasure."
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As regards "Chānakko," the *Ṭīkā* tells us that he lived with his father at Ṭaxila and was known for his devotion to his mother for whose sake he had his teeth destroyed, because she saw in them signs of his sovereignty which would make him neglect her. He was known for his proficiency in the three Vedas, in the Mantras, skill in stratagems, dexterity in intrigue and policy, but also for his physical ugliness, disgusting complexion, deformity of legs and other limbs, for which he is dubbed *Kauṭilya* in Hindu works.
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The *Ṭīkā* also tells how Dhana-Nando, "abandoning his passion for hoarding, became imbued with the desire of giving alms, and built for the purpose a Hall of Alms-Offerings in his palace." One day, the king entered the Hall in state, "decked in regal attire, attended by thousands of state palanquins glittering with ornaments, escorted by a suite of a hundred royal personages, with their martial array of the four hosts of cavalry, elephants, chariots, and infantry, bearing the white parasol of dominion, having a golden staff and golden tassels," to find that Chānakko, 'who came to Pupphapura in his quest of disputation.' had appropriated the seat which was reserved for the chief of the Brahmans. The king at once had him ejected from the seat. Chāṇakya, leaving, cursed the king and escaped arrest by stripping himself naked as an Ājivika and running into the centre of the palace where, in an unfrequented place, he concealed himself. At night, he entered secretly into a league with the Crown Prince named Pabbato who showed him the way out, on his promising him sovereignty.
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He "fled into the wilderness of Winjjha where, with the view of raising resources, he converted (by recoining) each *Kahāpana* into eight, and amassed 80 *Kotis* of *Kahāpanas*. He next searched for a person who was entitled by birth to be raised to sovereign power and lighted upon Chandagutta of Moriyan dynasty."
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The circumstances leading to the meeting of Chāṇakya and Chandragupta have been briefly related in the text. But the *Ṭīkā* gives some interesting details relating to the birth and early life of Chandragupta. At the conquest of Moriya-nagara, its king was slain, and his queen, then pregnant, fled from the city with her elder brothers and lived at Pupphapura in disguise. There she was duly delivered of a child who became known as Chandragupta. The mother for its safety placed the child in a vase and deposited it at the door of a cattle-pen where it was watched over by a bull named Chanda. There he was reared by a herdsman who put him to tend his cattle till he was taken away by a huntsman. As he was growing up, he was tending cattle with other village boys whom he profitably employed in a 'game of royalty' which he improvised by a natural instinct: "He himself was named *Rājā*; to others he gave the offices of sub-king, etc. Some being appointed Judges were placed in a Judgment Hall; some he made officers of the king's household; and others, outlaws or robbers. Having thus constituted a Court of Justice, he sat in judgment. On culprits being brought up, regularly impeaching and trying them, on their guilt being cleary proved to his satisfaction, according to the sentence awarded by his judicial ministers," he pronounced the punishment.
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"Chānakko, happening to come to that spot, was amazed at the proceeding he beheld." He at once bought of the huntsman the boy for 1000 *Kahāpanas* and decorated the boy with a golden necklace "*worth a lac*." He also decorated the other boy, Prince Pabbato, with a similar necklace.
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Next, Chāṇakya educated him "for six or seven years"
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and "rendered him highly accomplished and profoundly learned."
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When he found Chandragupta "capable of forming and controlling an army," he brought out his hidden wealth, by spending which he "enlisted forces from all quarters and formed a powerful army which he entrusted to him." "From that time, throwing off all disguise, and invading the inhabited parts of the country, he commenced his campaign by attacking towns and villages. In the course of their warfare, the population rose *en masse*, and surrounding them, and hewing their army with their weapons, vanquished them." Thus defeated, both retired into wilderness where they decided: "Relinquishing military operations, let us acquire a knowledge of the sentiments of the people." In disguise, they travelled about the country and mixed with the people. It was while thus travelling that they heard the dialogue between a mother and her son who ate a cake wrongly by throwing away its edges and eating only its centre, thus imitating Chandragupta who, "without subduing the frontiers, before he attacked the towns, invaded the heart of the country, and laid towns waste. On that account, both the inhabitants of the towns and others, rising, closed in upon him, from the frontiers to the centre, and destroyed his army."
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Taking their lessons from this conversation, they changed their strategy. "On resuming their attack, by again raising an army, on the provinces and towns, commencing from the frontiers, reducing towns, and stationing troops in the intervals, they proceeded to their invasion. After a respite, adopting the same system, and marshalling a great army, and in regular course reducing each kingdom and province, then assailing Pātiliputta and putting Dhana-Nanda to death, they seized that sovereignty."
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The Author of the *Ṭīkā* remarks: "The discovery of Chandagutta is thus stated (in the former works): He discovered this prince descended from the Moriyan line."
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He further states: "All the particulars connected with Chandagutta, both before his installation and after, are recorded in the *Atthakathā* of the Uttarawihāro priests. Let that work be referred to by those who are desirous of more detailed information. We compile this work in an abridged from, without prejudice however to its perspicuity.”
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The *Ṭīkā* brings to light two interesting facts in the life of Chandragupta. It appears that the commencement of his administration was marked by an outbreak of lawlessness in the country. To suppress the disorder, Chandragupta “sent for a former acquaintance of his, a Jaṭilian (i.e., a Jaṭila Brāhmaṇa ascetic), named Maniyatappo (=*Maunī-tapasvī*), and conferred a commission on him. ‘My friend, (said he), do thou restore order into the country, suppressing the lawless proceedings that prevail.’ He, replying ‘*sadhu*’, and accepting the commission, by his judicious measures, reduced the country to order. Chandragupta thus “conferred the blessings of peace on the country by extirpating marauders who were like unto thorns in a cultivated land.”
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The other fact which the *Ṭīkā* tells about his life concerns his marriage. It seems that he married “the daughter of the eldest of the maternal uncles who accompanied his mother to Pupphapura. Chandragupta wedding the daughter of his maternal uncle raised her to the dignity of Queen Consort.”
Linked texts (1)
- Mahāvaṃsa — Pāli