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Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c18: Appendix II: Chāṇakya and Chandragupta Traditions (From Jaina Sources)

Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c18

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Appendix II: Chāṇakya and Chandragupta Traditions (From Jaina Sources)

c18.2

The chief source of the Jaina traditions regarding Chāṇakya and Chandragupta is the work known as *Sthavirāvalī-charita* or *Pariśishṭaparvan* written by Hemachandra as an Appendix to the larger work of the same author known as *Trishashṭi-Śalākāpurushacharita* dealing with the lives of 63 great personages, divine or human, who, as believed by the Jainas, have controlled the history of the world. These comprise the 24 *Tīrthakaras* or *Prophets*, 12 *Chakravartins* or universal emperors, 9 *Vāsudevas*, 9 *Baladevas*, and 9 *Prativāsudevas*. The work has been edited by Jacobi with a summary of its contents.

c18.3

Jaina sacred literature had its origin in the doctrines and sermons preached by the religious leaders who used to illustrate them by apologues and legends. These, when reduced to writing, gave rise to what is known as *Kathānaka-Literature*. This Literature is marked by four stages or layers in its development: (1) *Sūtras* embodying the aphorisms of religious leaders as the nucleus; (2) *Niryuktis*, which give fuller expositions of the subjects of the Sūtras to which they belong; (3) *Chūrṇis*, which are the Prākrit commentaries on the *Sūtras* and *Niryuktis*; and (4) *Ṭīkās*, which are more elaborate commentaries on the connected *Niryuktis* and *Chūrṇis*. These four divisions of literature are not, however, very rigid: Nos. (2) and (3) reveal some amount of overlapping and mixture.

c18.4

Hemachandra's source of the *Chāṇakya-Chandragupta-Kathā* embodied in verses 194-376 of Canto VIII of *Pariśishṭaparvan* is the *Chūrṇi* and *Ṭīkā* on *Āvaśyaka-Niryukti*. The *Ṭīkā* was that written by Haribhadra.

c18.5

Jain tradition represents Chāṇakya as the son of a Brāhman named Chaṇī who lived in the village called Chaṇaka in the *vishaya* or district known as Golla. His mother is called Chaneśvarī. Chaṇī is described as a devout Jain.

c18.6

The Buddhist story of Chāṇakya's teeth is mentioned but with different details. Chāṇakya was born with all his teeth complete. This was taken as a promise of royalty which alarmed his too religious father as a source of sin leading to hell. So he had his son's teeth broken out. But still the monks foretold that he would rule by proxy.

c18.7

The Jain story regarding Chāṇakya's plan to amass wealth is different. It was due to the insult to which his poor Brahman wife was treated by her rich relations meeting at her father's place at the wedding of her brother. The first step that he takes for the purpose is to go to Pāṭaliputra and have a share of the gifts which king Nanda was bestowing on renowned Brahmans. The story of Chāṇakya's ejection by Nanda is the same as the Buddhist, with small differences of trivial detail.

c18.8

The Jain story makes Chandragupta the son of the daughter of a village chief, the chief of the village of the rearers of royal peacocks (*mayūraposhakas*).

c18.9

Chāṇakya continues his quest of wealth and devotes himself to the study of Metallurgy (*dhātuvāda*) evidently for manufacturing coins, as the Buddhist story relates.

c18.10

He came to the native village of Chandragupta and found him behaving like a king among his playmates upon whom he used to mount as his elephants and horses. Chāṇakya, to test his mettle as king, asked him for a present. The boy, in the royal manner, pointing to a herd of cows, said he could take them, without caring for their owners, as nobody would dare gainsay him. He also made the significant remark: "The earth is for enjoyment by heroes" (*vīrabhogyā vasundharā*). Chāṇakya at once chose him for his mission.

c18.11

With the wealth which Chāṇakya had acquired by his knowledge of Metallurgy, he levied troops and laid seige to Pāṭaliputra, surrounding it on its four sides (*chaturdiśamaveshtayat*). But his army was defeated by the more numerous army of King Nanda, so that he and Chndragupta had to escape by flight. Nanda, however, sent swift horsemen to overtake them. When one of them nearly came up to them, Chāṇakya, then resting on the bank of a lake, in the guise of an ascetic, ordered Chandragupta to plunge into it. Asked by the rider about the runaway youth, Chāṇakya pointed to the lake, into which he plunged, doffing his armour. Chāṇakya instantly seized the sword with which he severed the soldier's head. A second horseman also came up to them in pursuit but was disposed of by Chāṇakya by a similar trick. This time he made a washerman run away by saying that the king had a grudge against his whole guild (*tachchhreṇirushito rājā*) and then took over his work. Chandragupta's implicit faith in his master endeared the master to him, as he told him that he plunged into the lake without caring for his life out of blind devotion to his master.

c18.12

Next, the Jain story repeats the Buddhist regarding the village boy being rebuked by his mother for eating a cake by a mistaken method, like that of Chāṇakya. It was that Chāṇakya had not secured the surrounding country before attacking the enemy's stronghold. Then Chāṇakya proceeds to the country called Himavatkūṭa and entered into an alliance with its king Parvataka. Here the Buddhist version is different. The Allies then opened their campaign by reducing the outlying parts (*bahiḥ*) of Nanda's kingdom. They, however, failed to conquer one town. Chāṇakya took recourse to a stratagem. He entered the town in the guise of a beggar, as a Tridaṇḍin monk, and saw a temple of the Seven Mothers, the tutelary goddesses (*pāhidevatā*) of the town. Its citizens, tired of the protracted siege, asked the ascetic when it would be raised. He answered: "Not till the goddesses were in the temple and protected the town." The credulous citizens at once removed the idols from the temple. At this, Chāṇakya hinted to Chandragupta and Parvataka that they should retire with their army to some distance from the town. Thus the citizens were thrown off their guard and were rejoicing over their restored liberty, when they returned and took the town by surprise. They devastated the country, laid siege to Pāṭaliputra, and compelled king Nanda to capitulate, with his decreased resources (*kshīṇakośaḥ*), strength (*bala*), wits (*dhīḥ*), prowess (*vikrama*) and spiritual merit (*puṇya*). He at last threw himself on the mercy of Chāṇakya who spared his life and permitted him to leave his kingdom, carrying with him all that he could in one chariot. He carried with him his two wives and a daughter and as much treasure as could be accommodated in the vehicle. Thus king Nanda (*Nandarāṭ*) made his exit from his kingdom. While thus proceeding (*samāyāntam*), the Princess saw Chandragupta and fell in love with him at first sight. Then the father said to her that she might select him as her husband by the rite of *svayaṁvara*, because "very often the daughters of Kshatriyas have recourse to this practice." Thus Nanda is here taken as a Kshatriya. The Buddhist version of Chandragupta's marriage is different from Jain.

c18.13

The Jain version, like the Buddhist, refers to outbreak of lawlessness at the commencement of Chandragupta's rule. It mentions Nanda's followers as the culprits instigating it. It also mentions a different remedy taken to suppress the disorder. Chāṇakya, observing a weaver (*Kolika*) killing bugs by setting fire to those places in his house which contained their nests, chose him for his method, that of tearing away evil from its roots (*mūlādunmūlya*). The weaver was appointed as the chief of the city (*Nagarādhyaksha*). He succeeded in allaying the suspicions of Nanda's followers, who were the robbers, by his gifts, and then having them murdered.

c18.14

The next interesting point in the Jain story is its mention of a twelve years' famine in the country. At that time, the Jain Āchārya Susthita lived in Chandragupta's capital. He sent his following (*Gaṇa*) to some other country to avoid the famine. It is, however, to be noted that this is Śvetāmabara tradition which is contradicted by Digambara tradition on the subject. Chandragupta was now showing Jain leanings and patronising heretical teachers (*Chandraguptaṁ tu mithyādṛikpāshaṇḍamatabhavitam*). Chāṇakya tried to wean him away from them by saying that they were morally corrupt. But Chandragupta wanted the charge to be proved. It was proved by Chāṇakya against some Jain ascetics one day, but it failed against others the next day. Chandragupta made them henceforth his spiritual guides (*gurūn mene*).

c18.15

Another interesting fact furnished by the Jain story is that Chandragupta's Queen bore the name of Durdharā. She is also stated to be the mother of Bindusāra.

c18.16

In the Jain story, Chandragupta's ally, Parvataka, died by some unfortunate coincidence, whereupon Chandragupta got possession of two kingdoms, those of Nanda and Parvataka [*dve api rājye tasya jāte* (*Āvaśyaka-Sūtra*, p. 435)].

c18.17

Jain story is also very valuable for the light it throws on the date of Chandragupta's accession to sovereignty. This point has been discussed in his Introduction (pp. xx-xxi) by Jacobi. In his *Pariśishtaparvan*, VIII. 339, Hemachandra states that "155 years after the *nirvāṇa* of Mahāvīra, Chandragupta became king (*nṛipa*)." This date is not accepted by Merutuṅga as being contradicted in his opinion by all other sources (*Vichāraśreṇī*, Memorial verses, 1-3). But it is not true. It is accepted by Bhadreśvara who, in his *Kahāvalī*, states: "And thus, on the extinction (*uchchhinna*) of the Nanda dynasty, and 155 years after the *nirvāṇa* of Mahāvīra, Chandragupta became King (*rāyā*)." Jacobi states: "The date 155 AV for Chandragupta's accession to the throne cannot be far wrong, since the Buddhists place that event in 162 AB. If we assume the earliest possible date, 322 B.C., as the beginning of Chandragupta's reign, the corrected date of Buddha's death comes out 484 B.C., and that of Mahāvīra 477 B.C. This result is at variance with a notice in several Buddhist canonical works" to the effect that Mahāvīra had pre-deceased Buddha. In the *Saṁgīti-Suttanta*, Sāriputta reports: "The Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta, friends, has *just* (*adhunā*) died at Pāvā." In the *Pāsādika-Suttanta*, it was Chuṇḍa who delivers the news of Mahāvīra's death to Ānanda at Sāmagāma in the Malla country. At this news, Ānanda exclaimed: "Friend Chuṇḍa, this is a worthy subject to bring before the Exalted One" [*Dialogues of the Buddha*, III. 203 f]. Jarl Charpentier holds [IA., 1914, p. 128] this statement in the Buddhist works to be founded on an error. From *Dīgha Nikāya* (III. 11 f.), it appears that the Buddhists thought that Pāvā where Mahāvīra died was the same Pāvā where the Buddha had stayed as the guest of Chuṇḍa the Smith on his way to Kusinārā where he died. But the place where Mahāvīra died was another Pāvā called Majjhimā Pāvā in the *Kalpasūtra*, now known as Pāvāpurī in Bihar Shariff in Patna district. In this view, there should be no objection to the revised dates for the Nirvāṇa of both Buddha and Mahāvīra at 484 and 477 B.C. respectively, especially as these lead to the acceptable date of 322 B.C. for Chandragupta Maurya's accession to sovereignty. For the other view, a reference may be made to my *Hindu Civilisation* (p. 230).

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